Canon HV30

Comparison
Canon HV20
Well, this is going to be electrifying. The Canon HV20 ($999.00 MSRP) shares the same excellent 1/2.7-inch CMOS chip, as well as the same architecture and manual controls. At a glance, the HV30 is merely an HV20 with a ravishing coat of black paint. But under the hood, it’s a slightly different story. The HV30 is turbocharged with 30P mode in addition to 60i and 24P. Canon recommends this setting for video destined for the internet. It also makes a handy tool in your bag o’ aesthetics. 30P has a distinct look that will appeal to a lot of shooters. Canon also revamped the Zoom toggle, hot shoe cover, and added a non-solarizing LCD screen with enhanced color reproduction. Are these earth-shattering alterations? No. But those who missed out on the HV20 will enjoy the HV30’s additional stocking stuffers.

Sony HDR-HC9
Much like Canon, Sony took their highly acclaimed 2007 HDV model (the HDR-HC7), dipped it in a vat of glossy piano black paint, added a few new features, and created their 2008 model. The HDR-HC9 now includes Peaking, Center Mark, and combined Spot Meter + Manual Focus tools that enable one-touch infinity focusing. Its predecessor was a strong camcorder in its own right, but we felt that the video quality was not quite up to par with Canon’s. The HDR-HC9 ($1099) offers the same 1/2.9-inch ClearVID CMOS chip, solid construction, and touch screen LCD as the HDR-HC7.

We haven’t gotten out hands on Sony’s new black beauty, but for all intents and purposes, it’s safe to say you can expect the same performance as the HDR-HC7. That means a beautiful picture in bright light and a decent performance in low light. The sad truth is that the minor upgrades on the HDR-HC9 are still far behind the power of Sony’s first generation HDV camcorder, the 2005 HDR-HC1.

JVC GZ-HD7
JVC’s top dog in their high definition junkyard is a masterpiece of handling. The GZ-HD7 ($1699.95 MSRP, but much lower on the street) is decked out with a manual focus ring, Focus Assist button, and external Aperture and Shutter buttons with jog dial control. This hulking HDD beast feels great in the hand. Unfortunately, the GZ-HD7’s video performance fizzled. Between the noise, motion trailing, and inadequate low light performance, we were left wanting more. Some of the problem may be due to the GZ-HD7’s peculiar MPEG-2 Transport Stream compression, which may have a hard time finding software compatibility when recording in the highest quality. Sure, the GZ-HD7 handles better than any other consumer camcorder on the market, but what good is it if you don’t like the video?

Canon HF10
Canon believes flash – or solid-state – memory is the future, and a lot of people agree. Their new HF10 ($1099 MSRP) records to SDHC cards and an internal 16GB of flash memory. Video is compressed in the AVCHD format. Breaking a year’s winning tradition, the camcorder is equipped with a different chip than the 2007 HD models. The HF10 has a 1/3.2-inch CMOS chip under the hood. Unlike its siblings, the HF10 is capable of shooting "Full HD" at 1920 x 1080 instead of 1440 x 1080. Canon also pumped up the data rate to 17Mbps. It will be interesting to see what effects the new processing and slightly boosted data rate will have on image quality, and we’ll let you know as soon as we get our hands on an HF10. Other perks include an LCD-mounted joystick, sleek, compact body, and good old Canon manual controls. Both the HV30 and HF10 can shoot in 30P and 24P, and sport an all black design. This might be a tight race, but we’ll keep you posted.

Who It’s For
Point-and-Shooters
Once you familiarize yourself with all the greatness the HV30 has to offer, you’ll be screaming out of the starting gates. Beginners—better stick with a Sony.

Budget Consumers
Under a grand for a slightly revamped version of our Camcorder of the Year!? For the best in high definition, you can’t beat that.

Still Photo / Video Camera Hybrid
The still features abound on the HV30, but Sony offers more megapixels. It’s a draw.

Gadget Freaks
30P! Non-solarizing LCD screen! ALL BLACK! Camcorder geeks near and far will gather to revel on the Best Buy show floor.

Manual Control Freaks
The HV30 stocks the shooter with everything they need, and a bit more. With Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Exposure, Focus, and White Balance, you can go to town from a bevy of different angles. A focus ring would have been nice, though.

Pros / Serious Hobbyists
At the consumer level, you just can’t beat this image. Is it Spielberg’s next camera of choice? No, probably not. Could it stand up as B-roll for an indie flick? Hella yes.

Conclusion
The Canon HV30, like its predecessor, the HV20, is a very strong camcorder. The HV20 was praised, above all, for its video performance in both bright and low light. That much has remained true. The imaging system is identical. Unless the competition has made big strides forward since last year (and they may have), Canon may hold top honors once again.

The changes on this generation’s model range from the significant to the minor, but they are all improvements. Unlike Sony, Canon has not taken any backwards steps in their HDV line. Each year has built on the previous, with useful additions. The HV30’s biggest upgrade is the 30P frame rate. Canon claims that this will improve video destined for the web. We’ll have a special article putting that to the test very soon. Aside from that use, the 30P mode simply looks great. It has all the aesthetic benefits of 24P motion without quite as much blurring. It also increases sensitivity in low light compared to 1080/60i recording. Smaller upgrades include an improved zoom toggle and a glossy black finish. The new and improved LCD is not larger or of a higher resolution, but viewing the image from angles is easier and the colors appear stronger.

The real question on our minds is this: how much longer can tape-based HDV hang on? In most other aspects – convenience, portability, capacity, and ease of transfer to computer – tape has already lost to HDD and solid state media. The thin margin of victory is in HDV’s superior compression, which will keep the true video nuts in the tape-camp for a little while longer. The Canon HV30 is an excellent reason to stay with HDV for the time being.