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Image source: www.supervideo.com

The Canon Vixia HV30 remains a quality HDV camcorder with two performance issues. It’s got a sleeker-looking black body, introduces 30p progressive mode, and supports the high-capacity BP-2L24H lithium-ion battery, but otherwise stays the same as its 2007 predecessor.

Naturally, that makes it a well-designed camcorder with a useful feature set, good overall performance, and glorious video quality. It’s comparatively gigantic, weighing one pound, 5.4 oz, though it fits into a massive, loose jacket pocket. We like the black framework more than the silver, but the tape housing feels a little flimsier than we remember ; when gripped for shooting, the cover moves a bit.

In all the other methods the build quality appears solid, though , with tethered covers over the sophisticated Accessory Shoe, HDMI / FireWire ports, and mic / headphone / part out jacks. The 2.7-inch wide-screen LCD is sort of little and at 211,000-pixels not really high spec, but it is enough for manually targeting.

The eye-level viewfinder is comparatively giant, but doesn’t pull out or up, and I’m wishing it was regarded as having a softer eye cup. In addition, I just had to smile at the Catch-22 diopter control. Since it’s right on the viewfinder, you have got to move your head away to get your finger on the switch, which suggests you can’t set it for your eye pressed close. The HV30 supplies both a video light and a flash for shooting stills.

As usual, we actually like the built-in electronic lens cover. The Vixia HV20 is still usually available and costs noticeably less than the Canon Vixia HV30, making it a superb deal. Both are sometimes less expensive than the competing Sony HDR-HC7–and without the provoking touch screen–making either one a necessary addition to your short list of HDV camcorders.