It’s Another Canon

I recently purchased another camcorder for my videography business. After much research, some saving, and the down payment for a wedding I will do, I purchased the Canon Vixia, HV30.

I LOVE the features of this sub-$1000 camera! I had initially set my eye on the Sony DSR PD-170, but it has been incredibly hard to save that much cash, and I refuse to go into debt for a new camcorder. When I came across the Canon, I couldn’t believe the feature set at this price point. It lacks a few things I thought I would need for the business, but I am slowly realizing, those things are not necessary for success. Below, I will list some of the features I view as “pros” and then I will list those that I view as “not necessarily cons”.

PROS:

• HDV and standard definition
• Wide screen (16:9) aspect ration (as well as 4:3)
• Integrated lens cover
• Manual controls for focus, white balance, exposure
• 24p (PF24)
• 30p (PF30)
• Advanced Accessory Shoe Terminal
• microphone inupt
• audio jack for monitoring your audio

CONS (not necessarily):

• The manual focus wheel is difficult to operate smoothly and the placement of the focus button is awkward
• The color of the built-in light (for video and as the flash for stills) is hideous. It is a very bright LED, which could be nice, but the hue makes me want to vomit.

I am still learning to use all of the manual controls and still learning to mix and match settings. I have seen footage from this camera on my standard definition (POT = plain ‘ol television), but not on a high definition one yet. Though I can say the footage looks very nice, I can’t say how it will look in high definition yet. Soon I will take it to my mom’s house and hook it up via the included cable and have a look at it. I will update later.