Nice camera man, do you guys use the "cell phone trick" when you shoot in poor lighting conditions? Not sure about the HF series as I have the HV series but apparently if you shoot in spotlight mode you don't get added gain. The trick "tricks" the camera into thinking there is enough light and doesn't try to add gain to your footage.
Also, they are working on a firmware hack for the HV series that will eventually allow full manual control over all the function of the cam.
There has been some major progress on it over the last few weeks, just a matter of time now.