anyone compared the xha1 footage IQ with any of canons' dlsrs for backup?

W

william boehm

Member
i am in a quandry. my background is still photography, with a nikon system and the best lenses. i also had a canon xha1 hdv and love the images, very little artifacts with minimally slow panning, wave action along the coast or animal movement. i was going to migrate to the canon 5d, 7d or rebel having saw great vimeo footage. michael fletcher, philip bloom etc. then i read several articles after googling on dslr aliasing, moire and artifacts in movement. i went back to vimeo..and sure enough, picked up immediately the papua new guinea short on vimeo by fletcher..very noticeable aliasing on waves, and movement.

so i am throwing this out there....filming ocean surf coming in, streams..harlequin ducks in streams, sea otters in wave motion from a kayak, are all going to be heavily laced with artifacts and unusable stock footage using a back up of a dslr on 1080 video. what i saw on several websites were awful once they pointed out the color artifacts on a slow receding wave wash in a sunset, and many other examples. then the shot the typical brick house with shingled roof and again moire was overpowering the images. so what do you recommend? dslrs are not doing what they are purpoted to do? or limited with shallow dof and close ups ...what about landscapes, sea scapes, wind blowing through waves, grass...? they will all be heavily interlaced with artifacts that will ruin the images.

i am considering waiting for the newer canon xha1 tapless system to be announced? maybe the weight and wait will be worth it? those of you who have used both..what is your input? i am a nature photgrapher and videographer, where movement is a given. thanks in advance for your thoughts. bill
 
I'm in the same quandary after seeing similar .. but I'm staying with my A1 and waiting to see if the new *A1* will cut the mustard. Got my eye on the A1s .. just in case.

Cheers.
 
william boehm said:
i am considering waiting for the newer canon xha1 tapless system to be announced? maybe the weight and wait will be worth it? those of you who have used both..what is your input? i am a nature photgrapher and videographer, where movement is a given. thanks in advance for your thoughts. bill
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Canon announced the introduction of two 4:2:2, compact flash camcorders: the Canon XF305 and XF300. Both cameras use Canon’s new XF Codec which is capable of 1080p recording straight to hot-swappable dual compact flash slots. These are Canon’s first generation tapeless replacements for the XH-A1 and XL-H1, but they use three 1/3″ CMOS sensors. MSRP starts at ~$6800. I am disappointed by the use of CMOS senors so I will probably stick with my A1 for a while longer.
 
I have both the 5D and the Xh-a1s. With a 16-35mm f2.8 and a 70-200 f2.8 on the 5D it is very beautiful, however it is nothing close to as good at filming as the Xh, stay Xh you wont regret it. And when the Xf comes out step up to that. The 5D/7D is a still camera lets not forget that.
 
So far the pair of Canon XF cams look to be excellent and early reports of their pix quality also good. IMO the 82mm front end and their codec have combined to handle the low light and the CMOS problem.

Another groundbreaker .. keep tabs on the availability of 82mm UV filters.
Cheers.
 
the 'successors' to the XH-XX are really anything but; CMOS instead of CCD, and MSRP 2 grand over the XH series. I cant use CMOS for most of what i shoot, but one of our shooters has a 5D MkII for low light situations, which works fairly well, however i have to CC the hell out of it to get it close to the XH-A1 look (VividRGB) as it tends to really crush the blacks and seems too 'slick', more like a prime time sitcom look.

Ill probably pick up a second XH-A1 for less than a 5D MkII/7D/T2i, mostly because of the CMOS issue.

Keep in mind, that just because it has bigger glass and a bigger codec doesnt mean anything in relation to CMOS jello, which to me is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE for ANY video camera, other than perhaps a cheap webcam or cell phone camera. A larger sensor does help reduce CMOS jello, but its still there, and still god awful to watch.
 
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