Best tripod for HV30/20

It never ends. You decide on a great camcorder, then get lured into a great DOF adapter. You find the adapter, you need a lens. You find a lens, you need a tripod.

So lets look at why. The problem with every small consumer camcorder is image stabilisation. You can only give so much stability when you’re holding something that weighs less than a dictionary in your hand. If you then stick a great big DOF adapter on the end, the potential for vibration only increases.

So that’s where a tripod comes in.

There are two main types: a tripod made for a still camera; and a tripod made for a moving or video camera.

A still camera tripod is designed in such a way so as to keep a camera in a stationary fixed position whilst taking a photo. It usually provides horizontal and vertical movement and is able to flip the camera on its side for portrait shots. The core aspect once again is stability for a single stationary shot.

A tripod designed for a video camera needs a different kind of stability. Video camera tripods need to pan and tilt, but they need to do so as smoothly as possible to avoid disruption to the image. Hence why good video camera tripods tend to come with “fluid heads”.

How to buy a tripod for the HV30
Let’s start with some basics. When you buy a tripod, what you actually get is a combination of legs and a head, either of which you can buy separately.

The Legs: The heavier the legs, generally the more stable your tripod will be. There is a range of carbon fiber models available that reduce weight whilst retaining strength – but once again, more weight means less movement. The decision is thus around weight. If you’ve just gone and bought a very light, very portable camcorder, it may seem like a rough deal to lug around a heavy tripod. But if you want rock solid steady pictures, then you’re not going to get past this option.

The Head: You want to make sure you’re getting a tripod head designed for video, not for stills. That means look for a fluid head that talks about pans and tilts. The more you pay, (generally) the more smooth the pan. Most video cameras will lock into any head, so you shouldn’t have any problem with screws and the like.

Putting it together: There is two different weight ratings you’ll find on a tripod + head setup: weight and load. Don’t get them confused. “Weight” is what you’ll be carrying around on your back (ie the weight of the tripod + head). “Load” is how much weight the tripod can comfortably carry. The HV30 weighs less than a kilo, but if you start adding a lens, lens adapter and rails to the package, you’re looking at a total weight of over 2kg for your camera. Slap on a larger lens and you can quickly over balance a tripod with a near 2kg load rating.

Best tripod + head to buy for the HV3
I’m being a little cheeky using that heading, as the best one to buy will be the one that works for you. But as this blog is of the “why did I…” kind, I’m sticking with it. The two front runners for tripods for the HV30 was the very cheap and very well recommended Velbon 7000 (tripod + head) and the Manfrotto 745BK Tripod with a Manfrotto 701RC2 head or alternatively the Manfrotto 055MFV Tripod with the same head.

The Velbon comes well reviewed as is damn cheap. It weighs a total of 3.4kg and can take a load of just under 4.5kg. You can pick it up for around US$80-110 – which makes it a steal.

The Manfrotto is Italian made so makes me go gooey all over. It’s also ridiculously expensive, which appeals to my inner spend thrift.  Every review I’ve read of the 701RC2 head says it’s smooth as a babies bottom. The tripod choice is up to you. The two models I have pulled out are two different weights: 055MFV + head weighs about 2.8kgs and takes a load of about 4kgs; the 745BK tripod + head weighs around 4kg and takes a load of 3.2kg.

The 055MFV + 701RC2 has a price tag of approx US$629 and the 745BK + 701RC2 retails for around US$500.  The Manfrotto range includes carbon fiber models (055MFV) for those who want a little bit less weight on their shoulders.

Conclusion
It’s important to remember that your tripod legs are about you and your shooting habits. If you don’t think you’ll take a tripod out much, then stick with something light (and cheap if you can get it).  If you’re hard core, go with the heavier option. As said, the Manfrotto comes well regarded for long term frequent use. The Velbon is a little heavier and a little clunkier (based on opinions I’ve read) but it’s so darned cheap it would be good even as an initial investment to see whether your usage justifies the extra spend.

Which one will I choose?  I’m tending towards the Manfrotto, mostly because I want something halfway between light and heavy. But I know that the tripod will also be the last thing I buy, so it may end up being the Velbon simply due to the price tag.  Happy hunting!

Dealing with HV30 tape or motor noise

It took many days of reading user reviews of the Canon HV30/20 before I stumbled on to this one from Amazon:

“Everything you read about this camera is true. I owned one for a couple of days and the picture was extraordinary… the camera was a breeze to use… And then I turned up the audio. Whoa. What’s that humming?!

Now, I had seen plenty of reviews (even on the older HV20) warning of a little tape noise in the audio. I own two other Mini DV cameras, and you do hear a little bit of the mechnism working. But this is different. It’s disruptive. And I’m not alone in my thinking here. Do some digging and you’ll find a few other reviews cropping up online with this complaint now.”

The reviewer is right. The more you dig, the more threads on tape/motor noise you’ll turn up:

• Yet another thread about motor noise
• Motor noise user survey
• High pitched buzz
• Audio difference between HV30 and HV20

The problem
I’m not going to go into specifics here about the exact decibel rating of tape noise on the Canon HV30. I’m simply going to say that based on user opinion, tape noise is an issue for the HV30. The nature and severity of tape noise differs from ear to ear, but most users describe it as a high pitched wine coming from the tape compartment.

There is no mention of tape or motor noise in Camcorderinfo’s review of the HV30 or HV20. What does this mean? It probably doesn’t mean there is no noise. What it most likely means is that Camcorder info didn’t find the noise significantly worse or better than any other miniDV camera.

There are varying opinions on how loud the tape noise is on the HV30. But lets be honest. If you have two ears in relatively good working order, you’re going to hear some noise when shooting in a quiet room using the internal mic.

Admitting this to yourself is the first step in dealing with the problem.

Solutions
Solutions to tape noise comes in three flavours: pre-production, production, post-production. Let’s look at each one.

• Pre-production – by this I mean getting your expectations in order before you go out and shoot. In most situations, I don’t want to record audio. Audio from an internal mic sounds crap. Internal mics pick up everything in front of and surrounding the camera – including wind, the hum of electric current, and some idiot coughing behind me. I’m more likely to turn the mic off than on when heading out.
• Production – by this I mean the decisions you make and the accessories you are willing to carry around when you shoot. Getting a decent external mic fixes tape noise. An external mic puts more distance between the camera and the sound input, and a mono mic only captures audio directly in front of you. There is an entire thread devoted to buying a good external mic for an affordable price at hv20.com. If you want great audio to go with a great image, then get a great mic. Just because Canon spent years getting an image sensor right doesn’t mean they’ll chuck in awesome sound at no extra cost. The HV30 has a generic hot shoe at the front that you can use to put a whole host of third party external mics into. In comparison, the HF10 has a proprietary hot shoe – which means you have to buy the one Canon mic available until an adapter comes out. (Ed – I also found this thread about adjusting automatic volume control which may help with motor noise)
• Post-production – this is what you do after you get home and you’re cutting your masterpiece. Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere all include audio adjustment panels that can help reduce or eliminate motor noise by isolating the particular frequency it occurs on. You can also use standalone audio correction suites like Soundtrack Pro or Adobe Audition to do the same job. However, isolating the motor noise frequency is not going to get rid of the guy coughing behind you, or the occasional gusts of wind – it takes care of one symptom of your bigger problem: relying on an internal mic to do the job of an external mic. Here are the most useful threads I turned up for post-production: HV20 Motor Noise Survey (lots of user suggestions), post production techniques at DVinfo, and a video tutorial for reducing motor noise using Adobe Audition.

Conclusion
I last had a miniDV camera in 2003. It was a Canon and despite reading many reviews pre-purchase, I bought it and discovered some months later that it was infected with tape noise. How it went unnoticed for a few months is food for thought: it wasn’t until I tried to conduct a recorded interview that the high pitched whirr reared its ugly head.

As I had no pre-warning of the noise I had assumed my Canon could do any type of shooting, including recording audio in a room from a subject about 5 feet away. My expectations were uninformed. Not just that, but thinking back they were also unrealistic. If I wanted great audio I should have (and eventually did) invested in a great external mic. A cinematographer doesn’t fire the sound guy when he picks up a new camera model.

For me, HV30 motor noise is an issue I can deal with. I believe that poor sound and great video don’t mix and I tend to shoot mostly montage style and put the images to music to overcome the issue. If you are looking to shoot your child’s development years and you want to include every sound without the addition of an external mic, then maybe the HV30 isn’t for you.

What’s most important to me is image quality, cost, features and ease of editing. As the HV30 is praised for its ability to be upgraded by third party accessories, I’m happy knowing that the solution to great sound (if I choose to need it) is only a few weeks of saving away.

Agree or disagree? Let me know by posting a comment below.

Another great HV30 DOF Adapter Video

Every now and then I get concerned that, despite all the great reviews and abilities of the HV20/30, I’m still going to get video that obviously looks like it was shot on a camcorder. And as much as I am going to try to put it out of my mind, there will always be a voice in my mind questioning whether I should have just saved up a few more grand and entered the prosumer video market.

I mean for under AU$1200 what can you really expect right?

Wrong. It’s videos like Chris Olsen’s very simple bike montage on vimeo (pictured below) that whip my anticipation for the Hv30 into a frenzy. All Chris has done is taken a few “off the cuff” shots of his friend riding a red bike, but the depth of the image (thanks to a DOF Adapter) and colours are just so rich and bursting with texture.

Of course Chris has used a Magic Bullet preset to touch up the footage, but even so, film-like video is very much achievable on the HV30 – which is why everyone goes gooey over it I guess.

As an aside, I’ve now chosen a Nikkor lens to go with my Letus 35mm adapter: the Nikon 50mm f/1.4D   (reviewed here by the always reliable Ken Rockwell). I already own a Nikon D70 Digital SLR, so the extra AU$350 for a lens serves a dual purpose.

EDIT: A man named Jesus (seriously) informed me yesterday that only Nikon AI manual focus lenses work with the Letus mini and not the AF-D. So proceed with caution.  More information is available on the Letus direct forums. If anybody cares to refute or confirm this, do so in the comments below.

Why the 50mm? User opinion suggested that a nice light lens is a good companion for a somewhat bulky HV30 + Letus mini setup and the Nikkor 50mm is about as light and compact as you can get. It also produces great depth of field and the 1.4 f stop means that plenty of light is let in (DOF adapters tend to lose light) which is great if I’m ever shooting in low light.

Here are some other videos I produced with the twoneil a bit more recently:

Canon HV30 v HF10

In this post I will try to explain why someone like me would choose the HV30 over the newer and much more shiny Canon HF10.

All things being equal, had I a beast of a computer, I probably would have titled this blog “HF10 Indecisive Buyers Guide”.  As camcorderinfo’s review of the HF10 points out, the features gap between MiniDV camcorders and Hard Disk cams is narrowing.

The HV30 may have superior low light performance, a better range of inputs, a generic hot shoe and a very competitive price point, but the HF10 has no moving parts, starts recording instantly and squeezes up to four hours video on one SD card.  While the HV30 relies on technology from the last millenium, the HF10 is part of the new generation; it’s smaller, lighter and set to make miniDV obsolete right?

It’s safe to say that during the early parts of my camcorder research I was an enthusiastic member of “Team HF10”.  I love new technology and HF10 and I seemed to hit it off from the get go.

And then I heard about AVCHD.

For the uninitiated, the HF10 is a solid state camcorder which records video as “files” that you drag and drop onto your computer to edit.  This file format is called AVCHD.  The HV30 on the other hand records to miniDV tapes which transfer to your computer for editing in real time – much like a VHS tape records and plays back.  And while miniDV may be old technology, it still produces the goods: tapes allow less compression and generally higher quality video capture than AVCHD.

But as said, the gap in quality is narrowing.  The small difference in the video quality of AVCHD would go unnoticed by most – this fact on its own wasn’t going to be enough to dissuade me from the HF10.

It seems the only significant obstacle in the way of AVCHD’s world domination is the processing power required to edit the emerging format.

AVCHD user’s seem to have reached a consensus that AVCHD wasn’t designed for the current generation of computers.   In the past I have edited miniDV video on other PC laptops and on an imac without too much trouble.  These days I own a 2 yr old MacBook Pro 1.83 GHz, which for most things is pretty fast – though I’ve yet to put it through it’s video editing paces. It concerns me that a 2 year old laptop may not be powerful enough to edit what is essentially, consumer grade video.

The further I delved into AVCHD editing, the more worried I became: the problem with editing AVCHD.  Many users report that importing AVHCD takes twice, sometimes three times as long as real time on some machines (iMac/MacBook Pro test & laptop specs for AVCHD editing) and burning to DVD (once you’ve finished editing) taking up to 12 hours. There are work arounds of course, including using other programs to import and convert AVCHD into a more manageable video format.  But the whole point of me buying the HF10 was to be more agile, more mobile, spend less time in workflow and more time out shooting.

Real time suddenly seems very efficient.

Being a mac user I can deal with the fact that I’m a little restricted in AVCHD compatible video editing software.  What worries me is the following scenario:

Mark stretches his budget to buy HF10. Mark shoots wonderful HD video with gay abandon. Mark goes to import AVCHD onto Mac, Mark waits a long time. Mark tries to edit AVCHD video, Mark waits a long time.  Mark grows frustrated and considers buying a new $3500 laptop to support his $1000 camcorder.

If the performance of your gadgets is an issue to you (ie if you spend more than 10 seconds scanning the tech specs requirements box) then know that AVCHD has the potential to shit you.

I know that slow performance will bug me and continue bugging me until I scrape up the cash to do something about it.  I don’t want to buy a HF10 and inherit a $3000 computer speed restriction.

Realtime importing from miniDV tapes may seem archaic nowadays, but if it ends up being faster than AVCHD workflow, then that’s what I’ll go for until either my machine gets some processor loving, or AVCHD gets a processing diet.

Of course, this is all from someone who is still yet to buy a HV30.  Only time will tell if the above rationale was worth it.