Newbie question re: Canon HV20

[lilewis]

I'm intrigued by all I've been reading about the Canon HV20. but before I order one, I have some questions about it's manual shutter speed.

1. If I wanted to take time-lapse of say, a flower opening, would it be as easy
as setting a very slow shutter speed while recording, then playback at
normal speed?

2. And vice versa, If I wanted to create a slow motion video of my someone
running, would it be as simple as setting a very fast shutter speed, then
playback at normal?

Or am I oversimplifying the process - and to do thse things would instead require transferring the video to my already overloaded pc and then buying and learning video editing software (which from what I think from a lot of lurking) would require a lot new technical learning to use properly.

[Artscroll]

What you are wanting to do involves "frame rates" and not "shutter speeds" if you do this with a video camera. Wear and tear on video heads with timelapse shoots is a no no (in my opinion). I would do this with a still camera with timelapse capability.

[Kdawg]

wait a sec, the hv20 has variable frame rates? It records to tape though doesnt it? I heard it does 24p and 60i.

[Barry_Green]

It doesn't do variable frame rates, no.

[vsansal]

I'm intrigued by all I've been reading about the Canon HV20. but before I order one, I have some questions about it's manual shutter speed.

1. If I wanted to take time-lapse of say, a flower opening, would it be as easy
as setting a very slow shutter speed while recording, then playback at
normal speed?

2. And vice versa, If I wanted to create a slow motion video of my someone
running, would it be as simple as setting a very fast shutter speed, then
playback at normal?

Or am I oversimplifying the process - and to do thse things would instead require transferring the video to my already overloaded pc and then buying and learning video editing software (which from what I think from a lot of lurking) would require a lot new technical learning to use properly.

If you want to do timelapse you can not do it only by using HV20 but if you plug a laptop from DV out and capture to your hard disk you can do timelapse.

[lilewis]

Thanks for your quick replies. Actually now that you mentioned frame rates and shutter speed in the same sentence, I realize I should have recognized the difference and what each does.

And thanks for that easy to understand explanation of how to timelapse, vsansal