- Canon HD Camera System for Outstanding HDV1080i Movies
- Instant AF with Fast and Accurate Autofocus
- Genuine Canon HD Video Lens, with 10x Optical Zoom and Super Range OIS
- Creative Manual Control with Custom Key and User Assignable Control Dial
- Advanced Accessory Shoe, Manual Audio Control and a Full Range of Connections, Including HDMI
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical Details
Product details
|
Related Items
- Most Popular
- Blank Media
- Tripods & Monopods
- SD Cards
- Camera Bags & Cases
Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
The LEGRIA HV40 inherits all the benefits of the Canon HD Camera System from its award-winning predecessor, the HV30. The unique combination of a genuine Canon HD Video Lens, a Full HD CMOS sensor and the DIGIC DV II processor delivers superb HDV1080i (High Definition Video), recorded to tape.
Even slight focusing errors show up in HD footage. The LEGRIA HV40 employs Instant AF, Canon’s unique hybrid auto focus system, to achieve pin-sharp focus at speed.
A genuine Canon HD Video Lens with a 10x optical zoom is constructed to the most exacting standards – drawing on Canon’s expertise in broadcast lens manufacture. A Super Range Optical Image Stabilizer compensates for vibrations across the frequency range, combating camera shake.
The LEGRIA HV40 gives moviemakers more manual control over shooting variables. A Custom Key lets you choose what function you’d like to assign to the manual Control Dial: choose to control features such as focus, exposure, or audio level.
With an Advanced Accessory Shoe, adapt the camcorder to your specific needs – a range of optional peripherals, including a video light and a directional microphone, can be added. Manual audio level control gives you precise control over audio recording. Quickly connect to a compatible HD TV or computer via HDMI.
The LEGRIA HV40 gives you the option of true 25p (progressive) shooting. Combined with a special CINE image mode, shoot movies that have the look and feel of traditional film. 25p also provides improved low light performance.
Thanks to DIGIC DV II, shoot 2.07MP photos and video simultaneously, with photos stored to MiniSD card. A range of dedicated photo features is available, including a one-push histogram for monitoring brightness levels. It’s easy to print photos on any PictBridge compatible printer.
Via an AV input connection, transfer analogue footage (including your old home movies) to digital tape – ideal for archiving.
If you’re planning a long shooting day, the LEGRIA HV40 is compatible with Canon’s optional high capacity battery (BP-2L24H) – cutting down the need to carry spares.
Product Description
Canon LEGRIA HV40 BODY Camcorder Lithium Battery For WL CR2025 WLD87 Wireless Controller CA570S Compact Power Adapter AC Cable Stereo Video Cable and Interface Cable set Component Cable CTC100S BP2L13 Battery Pack Terminal Cover Digital Vi 3687B
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
We bought the HV40 as a replacement for our ageing Sony TRV330e, plumping for dv tape as we're hopeless at making time to edit captured video to disk.
After much agonising and having already purchased a Canon digital camera we decided that the best option would be the HV40 rather than the HV30 on the basis that its a long term investment and better to get the "bells 'n whistles" now. As an aside, finding dv tape cameras or those with a larger price tag in shops is nigh on impossible so you're increasingly buying on reputation and third party (biased?) reviews...
The HV40 a significantly smaller camera than our old Sony which is nice however this comes at the cost of some build quality specifically the tape door and the LCD screen.
The tape door doubles as a securing point for the hand grip and the locking mechanism does not have a sufficient engagement to avoid some "slap" between the door and the case. The movement is less than 1mm but its enough to affect confidence.
Used to the substantial feel of the Sony, the LCD screen feels vulnerable to heavy handed treatment as its only 1/2 the depth however the displayed image is very good.
We also noticed some noise made by the movement of the lens groups when the unit is moved.
To save battery power we generally prefer to use the view finder whilst filming but the facility on this camera does not encourage its use as it is too close to the camera body and has no soft padding for the eye.
The camera has a joystick to control the menu settings which works well but again one wonders if it will survive the years.
Shooting some actual footage shows the significant advances that videos have come since the Sony came out. The quality of the image is stunning and level of detail far exceeds what we had become used too. No grainyness or blurring is evident and no doubt it will look even better on an HD TV!
There are a bewildering number of options and three separate locations for the various data outputs!
So far we haven't noticed any tape transport noise on the recordings but which has been mentioned in other reviews hoever due to the location of the microphone can see how this might be possible.
Overall we're pleased but for the price we do have some reservations whether it will last as long as the Sony did and would have expected a more substantial quality feel.
After much agonising and having already purchased a Canon digital camera we decided that the best option would be the HV40 rather than the HV30 on the basis that its a long term investment and better to get the "bells 'n whistles" now. As an aside, finding dv tape cameras or those with a larger price tag in shops is nigh on impossible so you're increasingly buying on reputation and third party (biased?) reviews...
The HV40 a significantly smaller camera than our old Sony which is nice however this comes at the cost of some build quality specifically the tape door and the LCD screen.
The tape door doubles as a securing point for the hand grip and the locking mechanism does not have a sufficient engagement to avoid some "slap" between the door and the case. The movement is less than 1mm but its enough to affect confidence.
Used to the substantial feel of the Sony, the LCD screen feels vulnerable to heavy handed treatment as its only 1/2 the depth however the displayed image is very good.
We also noticed some noise made by the movement of the lens groups when the unit is moved.
To save battery power we generally prefer to use the view finder whilst filming but the facility on this camera does not encourage its use as it is too close to the camera body and has no soft padding for the eye.
The camera has a joystick to control the menu settings which works well but again one wonders if it will survive the years.
Shooting some actual footage shows the significant advances that videos have come since the Sony came out. The quality of the image is stunning and level of detail far exceeds what we had become used too. No grainyness or blurring is evident and no doubt it will look even better on an HD TV!
There are a bewildering number of options and three separate locations for the various data outputs!
So far we haven't noticed any tape transport noise on the recordings but which has been mentioned in other reviews hoever due to the location of the microphone can see how this might be possible.
Overall we're pleased but for the price we do have some reservations whether it will last as long as the Sony did and would have expected a more substantial quality feel.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
I got a Canon HV40 for Christmas and have recently be using it to film my five minute production for University. Compared to some of the small miniDV HD cameras at Uni this in my opinion is far superior. We use Sony camcorders at Uni (I can't remember the model) and they lack certain expected features such as manual exposure. You have to adjust most settings through the touch screen which is rather annoying as the screen quickly becomes covered in finger prints, adjusting whilst shooting becomes a problem too. Sony has also decided to stop making miniDV HD camcorders now and instead is focusing on HDD (Hard Disk Drive) based camcorders. Meaning that their almost useless in the professional world, it appears to me that Sony are focusing on the home camcorder market. Otherwise Sony's camcorders are not a bad option at all.
Now it's for these reasons and the fact a reputable iTunes podcast recommended it, I got the Canon HV40 instead. First perk is you never have to touch the screen meaning it stays nice and clean. You can manually adjust the focus using a wheel near the lens. All other functions are adjusted through a small stick by the record button. The video quality is amazing, you can watch videos recorded using this camera on YouTube, just type in "Canon HV40" and you can see the quality for you self. There are some nice accessories as well including a wide angle lens which I also bought that I rarely take off. Sound quality is very good even more so with a mic attachment. It comes with all the nessesary conection ports such as HDMI, FireWire and USB.
There are a few negatives too. The "intelligent" auto focus is sluggish. When using the stick mid shot it can be heard clicking on playback. Battery life is bad more so than other camcorders I've used.
I think I know why this camera has got such an average star rating on here, if you're buying this camera for home "holiday" type use then it's possibly not the best choice. However if you're using it for more professional reasons then you can't go far wrong with the Canon HV40.
Now it's for these reasons and the fact a reputable iTunes podcast recommended it, I got the Canon HV40 instead. First perk is you never have to touch the screen meaning it stays nice and clean. You can manually adjust the focus using a wheel near the lens. All other functions are adjusted through a small stick by the record button. The video quality is amazing, you can watch videos recorded using this camera on YouTube, just type in "Canon HV40" and you can see the quality for you self. There are some nice accessories as well including a wide angle lens which I also bought that I rarely take off. Sound quality is very good even more so with a mic attachment. It comes with all the nessesary conection ports such as HDMI, FireWire and USB.
There are a few negatives too. The "intelligent" auto focus is sluggish. When using the stick mid shot it can be heard clicking on playback. Battery life is bad more so than other camcorders I've used.
I think I know why this camera has got such an average star rating on here, if you're buying this camera for home "holiday" type use then it's possibly not the best choice. However if you're using it for more professional reasons then you can't go far wrong with the Canon HV40.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
It seems to me that most of the reviews of this device miss the point. The HV40 produces great output but in tape format. Some see this as a disadvantage (sure, it takes a full hour to transfer a single tape to a PC) but, in my opinion, the advantages of tape greatly outweigh this:
1 - Sooner or later your camera will malfunction, be stolen or simply be dropped. With a tape machine, up to an hour of footage is at risk (not 20-30 as would be the case when using a 240Gb Hard disk monster. SD cards are still much more expensive than tape, so I don't think they offer a reasonable alternative);
2 - DV tapes (don't bother with HDV equivalents - they're unnecessary) are cheap and last for at least 10 years so, as your competence increases, you can re-edit old footage and produce still better output; and
3 - The load on the editing PC is dramatically less than when processing AVCHD output from Hard disk or SD machines. You may well avoid a PC-upgrade if you stick with tape.
I have just two negative comments:
1 - the HV40 seems very expensive when compared with the older HV30 (essentially the same device); and
2 - a Firewire port is needed for editing (becoming increasinly rare on modern laptops).
Otherwise, the HV40 is just great! Buy one while they are still available. I fear that, despite my enthusiasm, the HDV format for "prosumers" is doomed. It'll remain for the professions, though.
1 - Sooner or later your camera will malfunction, be stolen or simply be dropped. With a tape machine, up to an hour of footage is at risk (not 20-30 as would be the case when using a 240Gb Hard disk monster. SD cards are still much more expensive than tape, so I don't think they offer a reasonable alternative);
2 - DV tapes (don't bother with HDV equivalents - they're unnecessary) are cheap and last for at least 10 years so, as your competence increases, you can re-edit old footage and produce still better output; and
3 - The load on the editing PC is dramatically less than when processing AVCHD output from Hard disk or SD machines. You may well avoid a PC-upgrade if you stick with tape.
I have just two negative comments:
1 - the HV40 seems very expensive when compared with the older HV30 (essentially the same device); and
2 - a Firewire port is needed for editing (becoming increasinly rare on modern laptops).
Otherwise, the HV40 is just great! Buy one while they are still available. I fear that, despite my enthusiasm, the HDV format for "prosumers" is doomed. It'll remain for the professions, though.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Canon Legria HV40 HD camcorder
Previous camera was Panasonic SD 3CCD minidv(£299.95 Oct'2007). Have been making film for 'bout 2yrs now and wanted to upgrade to HD. Read more
Published 7 months ago by AKW
Canon Legria HV 40
This is a superb camera.
Very pleasant to use and capable of making great videos.
I agree with all the praise.
Very pleasant to use and capable of making great videos.
I agree with all the praise.
Published 12 months ago by edotoole
Video freeze
I have had the Canon HV 40 for approx 3.5 weeks. I am pleased with the picture in terms of quality and clarity. Read more
Published 16 months ago by VideoSteve
Canon Legria HV40
Canon LEGRIA HV40 High Definition Digital Camcorder - Black (10x Optical Zoom, 2.7 Inch Widescreen Colour LCD)
This is the second HV40 that I have owned as my first... Read more
This is the second HV40 that I have owned as my first... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Stephen Peters
Great Camera but the price!!!
strange how this very same camera can be bought in the US for just £416!!! Wonder what magic extra features are added during those few extra miles from China? Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2009 by Jill Stevens
Canon HV40
Great value for money. Probably the cheapest HDV camcorder which records on TAPE, yes TAPE!. Anyone who really knows what they are doing with image quality / compression / post... Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2009 by Mr. S. Williamson
Good for prof
Just received it. The only dis- noise. I have purchase the Rode mic for it as I knew about the noise from the forums. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2009 by Andrej Spilevoj
Canon Legria CV40- Is this a joke?
I have been provided with a Canon Legria CV40 as an insurance claim replacement for a Sony HDR HC3. This is not an adequate replacement as there is no comparison between the 2. Read more
Published on 29 May 2009 by Colin Lowe
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
