Oh the misfortune of a unstable tripod, this lead to my HC7 biting the dust on my current LA vacation (Well, actually it kissed the cement and concrete in San Francisco at the Golden Gate Bridge visitor's center). It's not case busted and innards out, but it does have a cracked casing to the power switch and a busted tape drive. I had to get a HV30 to compensate for that today. Surprisingly, it injests Sony tapes pretty well. (unlike the HV20 that hates Sony recorded tapes)

I'm charging it right now using my Optura 20's power adapter and am ready to get out and shoot. Any tips from HV30 owners that I can take here?

Hi Jack, congrats on your new camcorder...

This forum is loaded with tips, so just roll up your sleeves and dig in.

Start with the manual exposure control tutorial at http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=93096 -- download the tutorial video located at http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=673130&postcount=20

See also http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=92099 -- written for the HV20 but covers the HV30 as well. Hope this helps,