Canon HV30 / HV30E newegg.com User Reviews

This cam is everything they said it would be. The video is great. You will want to get an extra batt.

Batt life is short.

Overall a great camera. I also ordered a raynox 6600 52mm wide angle lens for this camera.

Amazing quality footage! This camera surpasses any other camera I have ever owned. You can shoot in 30p, 24p (recorded as 60i with a 3:2 pulldown), and 60i. You can manually adjust any setting on the camera including focus, exposure, white balance, and ap...

The manual focus wheel is a bit small. The video light is weak. HDV records at 1440x1080 unless you output to HDMI.

Overall, anyone looking to buy an HD camcorder should definitely consider this camera. We bought some Sony's that took a dive and replaced with this camera with no disappointment! Highly recommended for the consumer as well as anyone "filling in the gaps"...

We use this camera for our television production company and can't say enough about it's ability. While some of the specs are a little off for our needs, when we compare actual DV footage from this camera to our projects XL-1s even our professional camera...

The toggle switch gets in the way sometimes. Low-light is a tiny issue, but hopefully, people are using lights when they use this camera anyway. The built-in camera mic is a typical camcorder mic...not very good for professional use, but as a consumer cam...

Very good quality for the close to no budget filmmaker, but you'll need editing software, and either time to learn a free way to capture 24p, or money. Using the HDMI port requires either a VERY jacked computer with added PCI card, or a portable dedicated...

I posted these comments for the HV20, but they apply here too. Differences between HV20 and HV30: HV20 records 24p, 30i - HV30 records 24p, 30p&i. HV30 has a better zoom rocker, low glare LCD, and is black. Other Pros are: Price. Great quality in a small,...

Low light image grainy unless you use the aperture trick. ""Hidden"" abilities require time, effort, or money to use. *24p recording is both sent to HDMI and saved to tape in a 60i ""wrapper"" that editing software doesn't convert properly to true 24p, be...

It's difficult to adjust the focus, I find myself just sliding my finger along the wheel from above. the built in mic is one of the better ones i've seen. It still pics up just a little camera noise though (because it still uses tape and has moving parts)...

This camera makes you look good. The colors are so vivid and the custom setting are easy to use. If you just want a nice camera but have no idea what all the gizmos do, you can throw it in auto and the picture always turns out nice. For those pro users wh...

The construction is rather weak. after having it a few weeks I was capturing the video on my PC (used sony vegas 8, no problems) and as i was getting out of my chair, stepped on the firewire and sent the camera falling about a foot or two onto the floor....

You will not be disappointed by this camera! It is amazing. I wish I had not wasted any time with standard def cameras. As usual Newegg shipped it fast, and it got here a day early.

I cannot think of enough adjectives to describe this camera. I initially bought a Canon FS100 at a local BigBox because I was reluctant to spend $1000 for a camera. However, I was very disappointed in the SD video quality put out by the FS100. So, I found...

It is a little harder to edit and burn HD video on your PC, software choices are more limited. Also, you will need a more powerful PC. My current PC renders SD video just fine.... but it took 45 min to render a 45 sec HD WMV clip...so I have a new Opteron...

Bottom line, if you're either a semi-pro video producer, or just want VERY nice-looking HD family videos, this is a great camera. The menu is very accessible, it's Canon so you know the image sensors and lenses are top-notch, and the HD coming out of it i...

VERY affordable camera. Video quality is very close to on-par with some MUCH more expensive offerings. The build quality is nice, and while AVCHD flash memory cameras are awesome, it's nice to still have a few HDV cameras as an option (since the quality i...

Battery life can be a bit short, and there aren't many good long-life options out there...but it's a new camera. Other than that, no complaints.

DV tape believe it or not is still one of the best formats. The documentries on TV and movie industry still uses this format (MiniDV) for some projcets as does the higher end Canon XL video cameras. The other newer AVHCD format looks promising but I decid...

I bought this camera for doing some higher end video and for a graduate school documentry I will be doing later this year. Great camera for beginner Hi-Def video. Has plenty of options such as adjustable mic input and mic readout, 24p, 30p, HDV, and Stand...

The buit in mic sound is...ok, but I would recommend a external mic for more advanced projects. I added on a audio-technica ATR-25 Stereo Condenser mic from newegg that fits into the shoe on top of the HV30 and plugs into the side, which helped with the s...

No tape or firewire cable comes with this package? I was a little thrown off by this. It's not really a big deal, I just didn't know that they were going to be missing when I bought this product. So if you don't have a firewire cable get one. The HV-30's...

I spent almost 4 months trying to figure out what camera to buy and it became a toss-up between this and an Xh-A1, the hv-30 was cheaper so I bought it. I am extremely happy with the product I got. If you are considering this product and not sure about wh...

There is one complaint that I have with the camera. Although it does have a manual focus, it is located right near the front of the camera and is a very small dial. I haven't really been able to adjust this without causing some movement in my picture unle...

I mostly use it to tape rock shows and have handed them off to two professional camera men to tape my own shows. They were both wowed by the features & performance - including: the low light performance, true 24p, white/gray 3rds grid, gain warning/assist...

I own two of this cam's sister model, the HV20. There really aren't that many differences between the two besides the color of the case and the 30i support. HV20/30s really don't really have any competition in this price range. It's easily moded, feature...

Capture format is 1440x1080 due to limitations of HDV tape. Also, doesn't not have lanc input. Though, HDMI does upconvert to full 1920x1080, and remote has most of the functionality that the lanc control would provide.