Answer needed quickly! Last minute purchase....

[Transmission2]

After much research and debate I bought the JVC HD-100 for an upcoming documentary. After three cameras and numerous techincal problems I need to send the camera back and possibly buy the A1. Im editing on a Intel Mac Pro Tower (FCP 5.1.2) and i was just wondering if the camera has full native support. Can I easily digitize footage? Are there solid workflows for this camera in Final Cut? Has anyone come across issues that make editing or digitizing a pain?

I need an answer ASAP because Im leaving friday and need to make this purchase. Your help is much appreciated.

thanks!! :)

[manglerBMX]

you can only playback 24f and 30f in canon hdv cameras, so you have no other deck options, but the workflow is seamless as canon is advertising that fact. i use canon h1 and fcp 5.1.2 and its great.

[Transmission2]

thanks mangler!

[Jay Rodriguez]

mangler is right on but there's an alternative to the madness. If you're recording to disk then the disk to mac/FCP is excellent, seamless and VERY fast. That nips the whole "Canon deck/camera only" playback thing in the butt.

I remember reading your posts about the bad luck run with the dead pixels from the JVC. Are you serously considering the A1 now?

Also, where are you going? Leaving Friday for a shoot or something with the A1?

[manglerBMX]

the h1/firestore/fcp combo probably makes my life a million times better. i sleep at night just for those 3 things alone.

[Elton]

...and i was just wondering if the camera has full native support. Can I easily digitize footage? Are there solid workflows for this camera in Final Cut? Has anyone come across issues that make editing or digitizing a pain?

I need an answer ASAP because Im leaving friday and need to make this purchase. Your help is much appreciated.

thanks!! :)


You will love FCP 5.1.2's support for Canon HDV 24F. It's the "HDV 1080p24" Easy Setup in the FCP menu.

It's very easy and works a lot like DV 24pA. Just capture your footage from tape in pure 24p and edit in an HDV-native 24p timeline. With your computer performance won't be an issue and you can also export your 24F timeline back to tape if you want to.

Lots of alternative codec options in FCP if you want to avoid final renders in HDV, btw.

[Elton]

you can only playback 24f and 30f in canon hdv cameras, so you have no other deck options, but the workflow is seamless as canon is advertising that fact. i use canon h1 and fcp 5.1.2 and its great.

The $1K Canon HV10 can playback all frame mode recordings and serve as a feeder deck if you want to avoid using the A1 for this purpose.

[Noel Evans]

mangler is right on but there's an alternative to the madness. If you're recording to disk then the disk to mac/FCP is excellent, seamless and VERY fast. That nips the whole "Canon deck/camera only" playback thing in the butt.



Got my new 13" macbook setup today, did a quick test and works nicely. Its not a macbook Pro I know, but I never intend to do any rendering from it unless its a network render when I am working on the desktop.

The only small issue I have is its a few scond delay down the FW. So will still be looking for that realtime app, but now I have some time to make the best choice. Canon would be my preference, but running windows via bootcamp, setup and working btw, isnt the option that I really want to continue with. Thus Ill let the trials expire and wait for a native mac app.

[Elton]

Canon Console software had nearly the same delay on a P4 2.8 Ghz laptop that I tested it with. I'm not sure if a much faster Intel laptop would make that big of a difference as there seems to be some processing overhead when monitoring HDV via firewire, which causes that noticeable latency.

I've heard DVRack gets around this, but I've yet to try it.

The most important thing for me was that I could simultaneously record, with functional timecode, to tape and FCP.

It's certainly not an elegant solution, but it does get you "DTE". :)

[t-unit]

ohh just ordered my A1 with a firestore fs-4proHD 40gb, hoya uv filter and a petrol bag! and i bought 2gb dual channel ram and 22" wide monitor for my computer so im prepared for the hdv editing..

[Jay Rodriguez]

ohh just ordered my A1 with a firestore fs-4proHD 40gb, hoya uv filter and a petrol bag! and i bought 2gb dual channel ram and 22" wide monitor for my computer so im prepared for the hdv editing..


You might want to send that fs-4proHD back and order the FS-C. It's going to support 1080i/24F - 30F in QT format but the FS-4PRO HD will not.

[Transmission2]

Hey Coffee...

The short answer is yes. I am considering the Canon A1 and the Sony V1 or Z1. I love the HVX but I can't handle the workflow. It's no good for documentary, IMHO.

Switching from the JVC so late in the game is totally crazy but this situation was unavoidable. The christmas holidays didn't help either. And so it goes, I am unfortuntely buying a camera today and leaving tomorrow for Portland to shoot this documentary.

Crazy stuff....I hope I get a camera I like.

Are many people using the A1 for documentary style productions?

I tested the Sony Z1 yesterday and it was way to "video-like". Nice and sharp but I didn't like the image.

[Jay Rodriguez]

I whole heartedly beleive that the A1 will be great for any documentary.

Go HERE (http://www.jaegercat.com/~richard/CustomPresets.wmv) and take a quick look at some of the custom presets that some users have developed. If you like any of the looks for what you're doing that go HERE (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=81071) to get the specifics.

[Transmission2]

Thanks coffee. Those links were great.

Im leaving right now to check out the camera and do some tests. Wish me luck!!

[Jay Rodriguez]

Good luck, let me know what you ended up doing.

[Transmission2]

I have a ME66 microphone. Will I be able to put a shock mount on the Canon A1 to reduce handling noise?

[Jay Rodriguez]

Hmm, that's a good question. The only shock mount that I have is meant for a boom pole so I'm not sure. I think I saw one one a DVX before.

[t-unit]

coffee; i only edit 1080 25f m2t files and the fs-4proHD supports that format ithink? so i dont need the qt? or am i wrong?

[Jay Rodriguez]

Yes it supports 1080i 24f in m2t but not in QT format. From what I see it would be a huge benefit to have it record in QT format so that we wouldn't have to convert the m2t file into something that FCP would recognize like a .mov file.

[t-unit]

ok, im editing on a pc running vegas so it wont be a problem, but thanx for the warning coffee! by the way how have you attached your fs to the cam?

[Jay Rodriguez]

what do you mean how?

[dcrin3]

I whole heartedly beleive that the A1 will be great for any documentary.

Go HERE (http://www.jaegercat.com/%7Erichard/CustomPresets.wmv) and take a quick look at some of the custom presets that some users have developed. If you like any of the looks for what you're doing that go HERE (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=81071) to get the specifics.

i dont like the idea that we have to use our real names on that forum. we should create our own presets here.

[Transmission2]

So after a very stressful day I made a big decision and went for the Sony V1U. I was pretty set on the Canon, but when I saw the pictures from the Sony I was totally impressed. It had that 'wow' factor that I certainly didn't see from the Canon. It's smaller size and weight were much better and I must say the sony packs a punch. The progressive 1080 frame is really smooth and nice.

Hope you guys don't mind me jumping ship......sort of.

thanks so much for your help!

[Duff]

Has anyone posted any 24p footage out of a V1 anywhere aside from the 2 clips from preproduction models? I know people are buying the camera, but it seems like everyone's quiet about it once they get it. Canon A1 forums, on the other hand, have been exploding with enthusiastic new buyers and footage since they first came out. I too was torn between the A1 and V1, but the sheer enthusiasm behind the A1 is the main reason I decided to go with it. It seems that everyone who buys the A1 is amazed by it. Maybe it's the same case with the Sony, but it's not the impression that I've gotten from monitoring forums.

I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering my A1 tomorrow.

[Transmission2]

There isn't too much 24p footage out there from the Sony V1 because I don't believe many NLE's support it. I know final cut can't do it yet, so I'm not going to worry about it for now.

I too was torn between the A1 and V1. Today I tested the A1 and was overall impressed by the camera. The lcd was very small though, and that bothered me. The camera was also quite a bit heavier than the sony.

I didn't have the time to put either camera through any rigorous testing, but I will say that when I saw the sony on a 42" HD LCD it looked amazing. The Canon just looked so much noisier to me. Again, I should stress that I never really played around with the settings so the Canon could be better then I think.

I also chose the V1 because it's 1080p and not 1080i. I prefer progressive over interlaced.

I wish there was more sample footage out there for the sony. I think because it arrived around christmas, no one has really had time to play around with it yet.

That's my .02, good luck with your purchase. :-)

[Toenis]

XH A1 is 1080 progressive with full NLE support - if it supports H1 it will support A1 too.
And as for noise - obviously AGC was set ON, that`s the major mistake peopele make when deciding if Canon is noisy or not. Even when gain is set low (that`s "0") the AGC, when set on, will unfortunately push up the noise.
I`m sure A1 will prove itself less noisier than V1 or at least more capable in low light with organic looking noise.
A1 has lens so wide that V1 can only achive that with optional converter lens - add that to the weight and size.

True, V1 is smaller than A1 in standard configuration and that 500g saved would mean more other usefull stuff on the location.

T

[xray]

Until now every review I saw showed the V1 with more noise in low light than the A1. You can see 1080 24F A1 video's on the internet. Transmission, what's in a name? :-) (just joking) The V1 is smaller and has other goodies, but even after the 'call back action for a software update' people see strange things in 25P sony shoots, like interlaced jaggies...

[Jay Rodriguez]

I'll bet any amount of money that the AGC was still switched to the on settings when you tested the A1 out. It took me a week to figure this out with my A1, DUH! lol I was soooooooooooo hamuch happier with the image after that.

[t-unit]

coffee: what i ment with how you attach the fs was if you use a bebob box?

[Transmission2]

Well if that's the case, and the AGC was turned on, then I had a stupid salesman. You'd think you would display your camera at its optimal settings. Oh well, if that's true and the canon is sharper than there's nothing i can do about it now. Regardless, I was totally impressed by the Sony's picture so Im sure I got a decent camera that will perform the way I need it to on my documentary.