Canon HV20 ANTS! Outdoor Test Footage

[1bobo1]

did you use any lens or adapters?

[Fit4Purpose80]

great footage.. but i have the camera and i am so disappointed

can only shoot with great light, even shooting indoors with moderate light is nearly impossible. awful camera! beware!

[ItsJustSkating]

Change the presets.

[debroyfilms]

Disagree... mine is great. But if you want good footage under existing light (dim) you need to use P mode, manual exposure and exposure lock. Use manual focus and lock white balance. Forget about auto! This camera has pro features not found in other "consumer" cameras.

[Roflfilms13]

Wrong.

[lightmydank]

don't knock it on just the low light.....the camera is amazing and since u wanna use it in low light why dont u just get some better lighting and change color and all that on ur rendering program...lower contrast and such.

[lykhoi96]

can we do manual focus on this camera ?

does it have a focus ring or wheel?

[john4loaded]

you can do manuel focus but no focus wheel

[jewrabs]

what type of encoding did you upload this with?

avi?

1500kbps?

640x480?

im very familiar with premiere pro cs3, so just tell me what you did. cuz this vid is great.

[sexyenrique]

I was enjoying the video until you decided to stamp on the ants.

[RWTF99]

great job

[cornsnakedk]

what editor did you use?

[crobs808]

adobe premiere pro

[tkobvious]

Nice job, cool editing.

[RAFDIARY]

how the shit do you get it looking so good i have seen lots of hv20 test shoots but this is really good quality, if yoiu would be so kind as to share a few tips?

[crobs808]

well, i filmed on full auto, which means i didnt do anything special, other than holding the shots steady and using camera support like ground and tripods when possible

[realpichichi]

holy shit.. if this is TEST footage, i cant imagine how good your proper footage is.. lol

[yanfrom1987]

take a look at "per un tozzo di neve" is filmed with this cam

[SanitySource]

is adobe after affects good? does it work with a PC?

[SpuddishNom]

Yeah, it's hella good. I'm probably gonna get it soon. It works with both PC's and Mac's. The guys who made the movie 300 used it, so hopefully that should tell you how good it is.

[w00tparkour]

not only 300 way more movies but your dam right its hella good. me and my friend are working on the "jumper" you know the movie.

we try to make the teleport effect. its going pretty gooD!

[SanitySource]

woah, im searching for it now

[SDMagicMan]

ew but that was awesome footage

[motomoto15]

this video makes my day ....camera is great and the post production is awsome .....keep it up.

[crobs808]

Thanks. Been learning AfterEffects the last couple months, so I can really make some cool videos. I'm learning from Andrew Kramer, check out his site, he has free tutorials and pre-made project file downloads (videocopilot-net). He's a genius.

[Rickyboyce]

Haha yer im learning from Andrew Kramer now iswell! he is a legend, free tutorials, different effects and lots of selection on his website, i recomend it!!!

Im going to buy a hv20 in a couple of months! Im so looking forward to it mainly for its high quilty and slow motion ability :):):)

[12ozshark]

Haha same here he's a legend, hella good site - i'm def lookin to get a good camcorder for filmmaking, looking into the HV20 now as a more affordable option

[Baronvonbadguy3]

God, youtube really did a number on the audio.

[crobs808]

no, compressor and final cut did a number ont eh audio, lol...watch all my other videos, except the 'outdoor hv20', i used premiere pro for everything else, all audio is fine. FCP sucks. (and it wasnt a user error, it just cant handle the lossless codecs I was using...premiere handled it just fine)

[Baronvonbadguy3]

fantastic use of a macro lens though!

[crobs808]

its just the built in lens, no macro, or screw/add-ons

[Baronvonbadguy3]

Jeez! That's sick! There is no doubt in my mind about this camera now. Absolutely no doubt, and I've done hours of research. I've always been a canon guy anyway!

[crobs808]

best prosumer HD camera = Canon HV20...best professional HD camera = Panasonic HVX200, second best professional HD camera is either the Sony V1U or Canon XH-A1

[Baronvonbadguy3]

I was just looking at some macro footage, and I totally nerd-gasmed. I have to get myself a macro lens!

[crobs808]

they are alright. I would much rather have a f/1.2 lens for low light shooting. did you knwo a 1.2aperture lens lets in 3times the light of a 1.6 lens. many people do not understand aperture numbers and how that affects light. people are always whining about not having the right lighting, well...get the widest aperture lens u can find (i.e. f1.2) and never have to worry about lighting.

[jessegyllenhaal]

what did u use for editing?

and r u using a mac or pc?

HDMI cables required to import into ur comp...?

[FunnyChicken11]

you can us a mac or pc, u only need firewire, no hdmi for importing, only playback on an HDTV

[runeshai]

This is pretty sweet looking. Nice job.

[preachingpro]

can you get good clear video w/o 35mm adapter?

Also you mention bad video indoors, is it because not good lighting?

I want to record our church service would you not reccommend this hv20? please help thanks

[lpz777]

i would recommend the Gz-hd7 for anything. if the church is paying for it. JVC GZ hd7 is the way to go.

[Qwertywalnut]

I'm considering buying the HV20, do you recommend? Great video, I love watching little creatures from close :D

[crobs808]

of course I recommend it. The only flaws it has are no quick-acces manual exposure/shutter buttons on the outside and it isnt heavy, so shots are shaky...I am thinking of buying a chassis to put it in with a shoulder mount, so I can add about 5-10 lbs to it, so shots are smoother.

[Qwertywalnut]

I see. Those are just minor flaws, and I believe I can live with them :D. Is the built-in microphone any good?

[crobs808]

no built in microphone is good unless its a shotgun mic. it's decent, but no built in attenuator, so loud places like concerts, wedding receptions that sort of thing will be blown out. also the hv20 is horrible in low light...any small camera will be due to the lens size...you need a 72mm lens or bigger for good low light intake. i think the hv20 is like less than half that size.

[Qwertywalnut]

Yeah. I was thinking of buying the Sennheiser MKE300. Its action in low light really doesen't matter to me. Overall this sounds like a good camcorder. As soon as I have the right money for it, i'll buy it ;)

[crobs808]

by low light i mean indoor light. both my hv20 videos are shot in outdoor, thats why i put "outdoor test footage" and not just "Test footage"...any camera will perform great outdoors. also, manual exporue/shutter control is not a "minor" feature, but rather very important for making your picture look good (which you cannot do in editing)...if it is blown-out you have to go back and reshoot, you cannot fix it.

[Qwertywalnut]

So is the image too grainy indoors?

[crobs808]

too grainy for my liking. if you are shooting home videos, you'll be fine...however, i use mine for a backup camera for weddings, and the only footage I can use from it, in my final production, is well-lit or outdoor footage. reception footage from this camera is worthless.

[Bloodsport1]

Hey, how you doing? Do you recommend buying this camera for making a low budget film? If not what camera do you recommend? Thanks!!!!!!!!!

[crobs808]

sure, you can use this camera for a low budget film, but you still need a way to steady the cam, like a glidecam 2000 or some kind of shoulder mount or something, because handheld this thing bites. you also need to get a 35mm adapter, but you might not be able to afford that. you also need to use a SD card to lock exposure (aperture/shutter). NEVER shoot on auto.

[crobs808]

so to answer your questions...yes, it CAN be done, but i wouldnt do it...would be a waste of time since i dont think i could get shots i would be happy with just using the HV20...might want to look into the Canon XH-A1

[PatBattleBF1942]

Cool video - Final Cut's audio compression needs to be adjusted, your settings are off (over-compressed).

If you are posting HD video, you should really check out Vimeo (dot com), it's free and you can post HD clips, up to 500MB per week.

YouTube destroys all video quality, especially HD. They really need to move to H264.

[crobs808]

yeah, they do need H264, and of course i would much rather prefer a better site to post my videos on, but we post on youtube for exposorue. vimeo and other sites have about 1/100th the number of users, so i post here, not because i'm a noob, but just for the sake of reaching the most ppl.

[crobs808]

ps - im on MaxOS 10.5 Leopard now, but still using Premiere Pro CS3...it is flying, ultra fast on my new 4gb, 2.4ghz imac.  Plus, the integration with Encore and AfterEffects is perfect.

[PatBattleBF1942]

Ya I have AE CS3, it is fantastic. I didn't get Premiere because I have FCP, but I'm hearing really good things about it. Post more videos when you get a chance. My HV20 arrives today! :)

[Jorg40]

"Wow, you really stirred up the hive!" - Barney

[iamn8]

Song in this is Hell Yes - Beck

Was hard to tell but I got it, what happened to the audio, Final Cuts compression shouldn't do THAT.

[crobs808]

yeah, everything was fine in the timeline on final cut pro, and when exported, video was great, but audio was like that. sucked. no clue why i did that...i used both final cut and premire pro everyday at work, and all my other renders came out fine, check my other videos...only my hv20 exports did that (but that has nothing to do with camera so must be compressor settings)

[iamn8]

Hmm, maybe. That'll be something to consider if I get the camera. Thanks for the reply.

[rockwoodcomic]

jeez, horible video production...you've got so much noise reduction dialed up in your audio that the whole thing sounds like it's underwater. this could have been presented so much better...darn.

[crobs808]

this isnt a video production, lol. and that's final cut's compressor.  was no noise in the original timeline. check my wedding video clips...no distortion. blame apple not me, i used premiere pro cs3 for everything else.

[crobs808]

oh, and premiere pro now comes with about twice as many plugins/filters as FCP natively

[elliott7130]

lol y why did u kick the ants house down man nice vid chek out mine

[crobs808]

ha, because if i hadn't there'd be no cool video :)

[PridhamPro]

Lol, Beck...

[DanielKucharski]

ZIMBAAB BOO!!!!!

[Maz1989]

u think this camcorder is good enough for short films? or do i need to go prosumer?

[crobs808]

it is with a 35mm adaptor. which you need for any minidv camera for short films

[marketmd]

Which 35mm adapter do you use? And can you please post a photo of your rig...the variety of rail setups confuses me. Thanks.

[emily90210]

what editing software did you use?

[crobs808]

premiere pro

[emily90210]

how long did it take you to learn editing on adobe premiere?

[Maz1989]

how you change the colours of the image like that on premiere pro? im a editing newbie =[

[crobs808]

look for HLS (hue, saturation, lightness) and move the hue slider/number around

[crobs808]

they really charging $500 for vegas? i mean studios don't even use vegas (just premiere and final cut) and they are almost charging professional pricing? wow, rip off.

[Veritas21885]

This is the production version its a professional version not the 100$ home version.

[crobs808]

why not go with a program from a developer that is not only recognized by professionals, but has been around since the early 90s. NO studios out there use Vegas, and Premiere has been pretty much perfected.

[Veritas21885]

I prefer Final Cut Pro, But I do like Premiere pro, yeah vegas sucks

[crobs808]

finalcut/premiere users are on the same playing field when it comes to what you can do. b4 premiere went pro in the 90s, FCP was much better, and what i used then, but i switched to premierepro because of seamless integration with aftereffects/encore+one-render productions. no more having DVD authoring program reconvert/render it again to compliant MPG2, saves times, increases final output quality since no generation loss of multiple conversions.

[Veritas21885]

This done with premiere pro?I almost bought Vegas(500$ version) but am not sure after seeing this!?

[crobs808]

yes, all in premiere pro 2.0. capture, edit, export.

[delsur2009]

Hey you never tried pinnacle studio 10? I tried both pinnacle and premiere I rather the first one or maybe I got the habit?

[crobs808]

no, pinnacle is horrible

[SevenDeuce72]

Also, was this shot at 24p? I really like the look of film and by the looks of the video it looks like you probably did, but how were you able to remove pulldown? I'm trying to find ways to edit in its native 24p without pulldown.

Great editing by the way.

[crobs808]

no, just shot in 60i. i always shoot in 60i so i can have good slow-motion later in editing.

[SevenDeuce72]

Cool, I've always thought you needed to capture or convert into AVI or something like DV, but I guess it's MPEG-2 in this case. I don't use Premiere Pro but I do use Vegas, but I'm assuming exporting clips from Vegas is the same thing? Rendering in a lossless format with the same settings between programs?

[crobs808]

no, all programs export differet, and when you use beginner software like vegas, avid, or pinnacle, then you cannot guarantee high quality output. stick with final cut pro or premiere pro; those are the only two that professionals use and trust.

[Actobase]

I bought the camera yesterday, but i cant capture the video from the camera to my computer. I'm using adobe premiere 1.5. Does it work with that?

[crobs808]

yes, it works with premiere...to capture: 1) rewind your tape fully, 2) plug in your firewire cale from the small HDV/DV port on the back to the bigger firewire port on your computer. 3) in premiere click "file", "capture", then click the record button, then play button, it will start capturing. NOTE: make sure you are using the right project template...HDV or DV respectively.

[Actobase]

I tried, but it says that the capture device is offline.

[crobs808]

you have to turn the camera on, put it in play mode, and have it plugged in, then start premiere pro. it wont recognize it if it is in record/camera mode. has to be in play/vcr mode

[SevenDeuce72]

Did you have to convert to an intermediate format (quicktime or AVI) to edit the video? I understand that when you transfer the footage from the camera it comes out as a MPEG-2 file.

[crobs808]

editing in premiere pro i do not have to convert to any intermediate format. i made this video by filming in HDV, capturing in premiere and editing it just like i would any regular SD DV AVI project. As long as you have a good computer, you won't have any problems editing mpg, or m2t files natively. There are some special setting you have to do when you export, but it doesnt require any third party software if you set you export setting correctly. Some ppl think u need AspectHD...you don't.

[volkyl]

Great video. Very professionally produced. Excellent music choice. I've got a sony hdr-hc5 that I've been pretty pleased with (other than the manual focus..err) and some great video that needs production, compression, and uploading (probably will bittorrent the full length vids). Your timely, responsive advice is appreciated. I guess I need to just bite the bullet and get Premiere. There really is nothing else on the PC that isn't almost completely garbage. Keep up the good work!

[crobs808]

you will be happy with peremiere pro 2...premiere pro cs3 is coming out in july for both MAC and PC, so you can get 2.0 or CS3...I edited this with 2.0, so it's up to you, version doesnt much matter.

[JbE10]

ok well ive seen both of your videos of HV20 test footage and i am officially getting this camera. the video was great and you really know how to use the camera well. one question though, do you know anything about the JVC Everio GZ-HD7? i heard thats great too but i dont know enough about it.

[crobs808]

sorry, i dont know about JVC...when it comes to video/photo, i stick with canon. their glass quality is superior. for example...a 2 megapixel canon still camera will take better pictures than a 6 megapixel nikon...people think its all about "megapixels" but it's not.

[crobs808]

1920x1080 HD camera for $850...um, not "loads", that's called a steal.

[666FireLoL]

Ok...next time choose bearable music?

and congrats on spending loads of money on a camera.

[crobs808]

so...just trying to be a jerk or what? music is by "beck" and the distortion/brickwalling was cause by a faulty export compressor for the audio, oh yeah, and, it's a ANT video! why does the music matter? lol

[crobs808]

besk is liked by many people, sorry if you're one of those "like only one-genre" teenagers or 90yr olds; i can't help that. i listen to everything from opera to rap, to worship, celtic, techno, rock, jazz, big band, u name it...u kinda have to like all genres to be a video editor.

[Tmac9000]

what compression did you use?

[crobs808]

just google "encoding youtube compressor ken" and you will get ken stone's webpage on what settings to use. the recommended ones by youtube are actually a bad recommendation for best quality.

[Tmac9000]

pimp

[AdenoidHynkel]

that, looks, awesome!!! great work.

I didn't like you kicking the ants though :/

[crobs808]

well, the ants got their revenge...notice the idiot kicking an antpile with sandals on, lol ;)

[bkennedy]

Holy shit. The first 10 seconds of this video made me want to buy this camera.

[crobs808]

if you are a pro, and taking this camera to a shoot, make sure you have a big camera like the XL2 also. I currently shoot with a hv20 and XL1, so nobody every says anything about the small camera cuase they see i have a big camera. i would NEVER replace my XL1 with another hv20. no way near the ease of manual control and depth of field of the XL1.

[tkmslee]

Would you recommend this camera over a prosumer SD camera like the XL2 or something equivalent? I am a professional videographer and I love the HV20 footage but worry that clients will think it's too Mickey Mouse.

[crobs808]

think about it this way...the $550 hv20's are like those mp3 playes that LOOK like ipods, and yeah they may play MP3s, but they have nothing to do with apple hardware and are 3rd party items just rebranded. so be careful. i've already seen two horror stories about a guy on ebay selling hv20s from japan or china for like $600...turned out to have the plastic hv20 body, but the insides were cheaper, and the lens was made from low grade glass.

[Kennyvert]

Good video dude. I'm getting one in the mail soon... I'm just a little pissed off that I paid as much as I did for it. They are being sold for as low as $550 now... grrrrrrr!

[crobs808]

nope, the $550 ones are japanese models and not supported by usa warranties. also they are gray market items, some people have found the cheap hv20's have internal parts not shipped by canon (i.e. - hacked hv20s made from scrap parts-meaning less quality) so watch out for them

[warkilla]

Awesome, I love it. I'm having trouble download the high res versions of both your videos from your website for some reason, any ideas??

[crobs808]

try the new link now, i put them on a page so you can right-click to download them (link is located in top right in video details)

[crobs808]

premiere pro 2.0

[gambitrocks]

what software did you use to edit this?