———— 18 December 2008 ————

And the theme for this comparison is… bicycles! Here’s a Vimeo SD embed of a video I shot & cut for the Travel Channel Academy with my Canon HV30 at 1440×1080p24

And here’s two YouTube high quality SD embeds of footage shot with a pre-production model of Canon’s new 5D Mark II Digital SLR at 1920×1080p30

Sure, the 5D is 3500 bucks off the shelf, and my entire HV30 kit with wide angle lens adapter, boom mic, camera bag, and a sweet lens cleaning pen topped out at 1200 bucks. But holy hell, look what an additional 2400 bucks can get you!

So what’s the point of even looking at the Canon XH-A1 or the Sony Z1U at a very similair 3,xxx dollar price point? None. Or maybe you’re required by DCI to jump through flaming hoops of razor wire to deliver tapeless footage (my sympathies). Or then maybe you like recording video AND sound. I’ve yet to see, err hear, any audio examples at all from the 5dmarkii.

Anybody out there know of any? And when the hell is my Apple TV going to start playing YouTube in HD???

proactively • just make the sound up in post • peter

———— 1 August 2008 ————

Yes, the tethered accessory shoe is really annoying. Especially when you want to put accessories on your HV30 like this:

Me & Joel with Sennheiser MKE 400

Solution found after a search over at HV20.com. Special thanks to Spider.JM for the post and pics!

Its done and I’m proud to announce we don’t need to worry about parts falling into the camera. When you do remove MAKE SURE YOU ONLY CUT ONE SIDE. Otherwise it will fall in… You just need to pull it out after you’ve cut one side.

accessory shoe top view

accessory show reverse view

no more tether!

Tool list:
-Needle Nose Pliers (not required)
-Either Sharp clean Scissors or Exacto Knife

Basically try to stretch it away from the camera so that you have both strands away from each other, then progress to snipping ONE strand. Then just pull the cover out with the last strand STILL intact! Once its out, sever that other side, and make it so theres about 2mm left on the cover so that it will still fit back into the camera.

Pics of my fully accessorized Canon HV30 incoming.

proactively • going to the toy store for an exacto knife tomorrow • peter

———— 31 July 2008 ————

pics of awesomeness

My good friend Joel (left, excited) and yours truly (right, really excited).

Joel hand-framing the awesome Panasonic VW-W4307H 0.7x wide angle converter.

Everything put together! Thanks to Katie & Rani for the photos.

Waiting on the Sennheiser MKE 400 Compact Video Camera Shotgun Microphone which should arrive next week. Bought everything at BHphotovideo.com.

proactively • a proud new baby daddy • peter

———— 28 July 2008 ————

I’m going to finally frickin’ pull the trigger and buy a Canon HV30. Soon.

But, there’s a lot of cool stuff that I want to get with it, like a wide angle lens, and finding a good review takes time. So, here’s a link dump of sites that helped me out and will help you out while researching accessories for your Canon HV30:

HV20.com

This is the mecca for all things related to the HV20 / 30 cameras. Sign up now. Right now.

Raynox Camera Adapters

Leaning towards the wide angle and macro adapters these guys make, covered extensively on HV20.com.

Raynox HD-7000pro

Raynox Super Macro

skateperception

Great reviews of fisheye lenses for multiple consumer and prosumer cameras. The fisheye is the staple of skateboard videographers; these guys know their stuff.

Schneider Optics / Century Optics

Home of the industry standard fisheye lenses for skateboard videographers. And other solid gear, too.

R0DE VideoMic

The defacto awesome way to get sound that doesn’t suck. Follow the link and check out the video.

So there’s a whole lot I’m looking at here. Hopefully this research dump helps you with your own HV30 purchase.

proactively • getting ready to shoot a doc and a feature • peter