Canon HV30...

I don't know if this part of the forum just deals with video from dslr's, but here's a small test clip from my Canon hv30. It's a clip of a skateboarding trick that I tried to slow down. If you have any questions, feel free to ask...

HV30 Slow motion test

Looks pretty sweet.

What editing program did you use?

If you use Final Cut Pro, you should consider (on a clip like that) messing around with the time remapping (ie speed up parts and slow down parts).

http://divergentshadow​s.com/dv/fcp/notes/spe​ed.shtml

Tip: Use the pen tool to add keyframes (helps).

Looks good BTW.

Thanks, I use Sony Vegas. I'm able to slow/speed parts easily in this program. I just wanted the full clip slow.

Nice video, but as for the video camera, the HV30 is a POS, if doing any shooting in Low light its about worthless..

Forgive my ignorance but how fast do you have to shoot to get smooth slow motion? Does the hv30 have variable shutter speed?

Ya, unfortunately it is crap at low light, haha. But overall, I like it.

But you are able to change the shutter speed. From 1/15th to 1/2000th.

Nice video. We bought an HV30 a few months ago, and my son and I are dabbling with it (him more than me). He wants to do the slo-motion test as well. We have Sony Vegas Pro 8, and we just haven't taken the time to do it yet. We know we can easily CTRL- click to change the duration of an event, but I was wondering if you've found any "best" shutter speeds for slow-motion (and heck, for fast-motion, too - we're thinking of videoing us doing yard work, then speeding it up to a very short, fast clip).

BTW, we love the HV30, but it's amazing how fast the AVCHD stuff is catching up now. We chose tape because we both want frame-editing, but the bit rate on the AVCHD is now very good. Ah, well, what can you do.

I love my HV30 but yes, low light shooting is not its best suit. One of the first things I ran into was trying to remove the accessory shoe that's tethered to the camera now (wasn't previously on the HV20 that my brother and Dad own). Here's a post that details how to remove it safely and successfully:

http://petersalvia.wor​dpress.com …0-accessory-shoe-removal/

Hope this helps!

The HV30 is one of the camcorders I am looking at to capture my kid's HS indoor basketball games. Nothing fancy, just sitting at the top of the stands with the camcorder focused on the offensive end of the court. I may take the opportunity to pan the action as time goes on. The HS gyms in our area range from fairly bright to what I would call "overcast".

I am also considering the HF11 or HG-21/HG-20, but I keep hearing about issues with recording fast motion under AVCHD (MPEG-4) as compared to MPEG-2. For my basketball shooting needs, would I be better off sticking with an MPEG-2 camcorder (which typically means miniDV tapes) or would an AVCHD camcorder be sufficient?

Budget would be anything up to $2000. I am already figuring in the purchase of an external microphone to better pick up sounds from the court and to minimize the sounds coming from the camcorder and the fans near by.

Severechase wrote in post #6495333
Nice video, but as for the video camera, the HV30 is a POS

ORLY?

Name a sub 800 dollar camcorder thats going to do a better job...

I have the HV30 and I have to admit I was a bit dissapointed by the noise in low light, but before the HV30 I had a Sony TRV17, and it was no better. So I'm guessing there will be no sub $1000 camera that will give me a noise free image in low light. On the other hand I'm spoiled with my Panasonic AG-DVX100AP, a fantastic SD camera. The HV30 rocks in good light, it's a good camera for family use.

joruiz wrote in post #6693813
The HV30 rocks in good light, it's a good camera for family use.

How about filming indoor high school basketball with the HV30? Is there enough light in most HS gyms for the HV30 to be a decent performer?

The HV30 is bad in low light, but what situations would you need to shoot in low light outside of a wedding, recital with minimal lighting, or family event (in which case noise isn't as important as the content)?

For professional purposes you'll want to move onto a 3 chipper but for personal use, or daylight shooting, it produces a great image and has the manual controls to take your personal video an extra step further. Plus you can put a home made 35mm adapter on there for next to nothing and get some stuff that looks like it was make with a $10,000 camera assuming the lighting is right and the camera is handled well.

It will be a great camera for a high school basketball game, no worries there.

Matthew Craggs wrote in post #6705766
The HV30 is bad in low light, but what situations would you need to shoot in low light outside of a wedding, recital with minimal lighting, or family event (in which case noise isn't as important as the content)?

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It will be a great camera for a high school basketball game, no worries there.

High school basketball is the primary reason why I am getting a camcorder, with the HV30 the leading candidate. I just couldn't deal with taking photos and watching the games at the same time. If I were doing this for a living, that would be a different story. But this is for personal interest and maybe that of some of the other parents. Good to hear that the HV30 will do well under the lights of a typical HS basketball gym.

I just haven't convinced myself that I will tolerate panning the camcorder back and forth while watching the games. Someone on another forum suggested sitting as high up in the stands as possible and shoot the games in a mostly static, wide fashion. But even with a WA adapter for the HV30, I don't think I can get away without some panning unless I choose to fix the camcorder mostly on the offensive end of the court.