Casio EX-F1 vs HV30?

[Rizzice]

I'm just wondering if anyone knows how the quality compares for the two camera (not just image quality, but overall quality + features).

I do some martial arts so it'd be great to have the high speed capability, but at the same time I don't want to sacrifice quality/etc since the EX-F1 is considered a digital camera, I'm guessing there's some downsides to using it as a primary HD camcorder. But maybe I'm wrong.

What do you guys think?

I currently have an HV30, but in a few months I might be able to save enough for a EX-F1 if I sell my HV30. Basically, I've been looking for a SLR/DSLR high quality cam as well, and I was looking at the Canon Rebel EOS XS, but if I could get the EX-F1 and have it cover both grounds of HV30 and Rebel, then that would be awesome =D

[bjolly]

I'm really interested in this too. One big problem for me is that you must lower the resolution in order to use high speed.

[Ian-T]

What I understand about that camera is that it really is not an SLR or will not replace an SLR especially since it has a fixed lens and it is too slow compared to SLRs. Not sure about video quality...but from some of the samples I've seen it looks decent in good light (not HV30 decent however). The high speed capabilities are excellent though. It's also light weight from what I've read. I'm not sure about its manual controls however.

[StrengthCoach]

I own both the HV30 and the Casio EX-F1, and I love both of them. I work in the area of sport performance and use the EX-F1 daily for video review of weightlifting, running, sport technique, etc.

Indoors, the 300 fps slow motion capture is grainy. In my weight room, which is poorly lit, I need worklights (twin-head lights on a tripod from Home Depot) to provide enough light to shoot at 300fps. 600 and 1200 fps is not feasible indoors. Outdoors, you can use 600 and 1200fps, but the resolution is less tolerable. 300 fps is quite nice outdoors. Pixels for High-Speed Movies are as follows: 512 × 384 (300 fps, 30-300 fps), 432 × 192 (600 fps), 336 × 96 (1200 fps).

The setting I used most frequently is the 30-300fps mode, which allows you to shoot at regular speed (30fps) and then hit a button to capture high speed at 300fps and back and forth. This is useful for sport applications where you want to only capture short bursts of activity in slow-motion, but want to capture the entire context of the activity at regular speed (I used this for MMA sparring where there is lots of dancing around, then bursts of movement such as with takedowns, punches and kicking combinations).

As a camera, the EX-F1 functions fairly well. It is only 6MP, but offers the ability to shoot RAW and has good optical zoom abilities. It's not as good as a DSLR, but better than my point-and-shoot camera.

HD video is not as good as the HV30. I use my HV30 for creating DVD instructional videos. The standard video and HD video on the EX-F1 is much better than other digital still cameras I've seen. Certainly good enough for publishing on Vimeo or YouTube in high resolution.

You buy the EX-F1 for the high speed video abilities, and you also get a competent Digital still camera and digital video camera. I have uses for both my EX-F1 and my HV30. If I only had one - I would choose the EX-F1 because of my daily work requirements (instant slo-mo feedback for athletes and coaches).

I wrote a review of the EX-F1 on my website and have some samples (albeit at a lower quality than you would get straight from the camera):

http://www.runningmechanics.com/product-review-casio-ex-f1-the-sports-geeks-dream-camera/

Here are some shots I did of indoor and outdoor running technique:

http://www.runningmechanics.com/hamstring-rehabilitation-and-running-mechanics-part-2/