For anyone looking into the Canon HV20 here's a few excellent tutorials that I found that are really pretty simple and extremely informative.

This one's about controlling the exposure on camera (the system is strange, but not bad when you get used to it).

And this one is about the pulldown you have to do in order to have the video on your computer be 24 frames per second. It goes through how to do it with free programs, so even though it's a bit of a hassle, it's a lot cheaper than paying for a program to do it.

I've had my camera for a little over a week, and while I haven't really shot too much with it I have been pretty impressed with it's capabilities for the price. It's easy to use, but you can still get great results with it. One of my own tips for focusing (since the focus is really hard to dial in manually) is to zoom in on what you want to focus on, hit the focus button so it kicks you into autofocus, then as soon as it focuses hit it again and it will lock int that focus. This does however kinda make it hard to do shots where the focus changes, which is really the only major problem I've seen with the camera.

Here's a few stills from some of the footage I've shot (note that I'm in no way shape or form good at cinematography, and yes it may not be perfectly focused and whatnot).

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I have always wanted to shoot something at that exact train depot in #4...unfortunately there are so many shady people lurking around there that if I brought out a camera or anything worth more than $10 I would be at a huge risk of being mugged and robbed. But its a great, location non-the-less.

Overall, not bad...I'd like to see what it can do in low-lighting scenarios?

Oh the area never really concerned me, idk there's some semi-shady people, but nothing to be too worried about. One time on the walking bridge right there I saw three homeless looking dudes passing around a jug of vodka, hammered off their asses, that was just funny though.

nice looking image, Helio.

note to all to not make much a HUGE sound...but I apologize for not completing my HW yet. itll be in the mail soon.

look forward to your guy's submissions...THERE"S STILL HELLA 5 MINS!
dont judge a location by its..location...or paint job whatever...

Ive been MUGGED (punched and robbbed) at a HIGHSCHOOL for my video camera (And TAPES!)

so be careful, not paranoid, careful. work with a lot of people so u can defend yourself.

and if all else fails, tell em you can make them a much more affordable time starting their acting career than making a cheap dime bag off your camera.

WOW! Those look good!