Canon LEGRIA HV40 Camcorder - Black (10x Optical Zoom,2.7″ Widescreen Colour LCD)
Canon HD Camera System for outstanding HDV1080i movies
Instant AF: fast and accurate auto focus
Genuine Canon HD Video Lens, with 10x optical zoom and Super Range OIS
Creative manual control: Custom Key and user assignable Control Dial
Advanced Accessory Shoe, manual audio control and a full range of connections, including HDMI
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.
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.
Write up coming shortly.
By Dom West
Lens Rings
The camera’s lens has 3 rings: a focus ring, an aperture ring and a zoom ring. Each ring has a different texture, so they are easily recognisable by touch. The furthest ring, which is also the widest, is the focus ring. When first using the camera it can be quite stiff, but after some use it loosens up and works well for quick focusing.
The middle ring is the zoom ring. I personally do not use this as I get a smoother result with the normal zoom; however, I have heard people who swear by it. The nearest ring is used to adjust the aperture. This is far easier to use than on an XM2 for example, where there is only a small scroller on the side of the camera.
Focus
As mentioned previously, the manual focus works very well, however, the auto focus is quite poor. I would not recommend using the AF when zooming as it takes a second or sometimes more to find its focus. There is also an instant focus button that can be useful when changing lenses to get a quick focus.
Aesthetics
The camera itself looks very professional and would fit in well on a professional film set.
Weight wise the camera is quite heavy for its size. I have been filming with a medium sized battery and a Century optics fisheye, and found filming for long periods of time can become tedious due to its weight.
Filming formats
Like most Canon cameras, the XH-A1 gives you the option of filming in interlaced or progressive frame modes. Although it is not true progressive, canon’s 25F still does a very good job, and I challenge anyone to differentiate between canon’s 25F and say Panasonic’s 25P.
If you are working on an SD project there is the option to film in 4:3 SD. However, the quality doesn’t match that of an XM2 for example, and so I would recommend filming in full HD and down sampling the image in post.
Audio
The on-board mic works well when set to auto in most situations, but the manual options allow for fine tuning when high or low levels need to be recorded. The 2 XLR ports on the camera are essential for live PA feeds of audio or run and gun style interviews, with audio controls alongside that are easy to control and monitor.
One thing that must be noted is that the on board microphone is flexible straight out of the box. People often contact Canon thinking that this is a design fault, but in fact it is meant to reduce any audio interference that vibrations might cause.
For Skating
Like most cameras that are used for skating, the XHA1 has a solid handle that is essential for filming fisheye shots and for carrying conveniently. The record button on the handle is in a perfect position for your thumb to switch on and off, as well as a small zoom switch.
The Century Optics 0.3 fisheye, that I use, does have a large amount of vignetting which is frustrating, especially for the price of the lens. To avoid this, I take advantage of a zoom preset on the camera which keeps the zoom locked at my desired distance and reduces the vignette by half. This doesn’t have much of an impact on the fisheye’s angle distortion which is still great. You will find the widescreen HD versions of this lens, have less vignette. It must also be noted that the image stabiliser should be turned off when filming fisheye, otherwise you’ll find the vignetted black edges will shake.
Here are a few shots recently filmed by Dom on his travels around the world.
Canon HXa1 - Raw timeline from Edit Crunch on Vimeo.
