Canon XhA1 SD 24f quality

andoguru

andoguru

"Meat" & "Egg" Member
Hello everyone,

I was looking at the Canon XhA1 because of the amazing things I've heard about it's hdv, but I was wondering what you guys think about the standard definition minidv at 24f?

Does the 24f 16x9 SD minidv look good? How does it compare to the dvx100b or xl2's 24p?

Thanks.

Andy
 
That sounds like a good idea, but I've heard that downres HDV to SD doesn't look as good as native 24p/f SD. I think they explanation might have been because HDV is so compressed to begin with and the problems with artifacts etc will stick out more when downres'ed.

What do you guy think?

Thanks
 
I certainly think it should work seeing as the cam is built to down convert. It HDV is more stable than DV in my experience. But I'm just shooting commercials.
 
Don't you get a 4:2:2 colour space when you downsample to standard definition? And the artifacts would be less visible too. I would love if DV was in 4:2:2 MPEG-2.
 
Hey,

Does the xha1 down convert to make SD everytime or is that a setting? Can it just be shot SD to start with?

What do you think Barry about shooting SD 24f compared to HDV-downres-to-SD?

Thanks,
Andy
 
The A1 can record native SD.
The A1 can do an in-camera HD to SD convert on playback.

With the proper workflow you can do very good downconverts on your computer.
 
andoguru,

I've shot a little bit of SD 24F on my A1 and I would have to say that in terms of overall sharpness, color, visual quality, and 24p, it is neither inferior nor superior to my DVX-100. Now, bear in mind I've had my DVX for about 3.5 years, and just got my A1, so I haven't had enough time to extensively compare between the two cameras.

The major differences I have encountered (in 4x3 SD mode) is that it seems that you get a shallower depth-of-field on the A1 when shooting SD. It seemed harder to focus, or like there was less room to "play" with the focus, like you had to get it spot on. I'm not sure, but I remeber hearing something a while back about this, something due to the A1's CCD's being cropped from 16x9 to allow for 4x3 video being captured, and this affects focusing somehow. If any of the tech experts here could chime in on this, I'm not sure if I explained this correctly or not.

I also found it tough to get used to shooting in 4x3 with the sides of the LCD monitor getting cropped. I would only do this when a client specifically requested 4x3 SD.

In SD 16x9 mode I am not sure how that compares, since I have only shot a little 4x3 SD, and the majority of my footage so far in HD. I have not used an XL-2. Check the A1 forum here, as I have seen a few posts stating that people have used both, and most say the A1 is either as good or better than the XL-2 in SD.

I prefer to shoot in HD 24F whenever I can. This way I still have the HDV master for the future if need be. In terms of downconverting, I have tried a little bit of footage from a recent wedding shoot, HD 24F, 1/24 shutter. Tried the in camera downconvert to Premiere Pro 2.0. Looked a little soft in my opinion. I have also heard that Premiere Pro 2.0 is not the greatest for downconverting, so it all depends on your NLE. Next I am going to try converting in Vegas 7 to see if I get a better downconvert this time. Most Final Cut users have reported good downconversion results as well.

Hope this helps.
 
I've shot 24p 16:9 on the A1 before, but never under the best of lighting condition (the only time I shoot SD is for live show, which equals bad lighting).

My impression is that there's nothing remarkable about the footage compared to other native SD cameras. It's perfectly usable, neither too soft or too clear. Does the job just fine.
 
..and here is a 25f 1/50 SD PAL 16/9 video, resized to 480x270:
http://www.mediafire.com/?awjlukwm4qj

(First outing with the A1, or any camcorder for that matter, so please excuse the poor camerawork)

Judging from the footage I have seen the A1's SD image would compare favorably to the cameras you mention.
-but I think the HD sensor the image is created from requires more light.
 
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