Canon HV series -- various sample clips

Randall E. Drapeau · April 2nd, 2007, 10:35 AM

A couple of days ago I posted a link to some footage taken in Shinjuku (Tokyo). Glen Kim suggested I get over to Shinjuku Gyoen to get some footage of the cherry blossoms as they are now in full bloom (good idea, Glen!).

Well, someone told me that the place would be closed by the time I got off work but I heard about another place that, according to my source, was even better.

When I got there, I thought I'd made a wrong turn and ended up at Disneyland -- the line was looooong. But I persevered and finally got to the entrance. It was along a river and very narrow and people were packed in like sardines. I didn't think there would be enough space to set up my tripod.

Japanese people really take their cherry blossom viewing seriously!

Across the street was Yasukuni and it looked like something was going on over there so I decided to check it out. Turned out to be a mini-festival that one might compare to a county fair in the U.S.

I managed to get a little footage there before it started to rain. No matter, I can only upload about a minute's worth of HD video anyway, so here it is:

http://rapidshare.com/files/23992389...uku_2.wmv.html

This was taken with the HV20 and this time I encoded it a bit differently and it didn't come out "squished" like before.

I know I started out shooting in the "night" mode and I can't recall right now if I changed it. It does appear the shutter speed needs to be increased to avoid the blurring. That may sound elementary to most people but I've never shot before in anything other than full auto! This camera is going to make me change my ways.

Theoretically, you need a 3.0 gHz machine to view this video in WMV. Mine's 2.8 gHz and it plays just fine.

PS - I love this friggin' camera!

Eric Gorski · April 2nd, 2007, 11:59 PM

wow, wes. those clips are fantastic.

seeing this camera at work in a softly lit environment really shows off what its capable of. its nice to see that the transition between the bright window and the shadowy interior is smooth and without a harsh digital fringing.. plus the interior shadows still contain a nice amount of detail without everything else being too blown out. nice dynamic range i must say.

not to mention the detail is excellent. that cat's fur.. so soft..

Wes Vasher · April 3rd, 2007, 08:27 PM

Thanks Eric! The color, image detail, manual controls continue to impress me. The dynamic range is better than what I'm used to with my old Sony DV camera so I'm happy with that as well.

Daymon Hoffman · April 4th, 2007, 12:31 AM

ggrrr! I"m so jealous. Really sick of being the last at everything here down under. really wish companies would stop reaming us (both in price and release dates) when it comes to new releases. ARGH!

I... WANT ONE!

:)

Daymon Hoffman · April 4th, 2007, 12:55 AM

Thanks for the samples! Gosh i'm getting really angry at company's atm. Sick of getting shafted here in Australia. We're the last to get anything and we pay extreme dollar for that privelage! :(

Still not on Canon's AU website. *sigh*

Wes Vasher · April 4th, 2007, 07:19 AM

Nothing fantastic or limit pushing. Preview images of the clips are here, the stove and cat clips are new.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/357866/

http://www.filefactory.com/file/3d100b/

Some new frame grabs and digital stills here...
Flickr gallery

Brad Vaughan · April 4th, 2007, 09:50 AM

Alright, finally got the clip after jumping thru several hoops at filefactory (guess that's the price we pay for free hosting)...

The HV20 sure produces a nice clean crisp image. Nice stuff.

&

The photos (especially the Cat) are simpy amazing!

Randall E. Drapeau · April 4th, 2007, 10:03 AM

Hey Daymon,

Lot of Aussies over here. Know any who could send you one? The box really isn't all the big.

OTOH, it might be worth the wait since you'll be getting the PAL version -- lucky you!

I remember when folks were complaining in the U.S. that Panasonic was holding back all the good stuff. Some "interesting" theories started floating around.

Anyway, I don't think you'll have too long to wait and I believe you will be very happy with this camera.

Oh, and you have Rode just next door. I'm going to have to jump through some hoops to get my Video Mic.

Happy shooting :)

Taj Jackson · April 4th, 2007, 02:38 PM

Thanks Wes. Keep up the great work!!!

Mike Horrigan · April 4th, 2007, 03:12 PM

Here's a short clip of a couple of ducks and some flowers.

Miserable day though...

http://www.morecowbellpictures.com/downloads/duck.avi

100MB file.

Mike

Glen Kim · April 4th, 2007, 07:12 PM

The subject matter is really good in those shots! The "hawker stalls" in Japan are very colorful and allow for a wide range of colors when shooting. (The food also looked really good!;)) What settings did you use btw?

Yes, the video was somewhat "squished" but that is very easily fixed when playing back with VLC player.

I think the unfortunate thing is that since the weather has been so cloudy, you couldn't capture the cherry blossoms in full daylight. Perhaps some HV20 owners in Washington D.C. could get some video??? :)

Dennis Vogel · April 4th, 2007, 08:12 PM

What codec was used for this? It's an AVI file but it doesn't appear to be DV. AVIcodec doesn't know what codec was used. It reports 4CC as "CFHD" but says "Unknown" for the codec name.

Good luck.

Dennis

Randall E. Drapeau · April 5th, 2007, 09:33 AM

Glen,

Thanks for your comments. My town has quite a few cherry trees and there are still a lot of blossoms although I think they're a little past their prime and a lot have blown to the ground. Still, if it's decent tomorrow, I may try to get some footage of the what's left. If not, we may indeed have to rely on an HV20 owner in Washington, DC :)

The Shinjuku footage came out squished but the food stall footage was okay. I think I put the original footage into Vegas incorrectly. Not to toot my own horn, but I thought those colors were great. Actually, it was all the camera's doing since I just had it set on Night mode.

Tomorrow I'd like to really get into the manual settings and even try out the 24p. I think I need to up the shutter speed because I am getting too much blur.

It does seem to me that these high def, 16:9 cameras need a tripod or at least a monopod. A little moving around doesn't seem too bad in standard def 4:3 but these cams show everything. I wonder if Average Joe Shooter is going to be happy about this?

Bryan Wolf · April 5th, 2007, 11:05 AM

Pretty sure it's cineform.

Mark Patrick Anderson · April 5th, 2007, 11:49 AM

Besides footage of Laguna Beach shot with HV20 that I've seen, I like yours the best. My HV20 arrives today and I can't wait to put it through the motions.....

April 2nd, 2007, 10:35 AM	#76
Randall E. Drapeau New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 17	Tokyo Footage - Part II A couple of days ago I posted a link to some footage taken in Shinjuku (Tokyo). Glen Kim suggested I get over to Shinjuku Gyoen to get some footage of the cherry blossoms as they are now in full bloom (good idea, Glen!). Well, someone told me that the place would be closed by the time I got off work but I heard about another place that, according to my source, was even better. When I got there, I thought I'd made a wrong turn and ended up at Disneyland -- the line was looooong. But I persevered and finally got to the entrance. It was along a river and very narrow and people were packed in like sardines. I didn't think there would be enough space to set up my tripod. Japanese people really take their cherry blossom viewing seriously! Across the street was Yasukuni and it looked like something was going on over there so I decided to check it out. Turned out to be a mini-festival that one might compare to a county fair in the U.S. I managed to get a little footage there before it started to rain. No matter, I can only upload about a minute's worth of HD video anyway, so here it is: http://rapidshare.com/files/23992389...uku_2.wmv.html This was taken with the HV20 and this time I encoded it a bit differently and it didn't come out "squished" like before. I know I started out shooting in the "night" mode and I can't recall right now if I changed it. It does appear the shutter speed needs to be increased to avoid the blurring. That may sound elementary to most people but I've never shot before in anything other than full auto! This camera is going to make me change my ways. Theoretically, you need a 3.0 gHz machine to view this video in WMV. Mine's 2.8 gHz and it plays just fine. PS - I love this friggin' camera!

April 3rd, 2007, 08:27 PM	#78
Wes Vasher Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 440	Thanks Eric! The color, image detail, manual controls continue to impress me. The dynamic range is better than what I'm used to with my old Sony DV camera so I'm happy with that as well. __________________ Clips \| Stills

April 4th, 2007, 12:31 AM	#79
Daymon Hoffman Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 267	ggrrr! I"m so jealous. Really sick of being the last at everything here down under. really wish companies would stop reaming us (both in price and release dates) when it comes to new releases. ARGH! I... WANT ONE! :) __________________ Welcome... to the real world!

April 4th, 2007, 12:55 AM	#80
Daymon Hoffman Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 267	Thanks for the samples! Gosh i'm getting really angry at company's atm. Sick of getting shafted here in Australia. We're the last to get anything and we pay extreme dollar for that privelage! :( Still not on Canon's AU website. sigh __________________ Welcome... to the real world!

April 4th, 2007, 07:19 AM	#81
Wes Vasher Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 440	Two more HV20 clips + more frame grabs Nothing fantastic or limit pushing. Preview images of the clips are here, the stove and cat clips are new. http://www.filefactory.com/file/357866/ http://www.filefactory.com/file/3d100b/ Some new frame grabs and digital stills here... Flickr gallery __________________ Clips \| Stills

April 2nd, 2007, 11:59 PM	#77
Eric Gorski Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Western Oregon Posts: 138	wow, wes. those clips are fantastic. seeing this camera at work in a softly lit environment really shows off what its capable of. its nice to see that the transition between the bright window and the shadowy interior is smooth and without a harsh digital fringing.. plus the interior shadows still contain a nice amount of detail without everything else being too blown out. nice dynamic range i must say. not to mention the detail is excellent. that cat's fur.. so soft..

April 4th, 2007, 09:50 AM	#82
Brad Vaughan Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Va Beach, Va Posts: 241	Alright, finally got the clip after jumping thru several hoops at filefactory (guess that's the price we pay for free hosting)... The HV20 sure produces a nice clean crisp image. Nice stuff. & The photos (especially the Cat) are simpy amazing! Last edited by Brad Vaughan; April 4th, 2007 at 12:39 PM.

April 4th, 2007, 10:03 AM	#83
Randall E. Drapeau New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 17	Hey Daymon, Lot of Aussies over here. Know any who could send you one? The box really isn't all the big. OTOH, it might be worth the wait since you'll be getting the PAL version -- lucky you! I remember when folks were complaining in the U.S. that Panasonic was holding back all the good stuff. Some "interesting" theories started floating around. Anyway, I don't think you'll have too long to wait and I believe you will be very happy with this camera. Oh, and you have Rode just next door. I'm going to have to jump through some hoops to get my Video Mic. Happy shooting :) Last edited by Randall E. Drapeau; April 4th, 2007 at 10:04 AM. Reason: I'm crosseyed!

April 4th, 2007, 02:38 PM	#84
Taj Jackson Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: United States Posts: 46	Thanks Wes. Keep up the great work!!!

April 4th, 2007, 03:12 PM	#85
Mike Horrigan Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Ottawa Canada Posts: 755	HV20: Ducks and flowers Here's a short clip of a couple of ducks and some flowers. Miserable day though... http://www.morecowbellpictures.com/downloads/duck.avi 100MB file. Mike __________________ My short films... The Interview & Calls From The Führerbunker

April 4th, 2007, 07:12 PM	#86
Glen Kim New Boot Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NY Posts: 15	The subject matter is really good in those shots! The "hawker stalls" in Japan are very colorful and allow for a wide range of colors when shooting. (The food also looked really good!;)) What settings did you use btw? Yes, the video was somewhat "squished" but that is very easily fixed when playing back with VLC player. I think the unfortunate thing is that since the weather has been so cloudy, you couldn't capture the cherry blossoms in full daylight. Perhaps some HV20 owners in Washington D.C. could get some video??? :)

April 4th, 2007, 08:12 PM	#87
Dennis Vogel Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hillsborough, NC Posts: 409	What codec was used for this? It's an AVI file but it doesn't appear to be DV. AVIcodec doesn't know what codec was used. It reports 4CC as "CFHD" but says "Unknown" for the codec name. Good luck. Dennis

April 5th, 2007, 09:33 AM	#88
Randall E. Drapeau New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 17	Glen, Thanks for your comments. My town has quite a few cherry trees and there are still a lot of blossoms although I think they're a little past their prime and a lot have blown to the ground. Still, if it's decent tomorrow, I may try to get some footage of the what's left. If not, we may indeed have to rely on an HV20 owner in Washington, DC :) The Shinjuku footage came out squished but the food stall footage was okay. I think I put the original footage into Vegas incorrectly. Not to toot my own horn, but I thought those colors were great. Actually, it was all the camera's doing since I just had it set on Night mode. Tomorrow I'd like to really get into the manual settings and even try out the 24p. I think I need to up the shutter speed because I am getting too much blur. It does seem to me that these high def, 16:9 cameras need a tripod or at least a monopod. A little moving around doesn't seem too bad in standard def 4:3 but these cams show everything. I wonder if Average Joe Shooter is going to be happy about this?

April 5th, 2007, 11:05 AM	#89
Bryan Wolf Tourist Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Posts: 4	Pretty sure it's cineform.

April 5th, 2007, 11:49 AM	#90
Mark Patrick Anderson New Boot Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 20	Besides footage of Laguna Beach shot with HV20 that I've seen, I like yours the best. My HV20 arrives today and I can't wait to put it through the motions.....