Canon HV30 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Jan 28, 2008 5:00 PM
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Still Features (9.25)
Most HV20 and HV30 owners could care less about still image capture—both camcorders are the current reigning champs in consumer high definition video. But for those who want to take advantage of still image capture, Canon is no slouch. Images can be captured to MiniSD card in the following resolutions: 2048 x 1536 (4:3), 1920 x 1080 (16:9), 1440 x 1080 (4:3), or 640 x 480 (4:3) in memory mode. Normal, Fine, and Superfine are the quality options, and shooters can capture stills during playback or recording at 1920 x 1080 or 848 x 480.
The MiniSD card slot
The available shooting settings available in Photo mode, are Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Portrait. You can also choose how you want the HV30 to meter the image before capture using Evaluative, Center Weight Average, and Spot settings. Evaluative is the most common setting for most shooting environments, dividing the screen into several different areas of light to obtain the most well-rounded exposure. Center Weight Average places most of the emphasis on the subject in the middle of the frame. Spot Meter takes a particular part of the screen and matches its exposure to the subject in the center of the screen.
Images can be captured in four different variations—Single, Continuous Shooting, Hi-speed Continuous Shooting, and Auto Exposure Bracketing. Single takes just one image per snap while Continuous Shooting takes about three frames per second. Hi-speed Continuous Shooting records five fps and Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) takes three images—one at normal exposure, one at an EV notch up (+0.25EV), and one at an EV notch down (-0.25EV), in order to provide a variety of closely-linked exposures without having to manually adjust the camcorder..
The HV30’s SD card slot is located in the LCD cavity, housed by a rugged rubberized door that swings out on a hinge. The placement is not particularly tripod friendly, and you’ll have to rely on your fine motor skills. Just like Video mode, the HV30’s manual controls are available in the Joystick and Function menus. You can find Shutter Speed, Auto Focus, and Artificial Intelligent Auto Focus (AiAF) here. AiAF can’t be set to 9-point, 5-point, and 3-point detection like Canon’s digital cameras. Instead, the AiAF is entirely automatic and functions by concentrating on areas with the most contrast and automatically applying the focus to those areas.
Images captured on the HV30 are accompanied by a plethora of image data including an Exposure histogram graph, the shooting mode, image resolution, file size, aperture, quality mode, and date and time. High-end Canons are at the forefront of still image assistance, and the HV30 is proof.
The HV30 has a flash and video light, but due to the off-kilter placement of the flash, shooters might experience slight shadows or uneven lighting. A ten second Self Timer is available in the Photo Menu.
Photo playback
The HV30’s menu in Photo mode is nearly identical to the menu in Video mode, save certain digital camera-related options. The Joystick menu is lets you adjust Flash setting, apply Digital Image Effects, and adjust exposure. The Photo Function menu is accessed by pressing the Function button located below the Record Start/Stop button. The Photo Function menu is comprised of the following options:
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Function Menu (Photo) |
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| Shooting Modes | Program AE, Shutter Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE, Portrait |
| Shot Metering | Evaluative, Center Weight Average, Spot |
| White Balance | Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Manual |
| Image Effects | Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Soft Skin Detail, Custom |
| Capture Speed Mode | Single, Continuous Shooting, Hispeed Continuous Shooting, AEB |
| Digital Effects | Black & White, Sepia |
| Image Quality | LW (1920 x 1080), L (2048 x 1536), M (1440 x 1080), S (640 x 480) |
| Menu | Menu |
The Photo mode Function menu
To access the Photo Menu, select the Menu option in the Function menu. The Photo menu constitutes the following options:
| Administrative Menu (Photo) | |
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Camera Setup |
Auto Slow Shutter, Zoom Speed, AF Mode, AF Assist Lamp, Focus Priority, Image Stabilization, Self Timer |
| Rec/In Setup | Review, File Numbers |
| Play/Out Setup | Component Out |
| Display Setup | Brightness, Markers, Assist Function, TV Screen, Language |
| System Setup | Wireless Remote, Beep, Power Save |
| Date/Time Setup | Time Zone/District, Date/Time, Date Format |
| Close | |
The Photo mode main menu
Still Performance (7.01)
The still performance of the Canon HV30 was tested by shooting a Gretag Macbeth Color Checker chart under an even, bright light, then running those stills through Imatest imaging software. In order to get the best possible score, we raised the exposure two notches. At this setting, the camcorder produced a color error of 8.56. The average noise, according to Imatest, was 1.5975%, with a much higher noise in the blue channel. The saturation measured 104.4%.
In practice, the stills from the HV20 look pretty good. The camcorder is clearly no substitute for a dedicated still camera, but it would suffice in a pinch if you need to capture the moment, but you don’t need to capture it artfully. The pictures are noisier than you’d find on a camera.
Still Resolution (27.04)
The still resolution of the Canon HV30 was tested by shooting an Applied Image ISO 12233 resolution chart at an even, bright light, then importing those stills to Imatest imaging software. At best, the camcorder was able to produce a horizontal resolution of 1424 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) and a vertical resolution of 1335 lw/ph. These scores were, as expected, virtually identical to the Canon HV20.
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