HV30 or HF10?

[Rob Lindsay]

Looks like I'll need to buy one or the other for web-based production, likely 30p. From what I can gather, the HV30 has the edge in ease of editing, otherwise the two cameras are equal in use and picture quality. I intend to buy a Senn mini shotgun and Canon wide angle for either cam.

I am PC based but will need a newer computer to edit with. I would very much like to hear opinions on which camera may have the edge, what NLE is working for people, and what computer specs are reccomended -- either Mac or PC.

Again, this is for production for the web and DVD, so I'm interested in full frame HD and 30p more than 24p.

I'd love to wait for the HF11, but don't think I can.

Thanks for your time!

[Lubomir Zvolensky]

whatever your decision will be [good luck with that], I have one recommendation for you : do NOT wait for HF11. Grab a tool, use it NOW BECAUSE YOU NEED IT NOW.

If HF11/HG21 turn up to significantly [!] better than what you will have in your hands, you will ebay them off at slight discount and that's it. If you buy hf10/hv30 today for $650, you can easily sell it in three months for $499 and that's nothing to think about because you will have two months of valuable projects, memories etc.

If you wait for HF11, you will wait forever. Next year, there will be killer cam Scarlet. Then competition heats up and who knows what sony/canon/panny will bring next year in a consumer basket. Maybe Red is even developing some consumer camcorder... let's dream of fullhd, 1/2" chip, killer lowlight, variable fps up to 60fps 1920x1080, 60Mbit/s AVCHD or RAW data, f2.0 12x zoom, etc for $800.

enjoy your decision and shoot, shoot, shoot.

[Brian Boyko]

I would point out that HF10 and HV30 have different quality standards. The lenses are fine, but I believe that the HF10 (like the HG10) records to AVCHD codec, at 16Mbps. It's a very good looking codec and for consumer and entry-level shooting, it's great. There is no reason NOT to get the HF10 if you like the convenience of going tapeless, and want to record in HD.

However.

The HV30 records to tape, which uses an MPEG2 compression scheme. This MPEG2 compression scheme is of a higher quality than the HF10. The picture looks a little sharper.

This is, however, something you only notice when comparing the two side by side.

The big question is: Are you willing to trade a slight bit of image quality for the possibility of going tapeless? If the answer is yes, get the HF10, if not, the HV30.