Have any of you XA10/G10 owners used or owned the HV30/40 camcorders? Can you give me your thoughts and how they compare (besides the storage medium difference)? I am considering the upgrade. I tried a G10 out in a store and the touch screen seemed to be a PITA to use. But the steady shot was smooth and colors looked great. But in terms of comparison scores, the HV30 still has a pretty sharp picture compared to the G10.

Thanks

I owned, in the past, the HV30 and HV 40. I now have the XF-100 and the G10.

The G10 blows away the HV30; probably because HDV tends to artifact with fast motion. Also...the dynamic range is MUCH better with the G10. There is a sharpness control in the menu for the G10. The G10 also is far superior in low light than my prior HV30/40.

The G10 blows away the HV30;
Also...the dynamic range is MUCH better with the G10.
The G10 also is far superior in low light than my prior HV30/40.

I 2nd all of the above plus level of manual control is incredible and it's tapeless.

Wow! Thanks for the feedback on the G10. Now you've got me thinking. Let me ask you, is the field of view at wide angle on the G10 the same as the HV30/40? I thought I read somewhere that the G10 has a wider view. Or, do you need a WA adapter?

G10 is much wider, it's 30.4mm vs HV30/40 is 43.6mm, but I love the look with the 0.7x WA on it

Here is something I put together while testing the G10. An editor, I never claimed to be :-) This was a test using the VIVID mode and a custom mode with a +2 saturation. I have since lowered the color saturation in the menu and lowered the contrast, which I had crushed too much:


GOLD COAST 2011 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvvN-T7qwY0)

I think it is a nice look for that sort of content.
A lot of color, a lot of image "pop".
The XA 10 will do it so easily with a little boost to the color sat and the contrast.
And, when you want a flat, high DR image for best color correction in post, just dial it all down a bit :)

Looks good. Yeah, the contrast seemed a little high, and a little high on the blacks. But at least you CAN make those adjustments. Thank you for sharing.

Mark