Help with the XH-A1

James in HD

Active member
OK, so I use my XH-A1 in auto mode, only because I don't know all there
is to know about manual. Is there anywhere I can go, or any book I can
read, that will teach me about all the correct uses for the XH-A1 in manual?

I'm a newb, and I have no clue when to use the gain, or white balance.

I have shot many things with it so far, and everything looks great so far,
however I don't want to come up on a serious problem with quality and
not know what to do.

Thanks.
 
And please don't laugh, I'm trying to learn as quick as I can
without having to go to school for this. But I see everyone
talking about the settings for this and that and I am lost.
 
Hello James,
Read as much of the manual as you can and try all the settings out and see what works for you. Get your camera out and shoot shoot shoot with it. I think there is a DVD available on how to use your XHA1 do a google search for it. Oh lets not forget this forum, which is a world of information.
 
Sounds like, to me, you could to pick up a beginner's guide to digital photography. I guess I've never read one, but I'd imagine they would cover aperture, shutter, and white balance among other things.

When you understand those things, reading the manual for the camera will tell you how to have complete control over those photography aspects.
 
Sounds like, to me, you could to pick up a beginner's guide to digital photography. I guess I've never read one, but I'd imagine they would cover aperture, shutter, and white balance among other things.

When you understand those things, reading the manual for the camera will tell you how to have complete control over those photography aspects.

That is exactly what you should do.

Also, for another source of information, I bet you could type in whatever you want to know about into wikipedia.org and get plenty of information from there too.
 
I was pretty much in the same boat when my A1 arrived. All the advice here is dead on.

I got three books and found each of them helpful:
- "The Photographer's Handbook" - John Hedgecoe
- "The Photography Bible" - Daniel Lezano
- "Scott Kelby;s 7-Point System For Adobe Photoshop CS3"

I'd recommend starting with the first two. Good photography basics and theory that will apply to your Canon as well. The third one will help you more in post, but it did help me understand more about how the custom settings will effect your video in the camera.

Search the Web. Check the links in this board and surf on from there. There's gobs of good info around.

Finally, shoot. Shoot everything, all the time. Where you are you can shoot skaters on a pond, ice fishing, curling whatever strikes your interest. I've shot almost 50 tapes since I got my A1 in October and I think I'm markedly better now because of the experience. Still have a long way to go yet though.

Have fun. I think you'll enjoy the learning curve.
 
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