What is the HV 40 Replacement

[mstinso]

I know the HV 40 is a great cam. It's still being sold. However, what is the current sucsessor of this camera? I know it wont be around forever and I assume their have been improvments made. Which cam models have replaced this camera. Im also looking at getting the same look and feel of the footage that I am use to with the HV40. I barrowed my bothers canon cam, not in this lineup but noticed the color was different, and defiently not the same quality or iso quality.
Primary use will problably be for wildlife and weddings. May dabble into making a short film. Also, has their been any improvements made to the stablization? Im use to my sonys stablization which is outstanding. Again this camera is a few years out too, so maybe they improved on this too. What I hate about the sony is lack of custom control and the color is way to over saturated, not even close to the excelent color of this hv40. The sony is my cam and the hv40 is my fathers.
Im not to conserned on what format it uses as far as sd, hardrive, or tape.

[Bif]

Canon will produce no more tape based consumer grade camcorders so there will be no direct successor to the HV40. The closest will be the HF M41 or it's successor. The HF G10 at $1100 or so and the XA10 at $1999 or thereabouts are getting good reviews.

I doubt if any other manufacturers will be bring out any new tape based gear either.

I'm using Canon HF100's, Canon 60D, and a Panasonic GH2 I just got that shows promise. And for "sneaky" video (where I look like a tourist) an Olympus Pen e-P3 that looks like a kind of compact "point 'n shoot" a lot of vacationers carry around. As long as I keep compact prime lenses on it and don't hang a long zoom on it, no one pays any attention.

Something to watch that is being released this month will be the Olympus OMD E-M5, DSLR "like" camera, it will take the whole line of Micro Four Thirds lenses and early testers are talking CLEAN ISO 6400. I've seen sample stills at ISO 12,800 I can live with. I don't know all the video specs on it but I have one on pre-order.

Bruce Foreman

[Steve_Karl]

Bruce - do you think the Olympus OMD E-M5 will have the same problem the t3i does with brick walls?

I'd also be very interested to hear what you like about it.

Thank you,

Steve

[Bif]

Bruce - do you think the Olympus OMD E-M5 will have the same problem the t3i does with brick walls?

I seriously doubt it will, but we won't know for sure until the cameras start moving into our hands. Those few testing early pre-production samples were mostly shooting stills, the one guy who did a video didn't complain about much of anything. When I get mine I'll be sure to try to find some brick walls and see what happens.

In the meantime look at the video on the following pages. I saw NO aliasing or moire.

http://robinwong.blogspot.com/2012/0...ew-street.html
http://robinwong.blogspot.com/2012/0...ew-behind.html

I'd also be very interested to hear what you like about it.

I asked the guy who did the above videos about available frame rates and all he could remember was 30fps. I have the Olympus Pen e-PL1 and e-P3 and those do not have 24fps. This is another indication to me that that frame rate is "fading away" inasmuch as it really is an "archaic holdover" from early film days when that was the best compromise between economy of film consumption and a frame rate at which persistence of vision still worked for many people. I do all of my motion picture work in 30 fps (either 60i or 30p depending on camera used), so I won't miss it.

I'm not even sure this camera (E-M5) comes in a PAL version. I'll let you guys know as I find out.

Right now I'm still trying to "wrap my head around" a Panasonic GH2.

Bruce Foreman

[Steve_Karl]

Thanks Bruce. I'll be looking forward to your ongoing evaluation.

[cgbier]

Thanks, Bruce, for the links to the OM-D test. Looks I finally found a worthy successor for my E-1. Not so much interested in the video features, but the images look great!

[BarteS]

Not sure whether it's still relevant, but I did upgrade from an HV20 to the HF-G10. The extras of the XA10 were not worth the extra costs to me. The lower end cameras lack the focus ring and skimp on memory options (up to removal of internal and SD card slot). I love the dual slot and internal memory of the HF-G10. However, it's unfortunate the backup option (shooting to card A and B simultaneously) does not persist. After each reboot you'll have to set it again.
But the thing I like the most of the 'new' cameras (HF-G10 was presented at CES2011 and does remain the flagship of the consumer camcorders), is the (2MP) sensor. The cameras as announced at CES2012 are claimed to have received an improved version of this sensor. Sure, some extra low light capabilities are welcome, but the HF-G10 is pretty good and usable in low light.

[chipgallo]

I'll second the HF-G10 as a worthy upgrade from the HV20-30-40. Right now I have an HV-40 and the HF-G10 and the color matches fairly well. I haven't needed a W/A adapter with it so far and the ability to shoot at 24Mbits makes a smoother looking (to my eye anyway) sports video. I am still getting accustomed to the touch screen aspect of operations but the work flow is faster once back in my "IT bunker."