MiniDV HD Camcorder

Successful in dominating the digital camera market, Canon now is trying to secure its position in the camcorder market. When we and everybody else was swamped by the high definition (HD) video trend, Canon released a camcorder that can record video with high definition.

One of the latest Canon HD camcorder is the HV30. This camcorder is expected to sustain the attack from its competitor - Sony's handycam camcorder. If we look at its storage media technology, HV30 is quite old because this gadget is still using MiniDV tape. However, camcorder with MiniDV is less affordable than camcorder with HDD (hard diskdrive) or flash memory. This has become a plus point for this device.

On the other hand, if you record video using MiniDV, you can only do it for 60 minutes. So, when you want to record longer, you have to bring extra MiniDV tape with you although video recorded on MiniDV cab be stored on your computer.

Canon said that HV30 supports HD video recording with maximum resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixel. HV30 is also equipped with a powerful 10x optical zoom lens and an LCD screen that can be pointed to any direction to make it easier for the user to arrange his or her video composition.

Since HV30 comes with "hot shoe", you can add accessories such as lamps or additional microphones. But of course, with the additional accessories, the functionality and the price range will be different.

Another thing you should consider before buying this gadget is its dimension and weight. HV30 is considered big because it has a big dimension (3.2 x 5.4 inch) and quite heavy - weighs about 535 grams.

As the opposite, good old Sony, just introduced an HD camcorder that is smaller in dimension - 1.3 x 4.7 x 2.5 inch. Named HDR-TG1 Handycam, this HD Sony camcorder is claimed as the smallest there is. This is possible because it is using flash memory.