Camera Review - Canon HV20
by Sim Warren
1st LOOK:
Having owned larger, more expensive camera’s in the past – buying the HV20 wasn’t, at first, an easy decision.
I work full time as a Video Producer for a Kent based film production company, so looks and first impressions are very important when shooting for or with a client. I’ve seen camera crews turn up on a shoot in a vinyl branded van or lorry unravelling case after case of production gear, but when it comes down to the filming, they’ve only used their standard kit. Camera, tripod legs, mic/boom a reflector and monitor. Was the van and the red carpet really needed? Perhaps.
So why am I mentioning all this, well the Canon HV20, for those in the industry worried about impressions, probably isn’t going to tickle your fancy. It’s the size of a small bag of sugar, and it’s sleak silvery shiney surface will help you blend in with the amateur’s and tourists. Maybe that’s what you’re after? Although this unique little camera can be used like lego to add mic’s,lights,lenses,dof adapters,rail supports and more, I use this camera at home, for personal projects, so I have nobody to impress only impressions to be made from my finished work.
WORKING:
The HV20 has two menus. The first is accessed from a rear joystick to monitor manual exposure and sound levels. The second hosts controls such as shutter speed - and aperture-priority, cine and scene modes, along with image effects, white balance presets and still-image mode. Alongside CineMode the HV20 shoots 24p for those looking to imitate film. To a professional in the field, they’d question the quality compared to real film, but to others none the wiser this little gem really is the icing on the cake.
I use manual focus for all of my filming, but one thing I’ve found when testing out the Instant Auto Focus mode, especially in low light is that the camera sometimes struggles to keep it’s focus. Fortunately the Instant AF uses a special sensor on the front of the tape compartment that measures the distance to your subject, so if it does lose focus, it’s able to rescan the focus very quickly.
The HV20 boasts a 3-megapixel, 1/2.7-inch CMOS sensor just behind the lens of the camera to record in HDV at 1,920 horizontal and 1,080 vertical pixels. You also have the option to shoot still images and SD material, but the camera will downscale this material to as low as 2.07 megapixels for 1920×1080 16:9 still images.
The life of one BP-2L13 battery is about 65 minutes, so I would highly recommend purchasing some spares if your planning any long shoots or holidays. This is where I buy my spare batteries from: HV20/HV30 Batteries.
At 69mm the LCD screen is moderately sized displaying a 211 pixel resolution. With it’s playback options on the bottom of the screen I do find myself pinching the buttons a bit too hard and I worry about damaging the screen, it would be nice to see the playback functions on the top of the camera out of the way of the LCD.
RESULTS:
To anyone looking to enter the HD world, at under £600 this is an excellent introduction to film making and the results speak for themselves.
Take a look at some videos shot with the HV20.
Shot by Sim Warren: Twoneil DOF adapter: Canon HV20
Shot by Sim Warren - With DIY Track & Dolly. Track & dolly article here.
