The Canon HV40 comes from a rich heritage of MiniDV/HDV camcorders.  While the HV40 is not a revolutionary release, it does continue the legacy by adding to the great quality of the HV30.  The major new feature is the addition of 1080/24p frame rate.  This mode is a welcome addition for those who want to shoot in cinema mode.  1080/30p is also still supported.

The lens is very similar to the HV30 with spectra coating (to reduce flare and ghosting), aspheric design, but adds a neutral density (ND) filter to improve performance in bright environments.  The ND filter does help prevent blowout in the bright spots, but the dynamic range of the image does not appear to be improved by the ND filter. Overall the quality of the lens is excellent.

The HV40 uses a CMOS sensor which reduces power consumption (compared to CCD) while still providing good quality.  While still not on par with 3CCD, modern video processors can significantly improve the quality of the CMOS sensors, making them a reasonable alternative to CCD in consumer camcorders.  As expected, the camcorder is large compared to similar flash camcorders.

The HV40 doesn’t feel quite right in my hands, and the controls do not feel quite right.  For me, I liked the feel better of the Canon HF S100 with it’s rounded sides over this. I do like the zoom control feature which eliminates the warp speed zooms caused by pulling or pushing the zoom a little to fast.  The three built-in zoom speeds really do make it easier to make nicer looking zooms.  The joystick on the back of the camcorder can be easily reached with your thumb, but it’s easy to mistake the joystick for the record button when not paying attention.

The HDV format is less taxing on older computers when importing the video into your editing program, so buyers may be able to avoid a computer upgrade when buying this camcorder.  Once the video is imported, the processing requirements are the same as with flash camcorders.  Some editing software still can’t deal with the AVCHD format that hard disk camcorders and flash camcorders record in, so if you’ve already invested in editing software that can’t edit AVCHD, then an HDV camcorder is a cheaper solution to your problem than upgrading your computer, software, and buying a new camcorder.  Also, tape is the cheapest form of video storage, and it’s removable, so when you finish one tape you can insert another.  The HDV/MiniDV tapes used by this camcorder are available throughout the world, so if you are going on an extened international trip, HDV will provide you a significant amount of storage at a good price.

The main competitor for this camcorder is the Sony HDR-HC9 which offers similar features to the HV40.  The low light performance of the Sony is better, but the overall image quality of the HV40 makes the HV40 a winner in its class. You should buy this camcorder if you are looking for an HD camcorder and want to stick with tapes over the flash camcorders.  If you already have the HV30, there is not much to upgrade for.

Buy Now At:

Shop at	Price	Rating	Stock
	$490.00		UNKNOWN
	$699.99		IN
	$699.00		IN
	$699.00		IN
	$699.99		IN
	$699.00		IN
	$699.99		IN
	$769.97		IN
	$999.95		IN
	$699.99		IN
	$999.99		IN
	$699.00		IN
	$999.99		IN
	$699.00		IN
	$699.00		IN
Compare Prices for All 24 Sellers ($490.00 – $999.99)

Specifications:

Related Reviews:

1. Canon VIXIA HF S10 HD Dual Flash Memory w/32GB Internal Memory & 10x Optical Zoom Review
2. Sony HDR-HC9 6MP MiniDV High Definition Handycam Camcorder 10x Optical Zoom Review
3. Canon VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom Review
4. Samsung HMX-H106 HD SSD Flash Memory Camcorder w/64GB Memory & 10x Optical Zoom Review
5. Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder w/37x Optical Zoom Review