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Model
|
| Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Picture ? | | |
| Manufacturer | Canon 
| Sony 
|
| Name | HV20 | HDR-HC3 |
| European name ? | HV20 | HDR-HC3E |
| US name ? | HV20 | HDRHC3 |
| lowest US price | | 1500 $ |
| On the market since | April 2007 | March 2006 |
| Manufacturers URL | link to Canon | link to Sony |
|
|
Test preview
|
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| slashCAM rating ? | Good
 | Sufficient
 |
| test picture 1200 Lux | |  |
| Test image 12 lux auto-mode | |  |
Video
|
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Video formats ? | MiniDV HDV
| MiniDV HDV
|
| Recording Medium | MiniDV/HDV-Cassette
| MiniDV/HDV-Cassette
|
| video resolutions EU ? | HDV 1440 x 1080/50i MiniDV 720 x 576/50i MiniDV 720 x 576/25F HDV 1440 x 1080/25p
| HDV 1440 x 1080/50i MiniDV 720 x 576/50i
|
| video resolutions US ? | HDV 1440 x 1080/60i HDV 1440 x 1080/24p HDV 1440 x 1080/30p MiniDV 720 x 480/60i 720 MiniDV x480/24p
| HDV 1440 x 1080/60i MiniDV 720 x 480/60i
|
| Max Bitrate ? | 25 Mbit/s | 25 Mbit/s |
| Compression format ? | DV MPEG2
| DV MPEG2
|
| on-board memory ? | | |
| Optics |
| Optics Manufacturer ? | Canon
| Carl Zeiss
|
| Optical Zoom ? | 10 x | 10 x |
| Wide Angle 16:9 ? | 43,6 mm | 41,3 mm |
| Filter diameter ? | 43 mm | 30 mm |
| Image Stabilization ? | optical
| electronical
|
| ND Filter ? | Yes
| No
|
| Exchangable optics ? | No
| No
|
| Image Sensor |
| Number of sensors ? | 1 | 1 |
| Size of image sensor ? | 1/2,7 inch | 1/3 inch |
| image sensor effective pixel count 16:9 ? | 2070000 Pixel | 1434000 Pixel |
| Image Sensor Type ? | CMOS
| CMOS
|
| Controls |
| White Balance ? | auto manual presets
| auto manual presets WB-Shift
|
| Focus ? | auto manual
| auto manual
|
| Minimum shutter time ? | 2.000 | auto
|
| Maximum shutter time ? | 1/2 | auto
|
| Apperture control ? | auto manual AE-Shift
| auto AE-Shift
|
| Infrared recording ? | No
| Yes
|
| Expanded Focus ? | Yes
| |
| Peaking ? | Yes
| |
| Signal Processing |
| Zebra ? | Off 70% 100%
| Off 70% 100%
|
| Histogram ? | No
| Yes
|
| adjustable sharpness ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Adjustable color ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Cinegamma ? | Yes
| No
|
| Black Strech ? | No
| No
|
| Knee ? | No
| No
|
| Colorbars ? | No
| Yes
|
| Misc. |
| Shot Transition ? | No
| No
|
| Custom Presets ? | No
| No
|
| Set Time Code ? | No
| No
|
Configuration
|
| Connections |
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
FBAS ? synonymous: RCA, composite | In Out
| Out
|
YC ? synonymous: S-Video | No
| No
|
YUV ? synonymous: Component Signal | Out
| Out
|
| HDMI ? | Out
| Out
|
DV / HDV (FireWire) ? synonymous: ILink / IEEE-1394 | In Out
| In Out
|
| USB ? | USB 2.0
| USB 2.0
|
| Microphone / Audio input ? | Mini-jack
| No
|
| Headphones ? | Mini-jack
| No
|
| Lanc ? | No
| Yes
|
| Time-code interface ? | No
| No
|
| Genlock ? | No
| No
|
| Accessory shoe ? | Intelligent
| AI
|
| HD-SDI ? | No
| No
|
| Misc. |
| Weight (without battery) | | 500 g |
| Weight (with battery) | 535 g | 600 g |
| Battery type | Canon BP-2L13
| Sony NP-FP60
|
| Battery capacity | | 1000 mAh |
| Charger ? | internal
| internal
|
| Remote control | Yes
| Yes
|
| Size |
| Height | 80 mm | 82 mm |
| Width | 88 mm | 78 mm |
| Depth | 138 mm | 139 mm |
| Relative Size ? | 9 | 8 |
| Viewfinder |
| Viewfinder available ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Color Viewfinder ? | Color
| Color
|
| Viewfinder format ? | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Viewfinder pixels ? | 123000 Pixel | 123200 Pixel |
| Display |
| Display available ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| Color display ? | Color
| Color
|
| Display size | 2,7 Inch | 2,7 Inch |
| Display format ? | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Display pixels ? | 210000 Pixel | 211200 Pixel |
| Touch Screen ? | No
| Yes
|
| External controls |
| Manual Zoom ? | Rocker
| Rocker
|
| Manual Focus ? | Wheel bi-functional focus or aperture wheel
| bi-functional focus or aperture wheel
|
| Manual Aperture ? | bi-functional focus or aperture wheel
| bi-functional focus or aperture wheel
|
| Focus switcher ? | Yes
| Yes
|
| ND Filter ? | No
| No
|
| Exp Lock ? | No
| No
|
| Gain ? | No
| No
|
| White balance ? | No
| No
|
| Push AF ? | No
| No
|
| Audio Levels ? | No
| No
|
Custom Keys ? synonymous: User buttons | No
| |
Audio
|
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Audio Formats ? | MiniDV: 2x48kHz 16bit PCM HDV: 2x48kHz 16bit MPEG 1
| MiniDV: 2x48kHz 16bit PCM MiniDV: 4x32kHz 12bit PCM HDV: 2x48kHz 16bit MPEG 1
|
| Microphone ? | Stereo internal Mini-jack external
| Stereo internal
|
| Audio Control ? | auto manual
| auto
|
| Audio levels ? | No
| No
|
Still
|
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Recording Medium ? | MiniSD
| Memory Stick Duo
|
| Medium included ? | No
| No
|
| Effective pixels ? | 2760000 Pixel | 1991000 Pixel |
| Resolutions ? | 1920x1080 1440x1080 848x480 640x480 2048 x 1536 | 2304x1728 2304x1296 |
| Standard ? | JPEG Exif 2.2
| JPEG Exif 2.2
|
| Flash ? | Yes
| Yes
|
Misc.
|
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| Specials | | &"Smooth Slow Record" slow motion mode: 3 seconds are recorded with 200 half frames/sec., resulting in a 4-fold slow motion.However, the recording is without sound and in poorer image quality. |
Product Shots
|
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| View 1 | | |
| View 2 | | |
Test results
|
| Test pictures |
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| luminance resolution | | |
| chrominance resolution | | |
| lens distortion | | |
| test small ISO image | | |
| noise / internal microphone | | |
| test picture 1200 Lux | | |
| Test image 12 lux auto-mode ? | | |
| Test image 12 lux optimized ? | | |
| slashCAM rating |
| Lowlight ? | Satisfactory | Satisfactory |
| Resolution ? | Excellent | Sufficient |
| Color performance ? | Very good | Sufficient |
| subj.Picture impression ? | Very good | Satisfactory |
| Optical Zoom ? | Sufficient | Sufficient |
| Wide Angle ? | Poor | Sufficient |
| Configuration / image ? | Satisfactory | Satisfactory |
| Configuration / sound ? | Satisfactory | Poor |
| Handling ? | Sufficient | Sufficient |
| Portability ? | Very good | Very good |
| Photo function ? | Satisfactory | Sufficient |
| Optics ? | Good | Good |
| Dynamics ? | Good | Good |
| Conclusion slashCAM |
| slashCAM rating ? | Good
 | Sufficient
 |
Total score ? (maximal 570) | 348 | 264 |
| Pros | + Excellent resolution in brightness and color + Compact + Very good price / performance ratio
| HDMI out + Cheap price
|
| Cons | - small wide angle - slight problems with reds - over-simplified operation
| - bad color resolution - DV-quality only average - poorly equipped
|
| Conclusion | Thanks to the excellent resolution of its CMOS the Canon HV20 makes almost full use of the HDV-system in brightness as well as color.Noticeable is the high resolution in diagonals.With enough light the HV20 makes a very clean picture, only in low light there is visible image noise.The optics has very little distorsion, but offers only a small wide angle. | The Sony HDR-HC3 offers only average brightness resolution in HDV, the color resolution is beneath SD-level.Occasionally significant (colored) moirees can be seen on fine details.The subjective picture impression is barely good, in part thanks to the good dynamics behavior with little noise and few smear-effects.Color-wise the HC3 is pleasantly warm.The wide angle is very limited for indoors, but on the other hand there are only few lens errors.In low light situations the HC3 performs satisfactory. |
More information
|
| Reviews and Forums |
| [ top ] | Canon HV20 | Sony HDR-HC3 |
| slashCAM Review | HV20 Review | HDR-HC3 Review |
| external reviews/tests | www.videomaker.com
www.camcorderinfo.com
| www.camcorder-test.com
|
| Forum posts | Canon HV20 + 35mm adapter + wide angle converter useful?
Firewire under Windows7 and HV20 shows artifacts
A question of storage media - used or new HF10 Canon HV20
In Memoriam Canon HV20 - HDV long-lived
Focus ring for Canon hv20
Canon HV20 and Final Cut Pro Log and Capture problem
Wanted: Canon's successor to the Canon HV20 ...
Canon HV20 PAL + NTSC?
Sunshade for the Canon HV20 with wide-angle attachment
Getting Started with the GT35PRO 35mm s.der Canon HV20
HF100 or HV20 + Questions
Test - Sin City Effect with a Canon HV20
Canon HV20 purchase advice
| Off of the PC to the HDR-HC3E
Copy of HC3 on Hi8
Recording falters when SonyHDR-HC3E
Final Cut Express HD cut of SonyHDR-HC3E Mini DV material
Playsation3 and the HC3 ...
Buying NV-GS500 or SonyHDR HC3 and HC7?
How can I get my HC3 film intersect with my PC?
How can I get my HC3 film intersect with my PC?
SonyHDR-HC3E OR Panasonic NV-GS 300 EC?
SonyHDR-HC1 or SonyHDR-HC3e?
sony HC32E problem: overexposed recordings
SonyHDR-HC3E Viewfinder
Large Battery NP-FP90 is not akzpetiert of camcorder HDR-HC3E
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