Canon VIXIA HV30

I bought this 4 months ago as a factory refurb and was impressed with the image quality but that was about it. It did not have 1/2 of the functions of my sony pc-101 such as the ability to capture stills… from the video, or make low resolution video clips to the memory card that can be easily and quickly posted online. It doesn't have night vision either but it does well in low light. It has cheap and flimsy plastic covers for all of the ports that don't work well, always coming open. The tape transport is very slow and cumbersome to operate. Scrolling forever through the functions to make simple adjustments gets old fast. The cheap, soft plastic lens screw mounts are already stripping from taking on and off the wide angle converter. My god, how many pennies did Canon save by skimping on steel? The big problem was that I found a fiber strand inside the lens filament 4 months after I got it, it had been there since I bought it I just hadn't looked that closely, not having a big HD tv I had only viewed the video on the small screen. I have a Century optics wide angle fisheye on the lens so I couldn't notice it looking at the lens either. Anyway, the pathetic issue was that Canon refused to do the repair because it was one month past the warranty, although it was obviously a manufacturers defect. and was present when I purchased it. I will not buy Canon again, I have no patience for companies that do shoddy work and take no responsibility for their actions or their product. I certainly will not be giving my money to support such poor service and products. There are enough other companies out there that work hard and do a good job.

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I love it. I have had no problems and no noise in my videos. I will be purchasing the directional mic for better quality sound, but the sound is good for a camcorder. The picture is amazing. It has a… perfect crystal clear color and zoom quality to it. My daughter used it to view drivers behind us through the side view mirror and the picture was so detailed you could have brought it into a court to I.D. them (if they were criminals that is) I bought a refurbished unit and have had the best success with it. I didn't want a hard drive unit as these tend to break to easily from what I have read. Plus, eventually the hard drive fills up and forces you to dump and edit. I'm lazy, so I still have videos from 10 yrs ago that need editing. I though about flash drive, but wondered what I would do with all of my mini-dv tapes that I have yet to edit ( my old sharp bit the dew light dust after over five years of hard service). This camera, for me, was the perfect choice. It will play all of my old dv tapes with a minor adjustment (you have to get out of Hi def mode to play old tapes) and the playback does not suffer a bit when transferred to my computer for editing and recording to disc. While the flash drive units are nice and may be the future, I still like my tapes. They are cheap, dependable, and easy to carry,use, and save. Also, most high end pro models are still on tape, so that spoke volumes to me. I also love all the different shooting modes to play with. I think I'll have years of fun shooting videos with this unit I love my camera!

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I bought my HV30 a couple of months ago, not exactly knowing much about the camera. To be honest, I only happened upon it because the salesperson pointed me to it. Looking back, he knew exactly what I… needed. The HV30 is a nice piece of machinery, and you can pretty much get the feel of it from the minute you first hold it in your hand. Honestly, I found it very ergonomic, and everything (well, except for the manual focus) is at a comfortable reach. The white balance is really effective, too, and the autoexposure does the job. There are multiple formats in which to shoot, my favorite being Cinema mode with custom white balance (or Tungsten, if the situation calls for it.) The HV30 isn't perfect, though. For one, the gears in the tape compartment are REALLY loud, and you will always catch them in your shoots, unless you get yourself a decent external or shotgun mic. Personally, I like the Rode VideoMic. Also, the manual focus is uncomfortable, as it is all the way near the lens. The main reason why I like this camcorder, however, is that, for a few extra bucks, you can essentially make this into an XL2, which is my favorite prosumer camera at the moment. All you need is a good external mic, and a decent telephoto/wide-angle lens converter. So if you're a prosumer, or if you're looking for some professionality in your shots, you want the Canon VIXIA HV30. If you're a point and shoot kind of person, though, you're better off getting an earlier model, or a cheaper camera altogether.

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Let me start out by saying that this camera is probably one of or the best consumer camcorders on the market. The HV30's incredible image quality and low light performance is unmatched by any other… camcorders I have seen or worked with. The 24p mode is spectacular for creating a Hollywood Style image similar to the quality produced by professional film cameras. When I saw the unbelievable low light performance I was impressed and had one of those moments where what is reality seems like fantasy. I've worked a point and shoot digital camera with a movie mode on it and for the most part it does a pretty good job when it is posted on [...] in HD. However, the 720p video produced by this camera is just one aspect of the entire product. I found that when edited with programs such as Final Cut Express and Sony Vegas Movie Studio the video was pixilated and was lacking in the accurate color department. What can you expect, it's point and shoot video. The Canon Vixia's HD CMOS sensor produces accurate rich colors and incredible image quality. To be frank, this camera's video is in a totally other league then that of a point and shoot. The other great thing about this camera is it's accessory hot shoe, which enables you to attach video lights and microphones. This was one aspect I was looking for when I was in the market for a camera. Now, out of all these great features there were a couple of things I disliked about the camera. The first con of this product was the fact that is shot using an outdated shooting format - TAPES!!!!!!!! When using tapes, after you are finished shooting your shots, you have to rewind through about an hour of HD video. I used to shoot with a Sony Handycam, which did everything I needed it to do. Now with modern tape cameras the only way to connect your footage to a computer and edit it is through a technology developed by Apple known as "firewire connectivity". This allows one to connect their Mini DV or HDV camcorder up to their computer as long as the computer has what is called a 1394 port in it. Once connected, you have to make sure that your computer even recognizes that something is plugged in. Then you can open up your editing suite and drag whatever media is on your camera to the timeline or media window. But in order to capture your video you have to fallow the steps listed below: 1. Make sure your tape is rewound to desired point in tape. 2. Connect camcorder. 3. Open software suite and hit capture video. 4. Select play on camcorder. 5. Select record in the capture window to record desired footage. 6. If certain footage is overlooked rewind to desired point on tape. Now here are the steps for working with a more modern technology known as "SD Cards" 1. Take card out of camera/camcorder. 2. Slip card into a card reader or memory car slot. 3. Open software suite. 4. Drag desired footage to timeline. Just to clarify the 6th step what "If certain footage is overlooked rewind to desired point on tape" means is that the camcorder will play without stopping, unless you his stop of course. If you miss a certain fragment of footage you have to rewind the tape to the desired point. WARNING!!!!!!! This review will now take a personal view on my experiences with this camcorder. I was in the market for a new camera after I had a bad experience with my point and shoot camera, which was mentioned earlier. I had my eye on a JVC Everio GZ-HD7 mainly because it looked cool. It was then that I came across the Canon Vixia HV20 and soon it's brother the Canon Vixia HV30. I had been saving all of the money I had to purchase what I thought would be a fantastic camera. And all I mainly asked for on my birthday was money. During the previous months I had been washing cars on the weekends for $10 dollars plus monthly allowance. The time finally came when I had gathered all of profits and had invested what looked like a fantastic camera. In short, I had done lots of research and had even donated about an hour of my weekend to earning money for the camera, tapes and a firewire cable. The camera finally arrived in the brown box that my mom had brought in since it had been delivered to her work office. I opened everything up and was really happy with it - I was filming everything I could with the machine. Then came the day when I tried to connect the camera up with our peace of junk HP desktop computer. Little did I know that my camera would not connect with the firewire 1394 port in the front of the computer or in the back port. The computer would just not connect with the camera. My mom had brought home her Powerbook G4 17" Apple laptop that had a dazzling array of ports including a not one but two 1394 firewire ports. Of course the camera connects up and I was able to capture video with the computer that did not belong to me. My dad even tried connecting the camera with his dell at his work office and he came home empty handed. It was then that we decided to try one last thing before sending it back - we called the Canon customer service line. The people at the support center are very nice and show you respect when you are confronting them with your problems. But after about 3 hours on the phone we still came up empty handed. It was then that we sent the camcorder back and got a full refund from Amazon. I had learned my lesson the hard way and that was that you should never buy anything that shoots to a tape format. I had saved a little bit more and by January I had my own Macbook White (I bought using the money from the camcorder plus extra from the money I earned of the past months). WARNING!!!!!!!!!!! This review will now resume to an overall perspective of the camera. So where do you stand on this issue? Do you think that the fault should be place on Canon or on HP? I would have to say that HP should take part of the blame for manufacturing a computer with now working firewire ports. Canon should also take the blame for even manufacturing a camcorder that still uses tapes. But it is possible that the blame could be set fourth on the makers of the firewire cable or even the tapes. I have looked at my experience as a lesson and have set my sights on a different camcorder that is still made by Canon. The Canon Vixia HF200 would be a better buy for many reasons including: SDHC memory card recording - Canon HD Camera System - Instant AF, Super Range OIS, Face Detection - Compact - Video Snapshot - Vivid Color - 24p Cinema Mode - Advanced accessory hot shoe - Digic DV III Image Processor - A 3.3 CMOS Sensor (HV30 = 2.9) And ..... NO TAPES...... SDHC RECORDING!!!!!!!!! If I were you, don't waste you time with tapes even if your computer is compatible with them - tapes are a pain and are out of date. I am hoping that you will not follow in my footsteps and waste your time with tapes. If you are trying to be a professional film maker start with the HF200. I'm not pro and you may be thinking that I am lying because some studios still use tapes but I have scene some behind the scenes footage of studios that are going tape less. Whoever you are, a future filmmaker or a parent trying to capture a recital or soccer game, be smart and go tape less. IF YOU READ THIS WHOLE REVIEW OR EVEN PARTS OF I APPRECIATE THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN TIME TO LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE HAD TO SAY. Thank you.

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