I trust you all! :) Need recommendation!

[Ted]

Hello Jack (or anybody)

I found this wide-angle lens on B&H at a lower price than the one Jack suggested...

It's by Impact.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4 ... Grade.html

I'm wondering what your views on this are...

I know the axiom "Don't go for bargains..you'll get what you pay for!"

But for a savings of $60, I figure it doesn't hurt to ask.

(Or is this item not even what I'd want - a wide angle lens??)

(Still so very new!)

[rolawren]

Hi Ted,

I am leaning towards the HV30 (if I can get my hands on one) because I own PE4, I have purchased a Lynda.com training DVD on it, (LOL!) and frankly, you guys are very helpful and I appreciate having the members of this forum as a support system (HUGE benefit, IMHO)

http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3307&p=28610#p28610

Can I ask you about the HV30 you bought and the HV20 you had before? How is it for the manual focus? I see it has a wheel at the end of the lens. When I read the Camcorderinfo.com review, they did not seem wrapped about the focus wheel, it is a step down from the full focus ring, but it must be better than using a little slide then mucking around with a little joystick.

I am looking at buying a new Camcorder and has hoping for one with a manual focus ring and reasonable quality in low light, and reasonably light-weight, mini-DV (if possible). I do like Canons, but would consider Sony, Panasonic etc.

http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3309&p=28693#p28693

What you think, can you work with the Manual Focus dial, or is it too far away and fiddly to use? Would welcome yours or anyone else's advice on these manual focus dials, for ease of use.

Regards,

Robyn

[Ted]

Hey there, Robyn!

To be honest, I haven't used the camera's manual focus... (I'm an auto-focus newbie!)

If I do however, I'll be more than happy to offer feedback to you!

(I'm hoping others who own the HV30 will also chime in here!)

Sorry I wasn't more help!

[Bobby]

Re: HV30 manual focus.

I haven't used it a lot. It is a finger-wheel that you roll, not a ring or a slider. The wheel itself is not in the best of places if you have the LCD swung open as it is on the same side but towards the front, but better with the LCD closed. The action seems fairly smooth and repeatable. I guess I would sum it up as "usable" but not as good as a big ring.

The auto focus seems to work very well, however. I like that it has two different "sensitivity" speeds that you can set depending on how quickly you want it to react.

[rolawren]

Thanks Bob, had not thought that the manual focus would be hard to get to with the LCD open. That is quite a design flaw, but I suppose if the auto-focus is so good, then maybe you really don't need it. I would really like a manual focus ring, but to get that looks like I would have to go with a professional even dearer camera. I have not seen any Canons, Sony, Panasonics (these are the brands I have been looking at), that in this price range have a manual focus ring.

How does the HV30 go in low light, say twighlight - 15 / 20 minutes before sun-set? That is a time of day that I am hoping to get a camera that can is better than my current little one.

Do you have an external microphone with yours as well. I also posted on Ted's post enquiring about the ext. mic.

http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3307&p=28702#p28702

Cheers,

Robyn

[Bobby]

The focus is not hard to get to, just in an awkward place when the LCD is out. In that case, most people hold the LCD itself when out with their left hand. This is more comfortable and is steadier. To then use manual focus, you would have to put your left hand somewhere else.

I really don't have much experience yet shooting with the camera, so perhaps someone else can chime in on your other questions.

[jackfalbey]

In broad daylight, the HV20 & HV30 are amazing. The video is stunningly beautiful. In low light, even just indoors with lamps on, it suffers noticeably. The video becomes grainy and fuzzy from the gain. To get good low-light performance, you really need to go with a 3-chip camcorder with 1/3" or larger chips. Larger chips provide more sensing area for the light to be picked up, and 3-chip cameras break the light into different wavelengths before recording which allows for more accurate preservation of color and light data. There are some really good single-chip camcorders out there, but none have yet been able to match the low-light performance of the prosumer 3-chippers.

[Ken Jarstad]

In low light, even just indoors with lamps on, it suffers noticeably. The video becomes grainy and fuzzy from the gain.

That is not my experience. I posted previously about this on this topic. I don't know what you are seeing but my little wonder does not have grainy and fuzzy pictures in low light. The black areas are "tight-grained" and not objectionable - really, not noticeable. And I thought I was a perfectionist!

[jackfalbey]

Are you using different settings for bright vs. low-light conditions, Ken? I'm definitely getting different results than you are... I wouldn't say the low-light video is awful, but compared to well-lit video it is noticeable, and it's also noticeably worse than my PD170 in low light. I'll try to post some samples later if I have the time.

[Ken Jarstad]

I tried to upload a still to my gallery but was unsuccessful. It keeps asking for an album. I'm not uploading an album, just a single bmp file! Are there directions somewhere?

By bumping up gamma, brightness and contrast I can see noise in the black areas of my still but watching the video directly to LCD panel via HDMI the noise is simply not noticeable. My Sony Hi-8 did a commendable job in low light but the noise was pretty obvious. The HV20 is so very much better. If you can improve on the HV20 for low light video, good for you. But I swear the HV20 low light noise is quite unnoticeable.

I have been using the Cine Mode with custom contrast set to -1 and color depth set to +1 as recommended by some of the folks on the HV20 forum.

[rolawren]

Thanks everyone - I will ponder over the next few weeks, whether to buy a HV30, a second hand Canon XL2 (if I can find a reliable one), or spend more on a new Canon CMOS. I am finding it to be very hard in Australia to find what looks to be reliable (like the B&H) second-hand dealers of video and camera gear online. I have found your e-bay and other online advertising site types, but one online trading site that looked reasonably reliable worried me as the same pictures of an XL2 for sale was posted from two different cities sites in Australia and the ad looked almost identical. Unless there is the standard advertising photos to go with an XL2, but I am a bit suspicious.

I will keep looking for a reliable second-hand dealers in Australia, that specialise in video over the next couple of weeks. In the meanwhile, I am still thinking that the low-light reliablity of the Canon HV30 should be still an improvement on the Panasonic NV-GS60 Mini-DV that I currently have, and the other improvements just as the ability to add an external mic and light would be worth it.

http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3309&p=28728#p28389

Regards,

Robyn

[George Tyndall]

That means no more red line above the timeline and no more waiting forever to see if you like the changes!

Hi Jack,

When I attempted to render a mostly m2t Timeline of a long (1-hour-plus) movie In PE4.0, I noticed that only the short non-m2t portion (the title)turned from red to green. The remainder under the Work Area was colorless, and the movie played back very smoothly in the Monitor panel--even at full screen. When I pressed Enter, all that would happen is the the movie would begin to play from the beginning.

I probably should know the reason that m2t does not need rendering. Is it because m2t is the equivalent of MPEG2 and the latter is the format to which PE4.o renders?

Please elucidate when you have time.

[Chuck Engels]

Like DV-AVI in an SD project, m2t is the native format for HDV in Premiere Elements.
Native formats do not need rendering unless you add effects or transitions.

[George Tyndall]

Like DV-AVI in an SD project, m2t is the native format for HDV in Premiere Elements.
Native formats do not need rendering unless you add effects or transitions.

Thanks, Chuck.

BTW, that tip you gave me a while back about opening my clips in the Clip Monitor for editing before inserting them on the Timeline has been of IMMEASURABLE value. Before your suggestion, I was following the PE3.0 "How To" that suggests clicking on Sceneline then editing in the Monitor panel. I found that to be very confusing. But I still do occasionally switch to the Scenline view, namely, when I am trying to edit extremely precisely. Do you also sometimes do that or do you always edit in Timeline view?

[Chuck Engels]

Hi George,
I have never used Sceneline View at all except for a few tutorials.
If I need to do a real precise edit I put the clip on the Timeline and zoom all the way in.
I have the track set to Large Size and it shows all frames.

When first starting I had to learn the timeline, in version 1 and 2 that's all there was.
I am sure glad that's the way it was