Canon VIXIA HF G30 HD Camcorder with HD CMOS Pro Review
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I've had my G30 for only a couple of weeks now and you could say I'm rushing this review out, but there's a paucity of information on it so for what it's worth, here are my first impressions.
Confession: I've only had the previous version, the HF-G20, for six months and it was my first ever camcorder. I've used it mostly to film bands in dark bars--and it's great! Great picture, good in low light, decent sound with the Canon shotgun mic attached. My main complaints with it concerned the touchscreen and the zoom. Both of those are vastly improved in the G30. The G30 touchscreen is pretty close to an iPhone; you touch it and it works. The G20. . .well, it was very frustrating. You could just about justify the extra 600 bucks right there. The new screen is a huge improvement in display quality, too. The zoom control was moved from left-right to fore-and-aft, and to me that's much more intuitive. It's easier to use, too--I can zoom verrrry slowly now.
I did a quick noise test, shooting in a dark living room at max gain. The G30 picture is brighter and noticeably cleaner, though maybe not enough to save the day. But it is better. For what it's worth, you can find it on YouTube if you do a search for Canon HF-G30 versus HF-G20 noise. Shooting video in a dark bar, at 24dB gain, resulted in a somewhat noisy video but for a bar-band video, acceptable. I cut between the two cameras and I doubt anyone will notice the slight difference in noise or color cast.
Minor downside: it won't take the same batteries as the G20, and so far I can't find an aftermarket one. Be careful as you're shopping: I clicked on the link Amazon provides, "what other people looked at" and stupidly ordered the wrong batteries and charger. It's the 820 or 828, not the 819.
Another thing I've noticed: it's wider than the G20 and hence it's harder to hold steady in one hand. There's just more weight dangling off your wrist. I highly recommend using a monopod or tabletop tripod as a support for your left hand. I always found it useful with the G20, but with the G30 it's almost a necessity if you're handholding.
I use the Canon shotgun mic on both cameras; DM100 I think it is. There are better mics, but this is so convenient and well-integrated with the camera I'm sticking with it. In post-production I blend in audio from a Zoom H4N hand-held recorder and I find the Zoom has better bass but the DM100s have better highs.
Overall: I love it. The G20 was (is) great and a good alternative, but if you can afford it, go for the better image and vastly improved controls.

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