Canon HV20

Pros: Tons of features to adjust just about everything!

Cons: If you add a video light to the hot shoe, you then can't add the boom mic.

Summary: This camcorder has just about everything you'd ever want! I had been reading reviews of all the latest and greatest camcorders but nothing had all the features I wanted. The Canon HV10 came pretty close till I realized they had no plug port for an external mic. So I canceled that off my want list. I also didn't want a hard drive format as when it got full and you are in the middle of a shoot, then what? Also I have allot of DV tapes so wanted to keep using those and it is so much easier to just pop in another one when one gets full. And they don't cost that much so easy to have extras around. Then comes the HV20 and yes, it has the miniDV, a mic jack, and a hot shoe! It has a pretty impressive photo mode of 3.1MP which isn't too shabby either for a camcorder. The small size and all the great features makes this the sure buy right now. I must confess I've only had mine for a few days and will be putting it to the full test this coming weekend where I'll be shooting video interviews at a convention. Then I'll know more. But with all the experimentation I've been doing, I'm very impressed with the complete control over shutter speeds, aperture, lighting condition options, and especially audio read-outs and control! You never see audio covered to this extent. I can watch the readout as I record! I have a hand held I can hook up, and I have the boom that goes in the hot shoe. So far I'm extremely impressed. With the cinema24 setting, and all the HDV settings I'm ready to rock and roll!