Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

OUTSTANDING camera I'll try not to restate what others have already said. This camera produces excellent quality video. You need an external mic to escape the tape motor whine. You absolutely need the Canon WD-H43 Wide angle converter. I dislike the eyepiece (or lack thereof). There is no image stabalization to speak of (I only use zoom from a tripod anyway). I record in 30p - it looks wonderful. Experiment with the P Tv and Av features (these will make sense to all you SLR owners). Buy extra batteries. Don't expect too much from the "still photo" capabilities. (Spend a few bucks and get a Rebel Xsi for those) HDV is still the best choice. AVCHD is still a few years from working well in your video editing software - unless you have an extrodanary computer. You should consider that many pro level cameras continue to use HDV. Also I like to use the tapes to archive video (3 bucks = 14 GB). Rating: 5 (DK, 2010-01-11) Product reviewed: Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Great Camera I have had this camera for over a year and have had no problems with it. If you want to record to tape and want a light, portable camera then this is for you. I have had no problem with the "lightness" of the camera and have, in fact, felt it to be just the right size and weight for shooting a video with or without a tripod. Again, portability is a key issue. The picture is great, especially in good lighting. I bought a wide angle converter which I would highly recommend, especially when filming inside. I also bought the larger battery which helps a lot and a shotgun mike which I have not had really great results with. I have used most of the settings including 24p which I think is a great advantage to this camera. Overall a great camera for recording to tape. Rating: 5 (G. Williams, 2009-12-27) Product reviewed: Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Great camera but what's with the price? $1.500.00??????? I have had this camera for more than a year and have shot a lot of video. I was looking to pick up another as a backup for when I am traveling and saw the price of $599.99 here on Amazon, about what I paid for mine a year ago. But when you click on the item, it comes up with a proce of $1,499.99! What's with that? If true, I should have invested all my money in HV30's....... Anybody have any ideas? Anybody at Amazon???? Rating: 5 (Shadowman, 2009-11-28) Product reviewed: Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Great toy for any family or college kid. As an award winning cinematographer I wanted to find a small camera that I could risk in place of my expensive cameras. Thought this would be it. The most annoying problem with this camera is that when it gets a head clog, it locks up on the GOP main frame then jumps into the next usable GOP asset. For those of you who don't know what GOP is, google it. It's how HDV is recorded. So it's useless for anything that matters, because a head clog can come at any moment. For home use, school, vacation, it's great. And recording to tape you get much more information and quality than what is recorded to an SD card. We dumped ours the moment we saw this. Hope if you buy this, you keep it clean, use fresh tape and it should be ok. The picture is amazing! Truly. Just get a head cleaning cassette and good luck. Probably smarter to go with an HDD recorder or SD based camcorder is you are brand new to this. Wish we could trust this camera, but we cannot. Rating: 4 (Elizabeth A. Smith, 2009-11-27) Product reviewed: Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Too many dropped frames The camera was fine when I purchased it. After using the cam several times, it kept dropping frames every several minutes. I used it to record surf bands. It got so bad, just about every song the bands played had missing frames. Typical foreign product, lasts only a short while before it malfunctions. Rating: 1 (Bongo Daddy-O, 2009-10-19) Product reviewed: Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom