Canon Xh A1s or Canon HV30 with 35mm adapter

T

Tanso

New member
Hi!

Im standing in front of a dilemma. Soon am I to buy a video camera to use for short films and commercial purposes.

I have around 4000 dollars to spend. The question is...

Is it really worth to spend those money on the Xh A1s when the HV30 nearly produces the same picture quality? And that you can get an adapter for shallow depth of field.

But then... The HV30, it sounds like a pain to get it to work as you want. I want full control as I get with my dslr. And those 35mm adapters, most footage I see rather look dark and blurry. You loose alot of light I heard... But some footage are great though.

The Xh A1s seems to be good ground to begin with, and then save to a 35mm adapter later on. Good manual controls and tweaking. But for that price? Would it survive 2 years or more with the hdv codec? Rather than buying a HV30 that is quite cheap.

Today I use a Sony PD 150, it's a great cam... Old and grainy though, but it has great manual controls. Can you live without it?

I need guidance!

Happy Holidays by the way :D
 
Give advise is not something I do regularly, but if you want control and a good lens and you can save the money: go XH-A1. The HV-30 is nice to have but the 'hard to get' control is fighting against your will to have it.

take a look at 6:24 minutes http://vimeo.com/2437826
 
ANTshooter said:
probably the A1, i dont think the A1s is worth the extra cash...
Click to expand...

They don't produce the regular A1 anymore. So the A1s is the only option. The A1 is sold out everywhere and I rather not purchase used equipment.
 
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Aroon_Narayanan said:
Actually, that's not so--you can still get the original A1 from B&H for $1000 less than the A1s.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/447098-REG/Canon_1191B001_XH_A1_3CCD_HDV_Camcorder.html
Click to expand...

I dont think it's in PAL or is it? Thats quite important. 1000 dollars less is quite a bargain though :D

Beacuse NTSC is like 30 frames per second right? PAL is 25 and in sweden PAL is standard for television and such.

It would be great if it had both formats though. Or the ability to shoot 24p, thats almost the same.
 
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A vote here for the A1(s).....shoot some commercials & make $$ for your adapter real quick. See if you can pick up a used A1 for cheaper maybe?

Difficult to predict HDV's fate in two years, though.

Happy holidays.
 
sadly no...its either NTSC or PAL, not both. and that A1 on B&H is NTSC. i own an A1 and i'm currently in the process of getting a second camera in the HMC150. i was planning to get either an A1 or an HV30 until i ran into this camera. not really in the position to advise just yet, but on paper and by popular opinion on this forum, it seems that the HMC is superior on all counts in exception for its 1080 mode.

then again, the A1 doesn't shoot 720 at all. the two main factors for me were solid state (on $24 Transcend Class 6 16GB SDHC cards!!! 90 mins) and low light capability. you might want to look into it before you get the A1. although i do believe the A1 is still a solid camera.

but with what i do, i need more low light sensitivity...and frankly im getting tired of running tape. you should check out vimeo for hmc150 low light. nothing short of amazing compared to what i face on my A1.
 
ANTshooter said:
sadly no...its either NTSC or PAL, not both. and that A1 on B&H is NTSC. i own an A1 and i'm currently in the process of getting a second camera in the HMC150. i was planning to get either an A1 or an HV30 until i ran into this camera. not really in the position to advise just yet, but on paper and by popular opinion on this forum, it seems that the HMC is superior on all counts in exception for its 1080 mode.

then again, the A1 doesn't shoot 720 at all. the two main factors for me were solid state (on $24 Transcend Class 6 16GB SDHC cards!!! 90 mins) and low light capability. you might want to look into it before you get the A1. although i do believe the A1 is still a solid camera.

but with what i do, i need more low light sensitivity...and frankly im getting tired of running tape. you should check out vimeo for hmc150 low light. nothing short of amazing compared to what i face on my A1.
Click to expand...

I believe you can pay extra to upgrade the XHA1 to do both.
 
Tanso said:
It would be great if it had both formats though. Or the ability to shoot 24p, thats almost the same.
Click to expand...

The A1 can be modified so that it can do both NTSC and PAL. I think it's about $500 USD to get it done by Canon. So if you buy a NTSC unit, you can add PAL and vice versa.
 
hv20+adapter has my vote versus a1 without adapter.
You will get better images because of the adapter.

Then in a year get the scarlet and throw the adapter on the scarlet(or the lenses on whatever the future brings in the dslr department.) Then keep the hv20 as a b cam.
 
If you have $4000 to spend, I highly recommend getting as much as you can with it. A tripod is a must. You're looking at at least $500 here for a decent one. Extra batteries. How about audio? You cannot short cut audio if you want t have a serious production. Camera bag? There is so much to think about. Trust me, you will very soon find yourself needing these "extras" if you go and blow all $4000 on just a camera. Don't do it unless you have access to all the other equipment now also.

e.g.-
XH-A1 $3000
Extra battery $200
Bogen/Libec tripod, etc. $500-$600
Camera bag $200
Audio Technica at4073a $600
you could go on and on adding thigs up.

please..the camera is just PART of the entire picture.
good luck. also both canon's are fine cameras. the hv30 is awesome for the price. you could get quite an hv30 package for 4 grand.
 
I would go with the hv30 and a Handy35 dof adapter,its very simple to lock the exposure and use a good prime lens to pull focus with.I can understand why people want full manuel control but with this technique you have some good control and the image is just as good as the a1(my opinion) the a1 produces way more CA than the hv does with an adapter attatched to it,thats a fact.
hv 30=550.00
Handy35 adapter that comes with rails is 650.00
beachtek xlr adapter 150.00
decent tripod 300.00
azden or senheizer mike 200-300
set of primes for the dof adapter 300.00 give or take
follow focus 400.00
Matte box 450.00
so for in the 3,000 to 4,000 range you can equip it pretty nicely and still use the accessories for a hvx down the road.

just a thought, some will agree and some will disagree you know what you can afford in the end.hope this helps some.
 
I have tripods, video lights, xlr audio and such so thats not much of a problem.

Hmm, about the ntsc problem. In the UK, is it PAL there?

Found that the pricing is almost the same there as in the US.

I dont know about the HV30, heard so much good about the xh a1, it is quite cheap now as the new version came out :D
 
Not as cheap as the hv30 lol,Im saying this because i have seen some comparisons between the two and there is no difference.the a1 would probably do better in low light and has better audio but with a beachtek i cant tell the difference between the two.I would bide my time until the scarlet comes out if it ever does and if jim decides to make enough to go around.pray
 
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