HD For Indies

Canon saw a weakness in the consumer division across all brands and decided to exploit it.
Gah! what took them so long? :)
This signifies Canon is prepared to take a leadership role in any given segment.
Let me count the ways they could expoloit the professional division.
Good things come to those who wait.
 

While it certainly isn't going to rival a Red camera for raw image quality, its a freaking tiny 1080p24 camera for only $1K, and even as cheap as a Red is, this'll fit in places your Red won't (and places you wouldn't dare dangle your precious Red anyway.) ;-P

I think this is a great addition to the guerrilla indie filmmaker arsenal.
 

Two separate ideas Mike, crash cam and/or the cheapest uncompressed 1080p24 signal around.

Image quality is of course yet to be explored, but I think you just don't like it because it doesn't require any of those fancy RAIDs that you're so skilled at putting together! :)

I'm with Zane—this is the ultimate expression of the accessibility angle on indie filmmaking.

Remember, crummy 1080p might just be totally decent 720p.
 

"not-so-great image" I'm not so shure of that! I'm a proud FX1e owner but when images from the HV10 (same sensor) started coming out on dvinfo.net/conf I was amazed. Some of the images were sharper than any of the other sub 10k cameras. They had comparisons with the FX1. Obviously low-light will be nothing and I have yet to see it in motion but this camera (sensor) is something!
 

What do you think the difference would be between the HV10 and the HV20? I really like the form factor of the HV10, and am leaning that way, but am open to ideas...
 

Jake, here are answers:

Things HV20 has that HV10 doesn't (that filmmakers care about)

1. HDMI out
- you can perhaps use a cheap consumer monitor with HDMI input for checking focus, etc
- you could connect it to a $300 Blackmagic Intensity card and get clean digital input straight to computer - eg bypassing HDV compression

2. Mic input w manual levels control (not limited to accessory shoe mics, apparently)
- you can plug in your own mics (including pro mics with an appropriate adapter box, eg Beachtek)
- you can set your own audio levels, bypassing Automatic Gain Control, which is crucial for drama

3. 24p support
- great for film out (although how much resolution this process loses and whether this has been correctly implemented, hopefully like Canon's pro line, not Sony's old pro line, remains to be seen). Also, great for CG (24 frames vs 30 frames / 60 fields means it takes less time to roto, etc)
- theoretically 24p would make the HDV compression milder because the data rate is spread less thinly (remains to be seen if this is true though)

4. Slightly better low-light specs
- supposedly 3 lux vs 5 lux minimum (whether this is due to sensor / lens improbements or digital noise reduction remains to be seen)

5. more efficient battery
- again, how much so remains to be seen

There are motion samples from the HV10 available online. They are pretty super.

Yesterday, I looked at a comparison between the HV10 and many other current consumer HD cameras connected up to HD screens at Yodobashi camera in Tokyo yesterday and it blew the others away IMHO. As a side note Yodobashi blew Samy's, Best Buy and Circuit City away (on price, friendliness, their REALLY letting you play with everything, etc), but that is getting off the point ;)

HV10 is pretty cheap on Amazon now, for something like $905! If you don't mind missing the above features, I'd get it.

I personally waiting to see reviews of the HV20 though.

Bruce
 

Hey Mike,

How about taping the 3 of these together with gaffer tape:

http://www.mobl.com/expansion/products/expresscard_expansion/1slot/index.html

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_VAIO_UX390N/4505-3126_7-32306444.html?tag=pdtl-list
(will need to un-install Vista and install XP, a la comment from David Newman I saw)

with the small Vaio running HDLink with latest Cineform Aspect 4.30 update
http://www.cineform.com/products/TechNotes/Blackmagic/Intensity.htm

putting them in your backpack and having a 1m hdmi out to your HV-20?!
 

Whoops. That little Sony is not Core 2 Duo (of course). So you'll need one of these:
http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=100041&catGroupId=32001&surfModel=Toughbook-19
or
http://www.pressebox.de/pressemeldungen/acturion-datasys-gmbh/boxid-91960.html

or one of the more conventional Intel Core 2 Duo laptops from Sony, HP, Fujitsu or Dell...
 

Dan C. -

HDLink is a one way converter to go from HD-SDI to DVI - how do you see that helping?

that expansion thing gives you a PCI not a PCIe slot

-mike
 

Hi Mike,

Sorry for the confusion. I'm talking about a *different* HDLINK, Cineform's "HD Link" capture sofware, as referenced on this page
http://www.cineform.com/products/TechNotes/Blackmagic/Intensity.htm
which allows you to use that utility to capture from HDMI-out camera onto your notebook in 24P 8-bit 4:2:2 Cineform AVI files (instead of massive uncompressed files). Apparently 10-bit would be possible, if you camera does it (according to Cineform).

And, yes, you're totally correct that expansion thing won't work with PCIe. But here's one that will. But it looks like it needs AC power.

Oh well! All this stuff is tantalizing but, as you said, it doesn't make much sense. I'm still intrigued by this camera, however...
 

Whoops!
Here's the link to the expansion thing (PCIe card for notebook):
http://www.mobl.com/expansion/products/expressbox1/expressbox1.html
 

BTW, I see the Canon HV-10 regularly going for $600 or less. While you many not want to go with the cheapest purveyors, the price is well under $1000.