Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
by Canon
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Our Price: $949.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $448.00 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Customer Review: Very Impressive
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had my Canon HV30 for a little over two months and I'm loving it so far. It is a great consumer camera and the the product has the capability of producing a very professional picture. At first, I wasn't too impressed with the picture in low light situations. It was very noisy and seemed laggy when pointing towards a light. I was partially to blame for this. After some research over at the hv20 forums, I discovered how to adjust the gain on the camera to 0. Given the right lighting, this produce a perfect low light picture with no noise or lag whatsoever.
I paired my HV30 with a raynox 6600 wide angle lens and was very satisfied with the result. The raynox added a little weight to the camera but what do you expect? Once I adjusted to the weight, I was still able to keep the camera pretty steady, even without a steadicam.
One thing that stood out to me before I purchased this camera was, unlike most newer model camcorders, this one uses Mini-DV. This was a must for me because I did not want to deal with the hassle of hard drive space, and the tapes are great for archiving purposes.
I would recommend this camcorder to anyone looking for a well built, great quality camcorder. The all black casing provides a sleek, professional look that almost anyone would like. I was very impressed with the picture quality of this thing. It was flawless to me and I'm sure it will be to the average consumer too.
Customer Review: Amazing Little Camera!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This camera has performed above and beyond my expectations. As an amateur filmmaker I have been comtemplating purchasing a Panasonic AG-HVX200A which can cost upwards of $5000. I instead decided to save my money and buy the Canon HV30 at almost one-tenth of the price. I will start off saying that the image is amazing. The camera allows you to shoot both HD and SD (not sure why anyone would should Standard Def anymore), and it also gives you the option to shoot in 24P or 30P format. I recently shot a short in 24P and added the camera's "Cinema" mode, and the result was astonishing. Keep in mind, this is a a handycam, not a prosumer 3-chip camera. I also bought an external microphone, which I highly recommend. The camera has a built in sound meter that helps you monitor the sound for a more professional recording. I was also very pleased with the camera's manual functions. You can manually control most of the camera's basic functions including focus, exposure and white balance. Battery life is marginal, so I recommend purchasing some longer life batteries. Whether you just want to shoot your family vacations or begin your career as a filmmaker, the Canon HV30 has the versatility to handle it all, and at a very reasonable price to boot.Customer Review: Vanishing Breed
Summary: 5 Stars
Read this quickly and order one of these RIGHT NOW before they are extinct! My neighbor is a professional videographer who advised me to go with TAPE and not get sucked into the hard drive craze. We were leaving on an expensive vacation and I intended to take lots of scenic footage of the countryside in Norway. He said if you drop your hard drive camcorder at the end of your trip you may lose everything. Your tape cassettes are safe in your luggage and you can pry the last one out of the camcorder wreckage and most likely salvage those images too! Tape is a long-proven technology so don't be too quick to dismiss it. The picture quality is as fine as his pro 3 chip camera, in his opinion. If I had a gripe, I would say the handgrip and strap are connected to the tape access door and feels just a tiny bit insecure because there is some play in the latch system. Nothing bad ever happened, but the strap is your only connection to your camcorder and it is disconcerting. I am going to attach a neck or wrist strap to augment the hand strap next trip. The motor operated iris lenscap is 10X better than a cap dangling from a string. A great buy!Customer Review: BUY IT
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought got the HV30 on Amazon about a week ago and the camera was exactly what I hoped for. When I first shot in HD I never thought it would turn out the way it did. Its INCREDIBLE. I play xbox regulary in HD and have a lot of knowledge when it comes to picture quality and all I have to say is holy $#it. Amazing. Its easy to use and sexy looking, small sleek. The led light is cool too, nice and bright!. You dont need HD miniDV for high def, normal ones work. Be sure you have a firewire cable and a firewire port on your computer for the DV and HDV. Keep in mind there are certain programs that dont let you edit HD video, but the ones I am sure of are Sony Vegas and Pinnacle Studio. Be sure to check the system specification if you want to edit HD footage, you are gonna need a fairly buff computer.
The only downside if any, and im really prying here, would be that, unlike sony, there is no nightshot, nightvison that i could find. however, it does shoot awesome inn low light and have the 24p and 30p which are stunning. so i say BUY IT
Customer Review: Awesome video in the right hands!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this camera, some reviewers say it can get complex to use especially with 24p. If you are not familiar with HD and you want to get the best results and quality you will have to do some research to learn how to use it correctly. It is worth it! Go to [...] and search for HV30 and you will see what people do with this camera, you will be amazed.
Video quality is really good and handling of the camera is also really good.
I use Adobe Premiere CS3 to edit and it runs smooth, I have a dual core with 2GB of RAM.
I haven't notice any noise coming from the camera when you are recording.
I'm really happy with my purchase.
Remember amazon has a 30-day price protection so be sure to check if the camera goes down in price. I bought mine for $748 and one week later (sept 28, 2008) it was at $688. Called amazon and they gave the difference back to my card. Today (sept 29, 2008) the price went up again. Just check for the next 30 days after purchase. :)