Returning HV20 after 1 hour

[John C. Chu]

Just took it out today and shot some outdoor street scenes here in NYC.

Oh my God...some of this stuff looks as almost as good as the travel videos on PBS! [I'm using Rudy Maxa's Smart Travels as a reference in terms of picture quality]

The footage from the true 24p Cinema mode really screams "pro" to me. I just can't believe I shot that stuff myself!

It really has to be appreciated on a big tube CRT.

This is a groundbreaking camcorder for this price point.

The question I have to ask again...is there a way to lock exposure? Edit: I guess I can...have to experiment some more.

[Mike Teutsch]

Originally Posted by Ken Ross

Mike, I think you hit on the one annoyance I've found with the HV20. Pretty short list, but still you'd think Canon would have realized this was not the way to cover a port door.

Well, I thought it might be just mine, but I guess not. The small tab at the bottom needs to be able to fold out more, slip out of the hole more. This cover will not hold up.

Are you listening Canon? Longer tab to slip out, or a lower durometer reading on the rubber so that it will bend easily.

Gee, I guess when it breaks off I'll buy another HV20. :) :)

Mike

[Luis A. Diaz]

Originally Posted by Mike Teutsch

Well, I thought it might be just mine, but I guess not. The small tab at the bottom needs to be able to fold out more, slip out of the hole more. This cover will not hold up.

Are you listening Canon? Longer tab to slip out, or a lower durometer reading on the rubber so that it will bend easily.

Gee, I guess when it breaks off I'll buy another HV20. :) :)

Mike

Same here Mike, the rubber cap of the HDMI port is kind of "wacky" it needs a little push at the top to close well. The Mic port cover is much better.
Well what the heck a let them skimp a little on that as long as they don't do it with PQ.

Luis

[Ron Lemming]

Originally Posted by Mike Teutsch

Second thought, maybe we can make a large housing for it that looks like a big pro camera, or gut an old bulky big camera and stick the HV20 inside!!!

Good thought, but how are you going to reach the buttons on the camera if it is inside a box? :) I think a 35mm adapter, lens, mattebox, rails, shoulder mount, microphone, etc. will make it look pro enough. If not pro, then at least very different.

Originally Posted by Glenn Thomas

At the end of the day it's not about what camera you use, it's what you can do with the camera you use. I can't see anything that would be stopping someone from shooting a feature film using one or more HV20's. Unlike the XHA1/G1, or even the XLH1, they're true 24P with a 1920x1080 sensor.

Right. I think the HV20 would be even more suited for feature films than for documentaries and such since the manual controls are not so easily managed on the HV20 as they are on the XH-A1 for instance. Feature film = more time to carefully setup your camera right for each shot.

[Fergus Anderson]

Originally Posted by John C. Chu

Just took it out today and shot some outdoor street scenes here in NYC.

Oh my God...some of this stuff looks as almost as good as the travel videos on PBS! [I'm using Rudy Maxa's Smart Travels as a reference in terms of picture quality]

The footage from the true 24p Cinema mode really screams "pro" to me. I just can't believe I shot that stuff myself!

It really has to be appreciated on a big tube CRT.

This is a groundbreaking camcorder for this price point.

The question I have to ask again...is there a way to lock exposure? Edit: I guess I can...have to experiment some more.

Very exciting stuff!
Is there any chance you could upload some raw 24p footage with cinema mode on? Filefactory etc is free.

Many thanks
Fergus

[John C. Chu]

Originally Posted by Fergus Anderson

Very exciting stuff!
Is there any chance you could upload some raw 24p footage with cinema mode on? Filefactory etc is free.

Many thanks
Fergus

Here is the first link. It is a shot of Grand Street in NYC. 61mb in size.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/373172/

Just watch out for the pop ups on this site.

This is raw from the camera file.

[Mike Horrigan]

Originally Posted by John C. Chu

Here is the first link. It is a shot of Grand Street in NYC. 61mb in size.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/373172/

Just watch out for the pop ups on this site.

This is raw from the camera file.

Thanks, downloading now! It's a .ts file? I thought raw was .m2t?

Mike

[John C. Chu]

Here is one more:

This is a shot of a street in Chinatown, NYC.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/87c449/

This one is 47 megs in size.

And here is one more 45 megs in size

http://www.filefactory.com/upc/138961


These file have not gone thru any reencoding... just a file extension matter after I cut out just the segment I wanted and saved the segment from MPEG Streamclip.

[Hal Snook]

Thanks for the clips, John! One question, in the Canal clip, did you edit those two clips together, or was the shot change in-camera?

The reason I ask is, I'm playing with reverse telecine in Cinema Tools in anticipation of buying this camera, and I noticed that the pulldown signature changed between shots. If it's the latter, then pulldown removal is going to be quite a chore!

[Austin Meyers]

i've been using the HDV - intermediate codec work flow in FCP and when it imports the clips the pulldown pattern starts randomly on different clips. there are a couple ways to tackle it. you chop off x amount of each clip so that the cadence is the same through out, or you process each individually. i've been doing it individually. linked is a read me that has the cadences and the according cinema tools option.

http://file.meyersproduction.com/hv2...0READ%20ME.rtf

check out the clips i've got in there too...

http://file.meyersproduction.com/hv20/

there might be a way to capture as HDV instead of AIC that doesn't create new clips at any timecode break, then convert that long clip to AIC. perhaps processing everything as one big file the cadence might stay intact. the HDV workflow is very new to me. i need to hop onto the apple FCP boards and see what's up over there. i'm sure the HV20 is being discussed...

[John C. Chu]

Originally Posted by Hal Snook

Thanks for the clips, John! One question, in the Canal clip, did you edit those two clips together, or was the shot change in-camera?

The reason I ask is, I'm playing with reverse telecine in Cinema Tools in anticipation of buying this camera, and I noticed that the pulldown signature changed between shots. If it's the latter, than pulldown removal is going to be quite a chore!

The shot change was done in camera.

[Fergus Anderson]

John, Austin

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to upload the clips. I am just looking at them now (my PC struggles with 1080p h.264 though!)

Any chance you could upload any raw samples showing a comparrison between the cine preset being on and off?

Thanks again

[Pieter Jongerius]

Hi, I share the excitement =) Thanks John, great to see an HV20 in action. Also, said it before, will say again, can't wait to hold my very own HV20. Will have to wait 3-4 weeks here in NL however...

Still, I found this post particularly interesting:

Originally Posted by Joe Busch

Just to let you know, my HV10 did the EXACT same thing this past weekend, it only lasted for 4-5 minutes... I turned off instant-autofocus and it seemed to do a better job, then I switched back to I-AF and it was perfect again..

Honestly don't know what caused it, but I don't think the HV20 is to blame...

Joe, what were the circumstances and could you keep us posted on when this happens and whether the IAF off/on trick solves it every time?

[Fergus Anderson]

john I forgot to ask if your samples were taken with the cine preset on? They look a touch softer than the other 24p samples I have seen and I just wondered if that could be due to the sharpness setting being lowered within the preset?

Thanks

[Ken Ross]

I was playing with the cine preset shooting outdoors at night and I found it does soften the picture quite a bit. On the other hand it does tend to virtually eliminate any grain.