Labs

Of all the high-definition camcorders in the Labs, the HV30 is most likely to appeal to video enthusiasts. The shoe accepts standard accessories, as well as controlling and powering Canon's own range of add-ons. There's a microphone input for connecting an external microphone for higher-quality audio. There's also a dial near the lens dedicated to manual focus control.

The LCD has around twice the resolution of the screens on most standard-definition camcorders. This is useful when using the manual focus, and there's a focus assist button that zooms on the screen for fine tuning.

Video is stored to MiniDV tapes using the MPEG2-based HDV standard at around 25Mbit/s. You get 60 minutes on each

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tape, but the resolution is limited to 1,440x1,080 pixels, rather than the 1,920x1,080 resolution of most AVCHD camcorders. Despite this, video quality was the best in the group. We could see more detail in our indoor footage than with any other high-definition model. There was almost no picture noise, and colours looked accurate. The big 1/2.7in CMOS picked up plenty of light, so footage taken in low light had little noise and plenty of colour.

The HV30 can take pictures at resolutions of up to 3.1 megapixels, and the results are good enough for snaps, which are then stored on a miniSD card. There's also a flash and an LED video light, so you can take photos and shoot video in most lighting conditions.

The battery is mounted in a recess at the rear of the camcorder, and it lasted longer than any other unit in this test, managing one hour and 54 minutes. A larger battery can be fitted, but it would make it hard to get your eye to the non-extendable viewfinder.

The HV30 is a rather large unit, and it feels a bit cheap, certainly compared with Panasonic's HDC-SD9. However, if you want the best video quality and a great deal of control over how you compose your shots - and you don't mind the lengthy process of transfering MiniDV to your PC - the HV30 is the camcorder to buy.