Canon LEGRIA HV40

Auto Mode (7.13)

The Auto/Program mode switch

The Canon HV40 doesn't have face detection, smile shutter or any of the new auto features that are being pushed by manufacturers. This doesn't make its auto controls any less effective, however. The camcorder has a dedicated Auto mode that can be turned on by flicking a switch on the right side. In Auto mode you don't have access to the Function menu (except for picking a still image size), but you can enter the camcorder's main menu (certain options are unavailable, however).

If you leave Auto mode and switch over to Program mode you can still leave the HV40 in automatic control—you just have the option of setting things manually. In Program mode you can use scene modes, pick a white balance preset, control exposure, etc. If you don't make any changes, however, then the camcorder will function just like it does in Auto mode.

We found the HV40's autofocus to be a bit slower than other Canon camcorders, and it felt like it took a moment too long to bring things to focus. The camcorder has an option for Instant AF or Normal AF, but the amount of time it takes the camcorder to focus doesn't really change with either option. The difference is what the focus process looks like. With Instant AF, once the camcorder starts to focus it does so in a snap-like fashion (subjects focus almost immediately). Normal AF is a slower, smoother focus transition. In both modes, though, the camcorder takes a while before it figures out what part of the image should be in focus. It can just sit, pointing at a fuzzy image for a 1-2 seconds before anything happens.

The auto exposure on the HV40 worked better than focus. It provided smooth transitions as we moved the camcorder between different lighting situations. Sometimes it over-exposed and sometimes it under-exposed, but this is normal for a consumer camcorder. There is a backlight option on the HV40 that can be turned on and off in Program mode. Auto white balance was decent, but we recommend using the manual setting when at all possible. The HV40 also has a bunch of white balance presets that work well if you know what kind of light you are shooting under.

Lastly, the HV40 has an option called Cine Mode that Canon doesn't explain clearly. All the manual says is that Cine Mode gives footage a more cinematic look and that it works best with the camcorder's 25p setting. Playing around with the feature, we found that Cine Mode produced a less grainy and noisy image in low light (probably due to lower gain levels). So, Cine Mode ended up producing a cleaner, smoother image, but it also required more light than regular Program mode.

Low Light Modes
The HV40 doesn't have a special low light mode like Sony's infrared NightShot system, but it does have a Night scene mode and an auto slow shutter option. Auto slow shutter lets the camcorder use a 1/30 of a second shutter speed in low light situations (instead of having 1/60 be the minimum shutter speed). A 1/30 shutter speed will enhance low light performance, but it also creates motion trails and somewhat choppy video.

Additionally, the HV40 has a video light that is mounted to the right of the lens. The light actually does a good job illuminating your surroundings in complete darkness and it has a range of about 10 - 15 feet. It is much better than the light featured on the Canon HF20 and HF200, but it is a bit worse than the light on Canon's HF S series (HF S100, HF S10, and HF S11). The HV40's light gives your footage a slight blue tone due to the tint of the light, while the light on the HF S Canons doesn't have that problem.

Scene Modes
The Canon HV40 has a few scene modes that can be set when the camcorder is not in its dedicated auto mode. The scene modes include: Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks. The Night scene mode lowers the camcorder's minimum shutter speed, while the Beach and Sunset modes change the colour settings. For other scene modes, it's more difficult to pinpoint what settings are being tweaked by the camcorder.

Zoom (7.25)

The HV40 has an average-sized zoom toggle on the top of the camcorder that is meant to be controlled with your index finger. The toggle is well made, easy to use, and we actually like its design a bit more than the Canon HF S100's zoom controller. The toggle allows for variable zoom speed control based on how hard you push the controller (a common feature). The HV40 also offers three constant zoom speed options. The fastest speed (speed 3) does a full 10x zoom in about 4 seconds, the middle speed (speed 2) does the same thing in 8 seconds, and the slowest speed crawls along for 16 seconds before a full 10x zoom is achieved.

The zoom toggle can be set to variable zoom speed or one of three constant speeds.

There are two zoom buttons on the HV40's LCD panel (the rewind and fastfoward button). These buttons always work using a constant zoom speed—even if the camcorder is set to variable zoom. It is useful to have secondary zoom buttons like these, but their design on the HV40 is terrible. The buttons are difficult to push and are not very responsive. The Canon HF S100, HF S10, and HF S11 have much better button design on their LCD panels, while the Canon HF20 and HF200 have the same poor design as the HV40.

Zoom Ratio (3.77)

The HV40 has a 10x optical zoom, which is the same zoom featured on the Canon HF S100. 10x is on the small end for a new HD camcorder, although most have an optical zoom somewhere between 10x and 15x. We would have liked to see a slightly larger zoom in the case of the HV40, just because we think the camcorder is big enough to accommodate the extra optics. Still, 10x isn't bad... it's just not anything special. The camcorder also has a 200x digital zoom setting, but using it will result in degraded image quality.

Zoom Comparisons
Wide Angle	Mid Zoom	10x Zoom

Focus (6.75)

Focus can be set manually on the HV40 using the small scroll wheel near the front of the camcorder. Oddly, this is the only control that can be set using the scroll wheel—shutter speed and aperture must be set with the rear-mounted navigation joystick. Maybe this is a good thing, however, since the HV40's focus wheel isn't very good. It is small, doesn't offer much surface area, and isn't very precise. We much prefer the larger control dials featured on the Canon HF S100, HF S10, and HF S11.

There are no onscreen markers displayed while using manual focus on the HV40.		The focus dial isn't great, but it is better than using a joystick.

When setting focus, the HV40 has two focus assist options, but neither of them are well implemented. The first is peaking, which highlights the edges of your subject in an attempt to make focusing easier. While many camcorders offer coloured peaking—including the HF S models from Canon—the HV40 does not include this feature. This makes the peaking on the HV40 essentially useless. The second focus assist is a digital magnification that zooms into your subject so you can see subtleties in the focus better. This feature is somewhat useful, but you have to press the magnification button on the LCD panel to activate it.

Exposure Controls

-11 to +11 (23 increments)

Aperture Controls

f/1.8, f/2, f/2.4, f/2.8, f/3.4, f/4, f/4.8, f/5.6, f/6.7, f/8

Shutter Speeds

In Shutter Priority mode (50i and 30p frame rates): 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000 In Shutter Priority mode (25p frame rate): 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, 1/48, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000

White Balance Controls

Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Manual

Gain Controls

None

Exposure (8.3)

Exposure is controlled on the HV40 the same way it is on all Canon camcorders. There are 23 increments of adjustment that range from -11 to +11 EV steps and the navigation joystick is used to manually set the exposure. The HV40 does still use Canon's old joystick menu design, however, which is very confusing to work with. The rest of Canon's new 2009 camcorders feature a drop-down menu for the joystick controls that is much easier to work with. We cover this topic more in the Menus section of this review.

Setting exposure is easy, but using the Joystick menu is confusing.

Aperture (6.5)

Like exposure, aperture is also controlled with the navigation joystick. Manual aperture control is only available in Av mode, which is an aperture-priority setting. The display for adjusting aperture on the HV40 is a bit lacking, as the f-stop value appears in small print in the upper right hand corner of the LCD. When you switch between apertures, you have no idea what the next value is going to be or what the range of control available is. This is much worse than the graphical aperture display on the Canon HF 20, HF 200, HF S100, HF S10, and HF S11.

Setting the aperture on the HV40

The HV40 can be manually set with the following apertures: f/1.8, f/2, f/2.4, f/2.8, f/3.4, f/4, f/4.8, f/5.6, f/6.7, and f/8. Remember, however, the camcorder only has an aperture-priority setting (not a full manual mode), so whenever you select an aperture, the HV40 is picking a corresponding shutter speed automatically.

Shutter Speed (6.8)

Shutter speed is controlled in the exact same way as aperture on the HV40, except it is done so in shutter-priority mode (Tv). You use the navigation joystick to select from the following shutter speeds: 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000. The camcorder has a few different shutter speeds when you shoot in either of the 25p modes (to match the shutter speed with the frame rate).

Setting shutter speed on the HV40

We specifically like the inclusion of the 1/8, 1/15, and 1/30 shutter speed option, as they allow you to give your video a completely different look. Yes, these slow speeds will produce choppy motion, but sometimes it can be an interesting or desired effect.

White Balance (9.5)

The HV40 has a decent amount of white balance presets including Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Fluorescent H. The best white balance option, however, is the manual setting. Canon's manual white balance is easy to use (it is a one-push system) and its results are very good.

The HV40 has a variety of white balance presets.

Gain (0.0)

There's no manual gain control on the Canon HV40. More camcorders these days are including some type of gain option, like the Canon HF S series that allows you to set the auto gain limit to a specific decibel level. The Panasonic HDC-HS300 and TM300 offer manual gain control, but it can only be set once the aperture is open all the way. JVC has the ability to turn auto gain control on and off, and the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 has ISO controls that are effective in video mode.

Colour & Image Controls (8.0)

Colour/Image Control	Description
Image Effects	The camcorder includes four pre-set image effects: Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, and Soft Skin Detail. These effects change the look of your recorded video, although none of them produce a drastic change. We showed examples of these settings in our colour testing.
Custom Image Effects	The camcorder has a Custom setting that allows you to create your own Image Effect. You can individually adjust Colour Depth, Sharpness, Contrast, and Brightness with the Custom setting, but a limited adjustment range of -1 to +1 is available for each setting.
Cine Mode	We are not exactly sure what Cine Mode does, but according to Canon it gives the footage a more cinematic look (presumably by adjusting exposure, colour, and possibly the gamma curve). Cine Mode is meant to be used in conjunction with the camcorder's 25p frame rate, but it does not have to be.

Other Manual Controls (2.0)

The HV40 is missing a number of manual controls that are featured on the Canon HF S100, HF S11, and HF S10. It does not have coloured peaking, tele-conversion, colour bars, or an x.v. Colour option. It does have the two features listed below, however:

Control	Description
Markers	Displays a line or set of lines on the screen to assist with framing. There are two different marker options: a level (one line with a notch in the centre) and a grid (the screen is divided into a nine-sector grid. Either marker can be displayed as white or grey, and the lines do not end up in your recorded footage.
Zebra	Zebra patterns can be displayed in portions of the frame that are overexposed. The Zebra sensitivity can be set to 70% or 100%. Like the Markers, these patterns are only meant to assist with shooting and they do not end up in recorded footage.

Canon HV40 Comparisons
Canon HF S100	Panasonic HDC-HS300	Sony HDR-XR520