Canon HV30 Review
A Review of the Canon HV30
Thank you for visiting. This review in Plain English is part of a series of videos designed to help PR professionals and small businesses to buy the right equipment to succeed in the digital age.
The need to use cameras like the Canon HV30
The HV30 is marketed as a family camcorder but we have used successfully as a back up camera if we needed to travel light. The interview with Glenn Hughes was filmed entirely on an HV30 and can be seen here.
Price range varies around the $800 800E £800 region. The strength of the yen has pushed the price up around 10-15% in the last year or so it’s worth shopping around places like Amazon and eBay for the best price.Canon HV30
UPDATE 28 May 2010: I was chatting to a friend this week who told me that Currys in UK are offloading their HV30 stock for a cut price due to the arrival of the HV40. So do keep you eyes peeled for bargains.
The first thing that distinguishes the Canon HV30 from the cheaper cameras like the Flip and Kodak ZIE is its capacity to react to different lighting situations successfully. We have owned cheaper camcorders which could not handle action and water shots as the automatic focus struggled.
I will be reviewing these cheaper cameras and how they are improving in a separate video.
Having used more expensive cameras for filming TV productions, I can say that the light sensor in the Canon HV30 is second to none. Inside this camera is an amazing box of tricks and can handle most filming conditions.
If you are not in a position to buy a whole studio set up with lights, at this stage, the Canon HV30 would be a reliable starting point.
Secondly it can be connected to an external stereo microphone via a “beachbox” made by Beachtek. You can then connect any external mike you wish and this will distinguish your production from 90% of stuff on YouTube which is, at best, ordinary. Most of the cheaper camcorders of the market do not allow this and their internal mikes vary in quality The one on the HV30 isn’t great so do be prepared to at least spend on a beach box and microphone set up.
The only downer was the joystick which took me quite a while to master when I started using this camera, or its predecessor the HV20, a couple of years ago. The functions are fairly logical once you get used to it. Actually the more expensive cameras like the Sony HVR A1E are easier to use. But once you have mastered the controls, you can move the camera from automatic to manual and become more creative with your filming.
So I have no hesitation in recommending the Canon HV30 for Vlogs, online promos and video news releases where the quality of the production is a factor.
So how is the internet marketing going?
A question I am often asked and need to answer since friends and family realise that I have (on and off) been on this internet marketing trail of joy, despair and frustration all rolled into one since 2002.
Today I feel more positive than I did yesterday. You see as a one man band, you are vulnerable. If you are employed and your site goes down, you phone Pat or Pete from techysupport and they send you some hieroglyphics, or the more approachable will summarily tip you from your comfy chair then type very fast. Result. One way or t’other the problem is fixed and meanwhile you can go and have a coffee or wave an important document at someone.
A glitch like the one I had yesterday, where my hosting reseller had forgotton to pay his bill, and you can lose three, four, five hours offering prayers of wisdom to technical support teams. These keepers of the keys to knowledge are working in a large organisation. So they’re drinking coffee and waving important documents and so on. They don’t really care about your dreams of the large black car pissing the neighbours off. Anyhow internet marketing then.
The latest story goes like this. Video blogs or Vlogs are the next big thing. Or the big thing that’s happening now more like. Release 20 of your “how tos” and on the internet and Google will realise that you have something to say and put you in the vaunted top ten of gurus on your key phrase like “how to deal with technical support teams who drink coffee and can’t be arsed dealing with customers.” That’s it in a nutshell really. A quick browse from this link will give you more details about how all this hangs together. But there it is.
How does this fit with my background? Basically I am a PR man so I approach things from angles. Lots of them. But I hold my hands up and accept that things have changed. I also adapt my teaching to ensure my students are fitted out with these techniques.
Yeah but I can hear you say. Does it work? Yes it works. But releasing any old garbage with the right keywords but looks like it was produced in your coffee break won’t. Ask yourself, what would YOU like to see and a) do it yourself b) do it properly. PR is about reputation. Do you want to lose that on half hearted rants using your dad’s old camcorder?
Part two: The equipment needed for Vlogging. Here’s an example of what you can do with around $1000 or £1000 or 1000E worth of kit.
It’s Unofficial! A New Supergroup is Born
“I’m like the one up there representing the Bonham family. that’s kind of how I should look at it,” Jason Bonham told Spinner backstage at L.A.’s Wiltern, where he would later honor his iconic father, John Bonham, as part of Guitar Center’s Drum-Off last weekend. The event is a competition for aspiring stickmen and showcases some of the world’s greatest drummers, including Tommy Lee, Tool’s Danny Carey and Billy Cobham, among others.
There’s no question, Led Zeppelin is part of his family and legacy, an inheritance he proved worthy of when he so successfully filled in for his father at the band’s O2 reunion show in December of 2007. But he says, breaking the hearts of millions of fans, that part of his life is indeed over. “As far as the big question, the big one, I think that one’s come and gone now. But it was a lot of fun while it lasted,” he says, echoing Jimmy Page’s sentiments in recent interviews that the Zep reunion is not going to happen.
And like his bandmates that night, Bonham is moving on to new music. “I just literally went into the studio last week for two days with one person I’d done an album with before, very quickly, and then the other was a friend of my father’s I got to meet later on, Joe Bonamassa and Glenn Hughes, and we’re working on a new project with a working title of Black Country,” Bonham says. “We just went in with [producer] Kevin Shirley and played riffs and just jammed for two days. And that’s really exciting.”
Bonham says the new group, which takes its name from the industrial area in England that he and Hughes — best known for his work with both Deep Purple and Black Sabbath) come from — is in fact a band. “We’re actually recording an album, literally in that process of jamming it out and editing and putting together and going, ‘Yeah, that’s really cool,’” he says. ” Joe just wanted to play guitar so with Glenn on bass and vocals, it’s a power trio.”(Photo by Robert M. Knight)
Why X Factor vs RAM is important
Not Joe McElderry apparently
Let’s get the musical issue out of the way first off because this is clouding the real business involved here. For what it’s worth, I am delighted Rage Against the Machine got to the Christmas No.1 because no one individual, whether answering to the name of Rupert or Simon, should control our tastes and opinions.
Incidentally, I wonder if there will be an X Factor version with a radio edit. Lyrically, “by jove I am not going to buy your tat,thanks all the same” doesn’t sound quite as powerful as “fuck you, we won’t buy what you sell us.”
So what, in a business was actually achieved here? And what lessons can be learned for small businesses?
1) Social media is a viable method of marketing if a strong social message is conveyed skilfully. Regardless of whether Cowell has a financial interest in the Sony artists, RAM the real issue is that social media beat massive TV, radio and press exposure into second place. Incredible!
2) Small businesses, and artists in particular, should be encouraged to use social media as a method of persuasion. This is nothing new. As I pointed out in an earlier post about Glenn Hughes, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead have all had some success creating desire through skilful use of social media.
Phil Jones whom I recommend you follow in Twitter is Sales and Marketing Director for Brother. At a recent M Power conference run by Profile Communications, he gave some examples of small businesses who were actually selling direct from Twitter. NicolaTheFiat, a trader in hand made shirts, was one. Phil himself was another. Oh and while you are at it, why not clue me in too.
Cadburys Wispa was launched as a result of a social media campaign by “fans” of Wispa. Cadburys didn’t dance at the school disco. They simply provided the keys to the hall.
Relevance is the key word here. Imagine that you enter a room full of people at an office party and shout “anyone need a web designer?” Security! People tweet according to how relevance you are to them. Facebook is used by most as a showcase for what important people we we are. Yet if you can harness why people want to know you online and then build on that, you have relationship marketing to its nth degree.
So before wasting energy barking at Simon Cowell’s frequent red herrings, stop and think about the issue you could promote. Remember, this is about selling the sizzle not the steak. What I bought was a download of a song I have heard a thousand times before. What I cherished was the right to challenge the dictatorship of a multi millionaire together with the message RAM eloquently conveyed.
So in 2010 what buzz can you create?
Businessmen don’t drink my wine (anymore) | Glenn Hughes
At the height of commercial success, Glenn Hughes at the record breaking California Jam in in 1974. But how do you follow that?
My good friend Glenn Hughes (left) has now written THE rock n’ roll story which is being sold initially as a Deluxe edition for £550 (approx $800). Sounds expensive but then again, there is sound commercial justfication for the price.
It’s certainly going to make a good read. Linda Blair, Richard Burton, John Wayne, David Bowie, Keith Moon are all featured in a roller coaster of story which nearly led to the near death of the former Deep Purple star who, by his own admission, spent a million on drugs and survived.
I guess as one of his “people” I am biased and bound to PR it all, but today I am going to talk about the context in which artists operate.
In days gone by, the music press either gave you the thumbs up or down. Either way, you went out and bought the record anyway. Then along came the tape decks and we began to tape our friends’ albums. T’internet led to downloads and Napster’s famous battle with Metallica. That seemed like the end for file sharing. But sites like UTorrent, Bear Share and The Pirate Bay persist.
It is becoming increasingly the case that bands are accepting the dodgy download scenario (even if their record companies don’t). The radio show I co present with Kev Mc gives us evidence of bands saying “I don’t give a **** who downloads our songs as long as you do the courtesy of coming to see us.” Chris Robertson of Black Stone Cherry was one such respondent.
But, aside from live shows, which you can’t download, artist of all genres are now using social media as a way of rewarding their fanbase for loyalty. Think Tesco Clubcard simply gets you back in the shop after having given you some sort of special “club” discount. The principle is similar.
Enter the sexy package. In Glenn’s case it is hand bound in the style of the white satin suit he wore for the record breaking California Jam in 1974.
The classic example in the industry was Nine Inch Nails who used below the line tactics – toilet cubicles included – to attract hits to the website. There you were invited to download the new album for free. £$1.6 m resulted from the follow up deluxe package.
It’s nothing new. New web marketers like the late Corey Rudl were advocating the “back end marketing” method since the late 90′s. And the back end has its roots way before then. Offering tan guard for nu buck boots at the till is the most common example. With advent of Twitter, the back end deal can be secured almost at will once a trust has been established between artist and fan.
And why not?
It’s a classic case of supply and demand. Presumably we’ve all been aware that when we used to spend money on a gig, an LP, a CD a T shirt some of it would go in the artist’s pocket. The problem was of course that the shiny shod money man was taking most of it.
“Businessmen they drink my wine” (All Along the Watchtower, Dylan) “By the way which one is Pink?” (Have a Cigar, Pink Floyd) sum up most succinctly the strained business relationships between artist and contract. The fallouts between Prince and Sony are well documented.
All that’s happening now is that artists are wresting back the business elements of their art so as to regain control. Sometimes they do it themselves and other times they work with the publishers, promoters and also the more enlightened record companies to ensure the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Team work is vital.
The press are just as important as they have always been. Quality journalism is complementary to what can be achieved through social media.
Either way, we as consumers just have a choice to make. There’s no right or wrong decision. It’s just that the money has shifted. So hats off to Glenn and yes I am recommending the book as testament to a talented one who survived where others perished. Yes I think I can justify PR ing the £550. No doubt about that!
10 +1 PR Tips on radio interviews
PR Week this week led on page 4 with the headline “Radio tops poll on influence.” For all our attention on social media, there’s a danger that we ignore what we hold most dear to our hearts.
Good radio won’t go away. It will only get better. Commercial Radio bosses realise that advertising and sponsorship will be gleaned from decent content not recycled pap. BBC also will aim for integrity from its programming.
Don’t forget that there are also community radio stations, local to you if you are in the UK, and internet radio stations (local and worldwide). Check out Shoutcast and Live365 for info on just how many internet radio stations there are. Not all of them have chat content but search, suck it and see.
Here are 10 tips for getting on the radio and linking the coverage with your social media:-
1. Relevance applies to Twitter as it applies to radio. Before ringing a producer of a programme, make sure the subject matter is relevant to the types of issue they regularly cover on the programme e.g. on BBC Radio Merseyside’s Roger Philips programme it’s about consumer affairs, local politics, the news issues of the day.
2. Timing. Don’t ring 5 minutes before they go on air. Check programme listings. Basic. Need I say more?
3. Preparation. Ensure you or your spokes person has some experience of talking on radio. There are many organisations that run media training courses. LJMU can run bespoke training days. Contact me keith@effective-media.co.uk for info.
4 The Four Point Rule. Vital. Think of FOUR points you would like to make. Three should be crucial to the issue you are discussing but the vital one is the Call to Action. Don’t try to garble any more than four. Your message will be mixed. Guaranteed!
5. Oh did I mention News Release? (notice ‘News’ not ‘Press’ as radios print very little). If you can’t write one or don’t have time to draft one, there are those who can. 3 Options: a) I can recommend a PR agency b) I can get student help for you through our World of Work c) You can use my template which I can email to you. All I ask a friend add on my Twitter account
6 At the interview. Be courteous but assertive. Turn up 20 minutes beforehand and talk to the producer before brodcast to finalise the parameters for the discussion. Although you have had this convo before, sometimes the agenda changes e.g. the other guest doesn’t turn up or the presenter is off ill. Be prepared. be confident.
7. Social media 1: Secure bounces to your blog or website IF the producer or presenter allows that. If not your response must be keyword rich. At the very least, make sure they get your name right your designation and the name of your blog or company so that people search for you after the interview.
8. Social media 2: Alert the producers that you have a blog. Get it in their contact books. Make yourself an expert and ensure you are the one contacted for views on your subject specialism.
9. Social media 3: Befriend producers and journalists on social media like Linkedin, Twitter, Digg and Facebook
10. Don’t puff. We know your product is brilliant but establish a rapport with your interviewer before you plug it. Get them on your side.
11. Hey you said 10! Ah But here’s the free bonus. Always offer future availability as you leave the studio. And, some radio stations have websites. Offer a URL to your blog. Stations get inundated with calls like “who was that bloke about the bikes?” The staff will welcome a further info slot to direct those calls to.
Bank Charges : Top 5 PR Tips for the Banks
Stop preaching lads and listen to us
In the light of BBC Question Time tonight where the panel was unanimously against the idea of banks charging what they liked and when they liked, I’d like to offer the British Banking Association 5 Tips for increasing public confidence through good PR practice:-
1) Employ or at least promise the development of a fairer system for charging which does not penalise customers for human error. And to acknowledge long standing trustworthy customer relationships when times get hard ( a courtesy not extended to many of us).
2) Publicly announce that banks will work with customer focus groups and take on board their concerns, publishing resulting reports once completed.
3) To temper the “school teacher” approach adopted by CE, Angela Knight and suggest that a media training refresher course would be appropriate
4) Lose the city image adopted by member banks. It’s not impressive and merely enhances the gap in reality between those who grasp and those who don’t have. Free corporate balloons doesn’t mean effective community relations.
5) Simply be aware that they are losing the PR debate and be less stoic in their defence of the indefensible. This constant insistence on “sweeter than thou” knowledge of the economy is outmoded. The customer bailed out Northern Rock and HBOS, not the other way round.
I know I am living in cloud cuckoo land here and it’s a bit like trying to offer PR advice to the Royal Family. Look, I am not “anti bank.” I am impressed with the way that Natwest are developing their corporate identity and this has transcended to the branches with generally courteous staff just like in those ads.
But this still clouds the real issue that if you slip up, you will be punished. £38 for a rejection of a direct debit which was an admininstrative error and a resulting £28 for the charge on top by this same bank was my “free banking” bill this month. If I charged the BBA for this free advice, they’d be horrified and would swear blind they didn’t ask for this consultancy fee. Neither did I, my banking friends. Neither did I. Enjoy your free tips.
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