Flip "Hack" for HV20 LCD.

[Dennis Wood]

The HV20 can be given the same treatment as the HVX and GS400 to flip the LCD image. Bsically pop the LCD hinge cover off (super easy to do) drill a small hole, and actuate the flip rocker with a soft plastic probe. Because the switch can be so easily eased out (not screwed in place), you could solder some leads and run an external microswitch too. Check the GS400 and HVX flip hack "stickie" in this forum topic. Unlike the GS400/HVX, the HV20 does not have the LCD mirror on/off function...so you'll get an upright image, but not corrected left to right.

EDIT...rotate the LCD upside down, and fold back to your camera....that reverses the image horizontally for a 100% flip...nice find Rob! There is a second switch to do the horizontal flip! Pics to follow.

Be carefull with the ribbon conductors!

[Rob Unck]

Dennis, thanks for the detailed post! I've noticed that when I flip the LCD screen on my HV20 (upside-down) and lay it flat against the camera, the mirror effect reverts to non-mirrored. It seems like there's a switch disengaging the mirror effect when the LCD screen just passes the 45-degree mark going toward the camera body.

Would it be possible to somehow disengage the mirroring switch (if it exists) with your flip hack?

[Dennis Wood]

Well there you go...do the flip hack and fold the LCD back...a proper flip! You got me thinking Rob so I popped the cover again and found a second switch that you can easily get to. Pics to follow.

Nice find!

[hunter richards]

Hey! I found out on my hv20 that the vertical flip switch can be pressed in har and it clicks and locks!( Image is stuck flipped upside down) Great news though it can also be "unclicked" to revert back to regular mode. So i just click it in and stick a small wood probe into the horizontal switch. Works great! P.s. loving the brevis so far, Killed my m2 hands down.

[hunter richards]

Yo Dennis! While your hacking away with your HV20 could you find out how to access the firmware so we can have manualk gain and iris control, also 720/24p mode would be nice. Maybe even 720/60p if your bored. Thanks!

[Dennis Wood]

Ha, that's a bit outside my skill set

[Rafael Lopes]

That is awesome, Den...but I think I'll wait for the flip version of the brevis (I would probably ty to use a hammer to open the lcd to do the hack).

Dennis, while you're at it can you find the button that turns the HV20 into a Varicam?

[Zak Forsman]

Dennis, while you're at it can you find the button that turns the HV20 into a Varicam?

careful with that. i went digging into mine and accidently turned it into an ED-209.

[MatthewO]

lets say you wanted to return the hv20 after shooting

Can these be easily reversed to stock settings without damage?

[hunter richards]

Yes, just put the horzontal swich back in its place and put the cover back on ( it clicks back on)

[J.P. Chan]

Can someone post some pics or a more detailed description of how the hack is actually done? I've tried the above advice but haven't gotten anywhere.

I opened up my HV20 and was able to engage the vertical flip, but:
1) couldn't get the vertical switch to stay down as implied in one of the above posts
2) couldn't find the horizontal switch -- the one in Dennis' photo seems to turn off the LCD on my unit, it does nothing to the image otherwise

Thanks!

[Joel Endicott]

Can someone please help me?

I opened up my HV20 and tried this trick, but would now like to get it back to normal and I can't figure out how to get the switch back to where it belongs. Is the switch supposed to snap back into place? I'm trying to put it back underneath the metal plate but I'm really lost. Maybe a picture of it back in place would help.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide!

Joel

[Dennis Wood]

I believe the best solution for these is just to solder leads on the back of the existing switch points, then take those out to external (or mounted) micro-switches. We haven't done that as our HV20 is not a "keeper", but I would if I was shooting with it all the time.

The small switch just sits in place. There's a small tab at the rear that fits into a correponding slot...it just sits there and is held in place by the plastic hinge cover that snaps over it. The switch is just sitting there otherwise.

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Yeah I just played around with this. Be careful, I actually broke the moving part of the switch off when i put it back in place and rotated the screen a few times. It worked for for a few rotations and then it just stopped working so i opened it back up the little protruding piece had broken off, i snapped it back into the button and it worked again but it happened again when i tried putting the button into place again and i lost the protruding piece. So be careful. I'm gonna mod it with a manual button anyway, although i havent quite decided on the best way... I would like to find a way to mod the horizontal flip switch as well. if anyone has any ideas for exactly where i might be able to fit these or where to get an appropriate microswitch id love to hear them.

What's interesting is the horizontal flip button depends on the vertical flip button. the vertical flip must be engaged to turn on the horizontal flip, so if you just press the horizontal flip button by itself the screen goes black.

[David Garvin]

if anyone has any ideas for exactly where i might be able to fit these or where to get an appropriate microswitch id love to hear them.

Too bad there's not an easy way to take off the entire shell of the camera. If there were, you could run the switches up underneath the dumb hot-shoe cover.

Beyond that, I think the 'best' way would be to make it some kind of 'pinhole' activated switch right inside the plastic part you have to remove to get to the switches that canon put in there. Maybe something like this:


Or like this:

http://tokyoden.manufacturer.globalsour ... D-Type.htm

Or this:

http://tal.manufacturer.globalsources.c ... itches.htm


Unfortunately, I think all of those are momentary switches, but something of that size/shape is what I'd suggest.

I'll see if I can come up with any small latching switches like those

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Yeah its very difficult to find small switches like that that are not momentary switches... I went to radio shack and the smallest non-momentary switch they had was a dip switch which i hacked up to get one dip instead of 8, but as small as that is it is still too big to fit inside of that little enclosure at the lcd hinge. im almost tempted to just make it semi-permanently flipped and then i can just shoot with the viewfinder when not using the adapter (not ideal though)...

maybe
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... tId=588334

ive seen more appropriate switches but that is the one ive found so far at a store with them in stock and not just manufacturer details.

[J.P. Chan]

If anyone does manage to mount an external flip switch to the HV20, please post how you did it!

My ghetto flip hack solution involves tape and ticky-tack but it's not very reliable...it came apart halfway during a recent shoot and caused lots of headaches. (Fortunately, we had a spare HV20 laying around...)

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

There really just isnt that much space in there for a switch... and itll be tough to get wires over from the real switch to the cavity on the left side of the exposed area to put a switch there... I'm thinking the best spot will be on the cross-shaped metal piece on the right. and id shy away from an option that causes any protrusions as that would prevent the lcd from closing.

I'm starting to think I should run wires from the old switch terminals to on top of the cross shaped piece and fashion a very simple switch there. I could then drill a threaded hole in the cover and put in a screw in piece that can be turned to put pressure on the button to engage it... I also want to cut off the part of the cover that hits the horizontal flip switch and turn it into a sliding part that can be slid toward and away from that switch so it can be used to engage the switch when the lcd is in the open position or change the angle at which the flip occurs. Problem is this wouldnt allow for that switch to remain disengaged when the lcd is put against the camera in the outward facing position. Maybe a removable piece with some adhesive on it would be better.

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

I've given up on this for now... There is so little space in that little lcd hinge. I soldered a momentary microswitch to the old switch and ground some space for that to fit, but I couldnt get it to fit. There is really no tolerance for squeezing parts in.... So I have a hole drilled in the hinge cover and seem to have lost the parts from the original switch, and am not that much closer to a manual flip option. Any ideas would be great. I guess I might have to look to external monitors now. I guess the ikan 2.5" lcd is pretty small and can be battery powered. My 7" innovatek lcd is sort of bulky and has too many wires, but i might just have to stick with that.

[Robert Batta]

hi,

my HV20 lcd flip (+mirror) modofication is complette

but not i making ( i talking the canon official camcorder service man but this not a public thing )
one thing is shure the HV20 separate method very complicated not try without service manual !

thats all help from me
and sorry my bad english

good luck!