I picked up my HV20 last night and spent about 2 hrs reading through the manual and testing out the different settings. I am impressed and my wife, who never says anything said, that picture looked incredible.

I did notice that there is no miniSD disc included or a firewire cable to get the video off of the unit. I will have to pick up a cable later today on my way home, but I have a different question. Do people actually use the camera feature of the unit... is it worth getting a card.. a 2 gb card can be bought for less than 30 bucks?

Also is there a good resource for tapes?

I think the camera feature is quite useful (although I advise you get a better battery pack or extras if you want to depend on it). I only got a 512mb card which will hold about 250 photos. The most I have ever shot without having access to a computer was 180, so it seemed like a good size for me. You may want to go larger to future-proof yourself with other devices.

The pictures are nice for 4x6 or even 5x7 prints.

I usually just pick up the tapes when I need them at Wal-mart, or buy them from Amazon.com

I'd also suggest a sturdy tripod that has a bubble level on it and accepts an aftermarket fluid pan head. I have a Manfretto that I've used with my VX2000. It seems to work well with the HV20. The action of the pan heads on the cheapie all-in-one video tripods tend not to be smooth with lightweight cams such as the HV20.

There's no neck strap included, and I cannot locate one on Canon's site under accessories for the HV-20. I'm using a strap from my Sony camcorder for now, but a Canon-branded strap (with the single connection loop, not the two-ended style like on their EOS cameras) would be nice....

Any ideas? Google searches seems to find the EOS style, but that's about it.

Do people actually use the camera feature of the unit... is it worth getting a card.. a 2 gb card can be bought for less than 30 bucks?

I tried the photo mode last weekend at the Zoo... I think that it's pretty usefull for when you don't want to carry an extra camera. I have an 8MP Nikon, and for sure its pictures look much better.

But the miniSD cards are really cheap right now, and you will have the option to get some stills while shooting video.

You can capture still in 2 different ways: 1) while you are shooting video, 2) in "card" mode.

I'm posting here some examples...

The ones that look 16:9 were taken while recording video, and the 4:3 one in "card" mode...

VIDEO MODE (1920 x 1080)
http://uploadextra.com/img1/4a6f17a87cb411997470b1b190fef502/IMG_0119.JPG

http://uploadextra.com/img1/a2849f5bc233f08bca7ff78bb6181468/IMG_0118.JPG


CARD MODE (2048 x 1536)

http://uploadextra.com/img1/e528175debcf44802c81677f47575496/IMG_0107.JPG

I hope this helps...

Sorry for the big pics... :o

I tried the photo mode last weekend at the Zoo... I think that it's pretty usefull for when you don't want to carry an extra camera. I have an 8MP Nikon, and for sure its pictures look much better.

But the miniSD cards are really cheap right now, and you will have the option to get some stills while shooting video.

You can capture still in 2 different ways: 1) while you are shooting video, 2) in "card" mode.

I'm posting here some examples...

The ones that look 16:9 were taken while recording video, and the 4:3 one in "card" mode...




I haven't had time to play with the camera feature much (yet). What camera settings did you use? Was everything shot in "auto" mode?

Thanks,
Chris

the still camera is acceptable. I only use 1 Gb card since it's going to fit hundreds of pics anyway. Afterall, if I really want to take hundreds of pics I'll bring my real camera.

latedate. the camera was recording in auto mode when I took the pictures in both modes. Actually I was recording in "P", but without changing any settings (auto WB, etc...)


David, I got a 1GB card, and yes, is more than enough for me too, it fits 460 pictures in the highest resolution... and the cards can be get for under 10 bucks... I have spent far more in things I never use... hehe... :p :p :p