Canon Hf10/100 vs HV30 vs JVC HD7?

Question

I'm a young filmmaker looking for my first camera. I'm very limited moneywise so I've been doing some research and these cameras are the best options right now. I have a couple questions though. What are the differences besides the storage type between the Hf10 and Hf100? And what are the main differences between them and the HV30?

Right now the winner is the HF100, it's the cheapest and it doesn't look that bad.

Answer 1

If you're looking for a camera for short films and such, then out of those three definitely choose the HV30. I know it's more expensive, but the tape will be worth it. Tape is higher quality, more reliable, easier to store for future use/reference, and you can yell stuff like "Roll sound! Sound rolling! Roll camera! Camera rolling! ACTION!" etc. while filming to make people stare at you like you have lobsters crawling out of your ears or something :P.

But anyway, if cost really is limiting, then I'd go with whatever is cheapest. Any of those three will make good movies. It's more about the carpenter than the hammer, if you know what I mean. A camera is a tool and a Stanley Kubrick would make a better movie with an el-cheapo handy-cam than 99.9% of people could with a 35mm Arricam.

Answer 2

Hey sounds like were in the same boat. I'm a 16-year old aspiring filmmaker and I have a Canon HV20. Hands down, this (or in your case, the HV30) is the camera to get. While the HF100 and HF10 are good cameras, they lack a manual focus wheel, don't have a real hot shoe, are harder to use design-wise, and have a tougher compression scheme to deal with during editing. The HF10 and HF100 both record on flash memory, with the only exception being that the HF10 has 16GB of built-in memory plus SD expansion, whereas the HF100 only has SD expansion. While on the topic of the HV30, have you considered getting an HV20? The only thing you will really be missing is the 30p and perhaps the black "pro" finish, but that's about it. And you can get HV20s for $400 now, so I've heard. With the money you save, you can get some decent audio equipment. I dished out about $500 to get a Rode NTG-2 (including shockmount and windmuff, $350, but that's because I got into a bidding war and unfortunately came out on top) and a DXA-2s ($150). If you get this stuff and don't get too aggressive with your bidding finger, then you might be able to get it for $400, or probably even less than that. After getting my mic and XLR adapter, I made my own boom pole (read this thread if you're interested: http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=136...

I could go on all day, but the best place to go is, you guessed it, HV20.com. You can find me there as lotrfan. And I'm always excited about meeting others around my age that have similar interests, so if you ever want to talk about filmmaking and stuff, feel free to contact me here or hit me up with a PM on HV20.com. Hope this helps!