Canon HV30 Review

A Review of the Canon HV30

This review in Plain English is part of a series of videos designed to help PR professionals and small businesses to buy the right equipment to succeed in the digital age.

The need to use cameras like the Canon HV30 is becoming essential if companies want to stay one step ahead of their competitors. Vlogging,nike shox, online promos and video news releases are becoming (or should be) more common practice, so it’s not a bad time to learn how to use a decent one.

The HV30 is marketed as a family camcorder but we have used successfully as a back up camera if we needed to travel light. The interview with Glenn Hughes was filmed entirely on an HV30 and can be seen here.

Price range varies around the $800 800E ￡800 region. The strength of the yen has pushed the price up around 10-15% in the last year or so it’s worth shopping around places like Amazon and eBay for the best price.Canon HV30

The first thing that distinguishes the Canon HV30 from the cheaper cameras like the Flip and Kodak ZIE is its capacity to react to different lighting situations successfully. We have owned cheaper camcorders which could not handle action and water shots as the automatic focus struggled.

I will be reviewing these cheaper cameras and how they are improving in a separate video.

Having used more expensive cameras for filming TV productions,polo ralph lauren, I can say that the light sensor in the Canon HV30 is second to none. Inside this camera is an amazing box of tricks and can handle most filming conditions.

If you are not in a position to buy a whole studio set up with lights, at this stage, the Canon HV30 would be a reliable starting point.

Secondly it can be connected to an external stereo microphone via a “beachbox” made by Beachtek. You can then connect any external mike you wish and this will distinguish your production from 90% of stuff on YouTube which is, at best,nike shox, ordinary. Most of the cheaper camcorders of the market do not allow this and their internal mikes vary in quality The one on the HV30 isn’t great so do be prepared to at least spend on a beach box and microphone set up.

The only downer was the joystick which took me quite a while to master when I started using this camera, or its predecessor the HV20, a couple of years ago. The functions are fairly logical once you get used to it. Actually the more expensive cameras like the Sony HVR A1E are easier to use. But once you have mastered the controls,vibram five fingers, you can move the camera from automatic to manual and become more creative with your filming.

So I have no hesitation in recommending the Canon HV30 for Vlogs, online promos and video news releases where the quality of the production is a factor.