Who's planning to buy an HV20?

Still goin at $900 at places like B&H and Adorama, those are the only prices I trust. Most of those other sites (DBuys, butterflyphoto) are the notorious and Evil New York Shops, they will bait you... and then switch you. And then you'll be like, damn wtf, where am I? They must have switched me but they never told me where they were switchin me to! So if you do buy from them make sure you have mapquest on your phone so you can find your way back home :)
 
Barry_Green said:
The price isn't all that "gradient" either; I got my HV20 for not much more than that from an authorized Canon dealer.
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From whom did you order, if I can ask?
 
Barry_Green said:
I was told it'd be here by the first week of April, and maybe sooner.
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He told you that? Damn they never tell me anything! It must be the pull of your name Barry, they just can't help it ("that was Barry Green on the line, send him an HV10 with the 10 crossed off with a 20... use a sharpie and scotch tape... we gotta stall for time dammit!")

Actually it was funny, the first thing Chris told me was "Holy Crap I thought his name seemed familier!" to which I responded, "That's right... him and me are Bros, we are gonna hang out with our HV20's and shoot the next Star Wars fan film like Dorkman vs. Ryan." and this is where I heard the click.

*everything underlined was not actually said, rather it was made up by Glimmer's overactive imagination.
 
I'm sure I don't need to ask this but I'm going to any way 'cause I'm a geek jones'n fo r a fix: if you own an A1 and get an HV20, please put the HV20 through it's paces and report back with your opinios/critiques/raves as how it stands up to the A1.

Thanks,
 
Just got the HV20 today. I gotta say when we compared the image to the H1 and the A1, to me, the image looked actually better on the HV20. It seemed to be sharper in my opinon. The H1 was going into the Panasonic 17 monitor SDI and the HV20 going in RGB. You would think it would be the other way around. From what I could see, the image for a $,1000 camera was incredible. This camera basically says what do you need a 3 chip camera for. I think the HV20 chip might be noisier than on the other cameras but for the money, it's a great second camera and would cut in nicely. Anyone who's thinking about getting this camera shouldn't hesitate. It's that good.
 
Spinflight said:
Just got the HV20 today. I gotta say when we compared the image to the H1 and the A1, to me, the image looked actually better on the HV20. It seemed to be sharper in my opinon. The H1 was going into the Panasonic 17 monitor SDI and the HV20 going in RGB. You would think it would be the other way around. From what I could see, the image for a $,1000 camera was incredible. This camera basically says what do you need a 3 chip camera for. I think the HV20 chip might be noisier than on the other cameras but for the money, it's a great second camera and would cut in nicely. Anyone who's thinking about getting this camera shouldn't hesitate. It's that good.
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Did you have any problem with the auto-focus while zooming in? A couple of people have complained about that.

I plan on getting the HV20 next week.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Look forward to high quality digital projection at many festival venues.
In fact I wish we had a list of Who is still projecting Film and Who is projecting digital .??
I am a long term film (35mm) D P and even I see the writing on the wall .

Film is still the best, but I worry less and less about FILM PROJECTION .

First of the Canon hv20 can give you more picture info(than a dvx100a) at 24p 1080 ! So I dont see why you Cant use it in a tape to film transferr ..i am sure of it .
But you better hold down all highlights and supress use of red in ANY scene .

I love this thread as I am learning about the weakness of this camera -But it wont stop me from buying it .
Cheers
Bruce
 
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Kyser said:
Did you have any problem with the auto-focus while zooming in? A couple of people have complained about that.

I plan on getting the HV20 next week.

Cheers,

Mike
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You have to get used to the instant auto focus characteristic of this camera. When I zoom in with my HVX or the FX1, the final focus is slow and predictable whereas the focus on the HV20 "pops" into focus after the zoom creating a feel of not focusing properly. Each camera is doing the same thing but it's just really different the way the HV20 does it. The snap into focus the HV20 does is something you have to get used to.
 
The image stabilizer is no joke. Try to shoot with it off and you'll get dizzy. The camera mic seems to be really good as well as the speaker for playback. You get a lot of bang for the buck.

When you buy your extra battery make sure you get a charger for it as well since the power supply charges the battery while attached to the camera. This sucks but oh well, you can't have everything for a grand. The tiny little light built into the camera is pretty effective up to about 5 feet or so. The drawback to the light is that it is positioned under the lens which doesn't make for great lighting. I'm surpised at how much light this tiny little bulb puts out though.
 
Barry says that a 1 chip camera can't compare to a 3 chip camera. On principle, I agree. All things being equal, more imaging surface area equals more image capturing accuracy.

But I was wondering how a CMOS chip would compare to a CCD--or to three CCDs.

It could go either way. HDV doesn't have the power of DVCPROHD (argue with me if you will, but the truth is in the numbers) so I don't think this is going to replace the HVX anytime soon. It will give the F1 a run for its money, though.
 
rapsucks said:
Barry says that a 1 chip camera can't compare to a 3 chip camera. On principle, I agree. All things being equal, more imaging surface area equals more image capturing accuracy.

But I was wondering how a CMOS chip would compare to a CCD--or to three CCDs.

It could go either way. HDV doesn't have the power of DVCPROHD (argue with me if you will, but the truth is in the numbers) so I don't think this is going to replace the HVX anytime soon. It will give the F1 a run for its money, though.
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I don't even want to shoot with my FX1 now that I've compared the footage. I only use the Sony for shooting scrapbook personal material anyway. My HVX is the main camera. I would never show up to a set with the HV20 as a main camera. It would just look silly even though the footage is cleaner than the FX1.

Whatever Canon is doing they're doing HDV right. You can even capture RGB to DVCPRO HD with a capture card and edit in DVCPRO. The footage holds up very well. I didn't capture sound so I'm not sure if both RGB and Compsite/LR sound outputs remain live when plugged in.

I don't see how anyone anymore can say a 1 chip camera can't compare to a 3 chip camera. Canon flipped the script with this one. I think 3 chip cameras are going to be a thing of the past. If 3 chips are so much better, the Panavision Genesis would have 3 chips and Jim Jannard would've put 3 chips in the RED camera instead of just one. The 3 chips is better than 1 argument doesn't fly anymore it seems.
 
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I think in good brightly lit areas 3 chip vs one good chip is negligible.
Low light is wear is counts.
And the genesis etc. isn't a fair arguement because the sensors and lens on those things are huge.
 
hey spin how about some footage in 24p and in 24p cinema mode pleeaseeeeeeee hook us up

peace n luv

Mark Dog
 
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