Canon HV20 3MP High Definition MiniDV Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
by Canon
|
Our Price: $1,022.87 Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Buy Used: from $300.00 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon HV20 3MP High Definition MiniDV Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Customer Review: Professional quality in a small package
Summary: 5 Stars
I did a lot of research to find a great affordable HD video camera. The HV20 was the clear winner in almost every review I read. It didn't let me down in any way. The quality of the video and sounds is miles ahead of my old Canon Z60 cam. It also supports digital tape instead of a hard drive, so it allows me to still use my old tapes from my Z60. Although cams with hard drives appear to be the new thing, I still believe that digital tape is a much more secure option. Especially for archiving.
The HV20 camera is also very easy to use. I am no videofile, so I briefly read over the main features in the manual and became familiar with all the custom options within less than 1/2 an hour. I picked up this camera on my way to a Mexican vacation with the family, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I shot around 1.5 hours of video and hoped it would look good. When I got home I used Nero to capture the video. I noticed that you must keep the LCD door close on the camera or the HD video will not capture properly. Once I figured this out I worked like a charm. It took a while to finally get everything captured and to burn my DVD (3-4 hours total) but when I popped in the finished DVD I was amazed at how the video looked on my TV. It was like professional quality video. Fine details and the color were excellent. 1920 x 1080 certainly makes a world of difference.
Still photos are also very nice from this video camera. I didn't buy this for still shots, but loved the fact that I could leave my still cam in the hotel room and just use the one camera for both. You can insert a mini SD card into the camera to take very acceptable photos up to a resolution of 2048 x 1536. They will not compare to any reasonable good digital camera, but they are definately good enough for 8x10 prints of the family vacation etc. But I also like that this camera has 10x optical zoom it let's me zoom in much more than my old Canon G4 still cam.
Overall, this is a great camera. The size and clarity of the video is amazing for such an inexpensive camera.
Customer Review: My Canon HV20 WOW Moments!
Summary: 5 Stars
You can't beat the HD picture quality from the HV20 based on actual user reviews and comparisons with all of the latest models. While this is a single CMOS sensor, it is a true 1920 x 1080 HD sensor of the same quality found in the award winning Canon Digital SLR cameras. Don't be fooled by a 3CCD camcorder that uses smaller sensor sizes and must use "pixel shifting".
I had already hooked up the HV20 to my 720p projector, and it did look great even at my typical 120". But I do know that my projector probably isn't calibrated very well to be honest.
So, my first WOW moment came when I decided to capture some of my best outdoor footage from my Canon Elura stock and compare it to some HV20 footage shot of my kids over the weekend at an Easter egg hunt. WOW, the difference in quality was even more pronounced than I realized. I guess that the resolution difference is what it is, but this is definitely serious HD quality.
The real defining WOW moment that has me "selling" all of my family and friends on this camcorder came last night when I hooked it up at my brother-in-law's house to his Sony Wega CRT HDTV display that does 1080i and is calibrated to perfection. You won't find a higher quality HD display than his set IMO, and my jaw dropped when my video first came up on his display That was the first time when I was truly able to see what my source footage was capable of in terms of its full resolution and AMAZING colors. We switched to Discovery HD on his set, and other than obvious production value aspects you honestly couldn't really say that it looked any more HD than the footage of my kids playing.
This is way more exciting to me than when I first saw broadcast HD and watched Monday Night Football because it is hard to describe how cool it is to see your kids on video in beautiful HD for a $1,000 price point. I can hardly wait to get out there and shoot some more footage.
Customer Review: great camcorder
Summary: 5 Stars
I mainly use the camcorder for recording my kids.
I bought this camcorder a couple of weeks ago. I had the sony hc-7 before for a couple of weeks which I returned and bought the canon camcorder.
The brightlight performance of both camcorders are excellent. With the sony camcorder, I felt that the best color performance can be achieved by reducing the color intensity. The low light performance when recording 1080i is similar for the two camcorders but much better with canon when recording in 24p format. This is the main reason that I prefer the canon. The 24p recording is more sensitive to motion which can be a problem if recording motion.
The still images from canon are lower resolution but to me they looked better than sony. This is especially true when taking flash pictures.
The sony seems a little better built. The hdmi cover on canon is poorly built.
I liked the controls on canon better than sony.
The auto focus and automatic white balance worked better in canon than in sony. The auto white balance in sony worked poorly in indoor light.
Sony has supershot infrared recording and canon does not.
Sony has more manual controls than canon.
If you see average reviews at certain sites for low light performance of this camera, it is because they did not not look at 24p low light performance.
[...]
Customer Review: BEST HDV CAMERA FOR UNDER $1100
Summary: 5 Stars
I work at a local camera shop, and we just ordered a few of these cameras in. I've had the chance to test it out over the past few days, and I am quite impressed. I've worked with many different video cameras over the years, including a few high-end cameras such as the Canon XL2 and Panasonic DVX-100 and I think it's safe to say that the HV20 is the best video camera you can buy for under $1100. It's comparable to other HD cameras from other brands such as Sony and Panasonic, but there are a few more professional features that enable it to rise above the rest. The main feature that it has that got me so interested in the camera is its ability to shoot in 24 fps progressive. Normally, this feature could only be found on cameras starting at about $4000 and above. This is a very cool feature, as it lets you shoot feature movies that look like film, and achieve quite a few effects that can only be done in 24fps. Another feature that I found quite useful was the ability to switch between variable and fixed zoom speed. This will let you zoom at a set speed, no matter how hard you push down the zoom button. There are countless other features that this camera has, but I suggest you just try it out for yourself. Without further ado, I think I'll get back to admiring this wonderful camera.Customer Review: This camera is sick (that's a good thing)
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love this camera. The picture quality is amazing, and the amount of control you have over your shots is unbelievable. I have access to broadcast quality shoulder mount Sony DVCAM DSR 250's, and find myself using my HV-20 more and more.
I'm not even close to realizing it's full potential. Some of the gripes you see on CNET or camcorderinfo, are really a non-issue for me personally. I don't find the hand-strap to be that bad, for example, and although I wish the viewfinder had a rubber cup and pivot like everyone else, it serves my purposes as is.
Instant auto-focus works pretty well, and the camera just has all the features you could want. If you are a point and shooter for backyard barbecues, you'll love the HD picture quality. If you're an amateur videographer who wants to know exactly what the footage looks like before anything gets captured, you'll love all the control.
For the price, it fits into the price ranges of either, and I simply can't recommend this camera more highly at this point in time. I expected a lot and it delivered.