disjecta
Lucky Duck
Before I bought this camera, I did exhaustive research and read everything available on the Web about people's impressions of the HVX, HD100, the Sonys and the XLH1. I saw much complaining about CA on the JVC lens and others swore that the XLH1 20x lens was less than stellar and was equally afflicted with the CA problem.
I have not had a lot of time to shoot with the H1 but enough to know what's what.
First, a little lecture
DV has lots of limitations as we all know. It does not have the latitude of film and, despite some cameras having lots of knee adjustments, you just know it's video if you shoot high contrast scenes because it will not resolve light to dark gracefully. So what do you do? You control your shots, you look for framing that minimizes the high contrast problem. You use lighting when you can, bounce cards, whatever, and suddenly DV looks great. The DV limitations are inherent in HDV also, particularly with 1/3 chip cameras. It's really DV that's much bigger and more detailed.
The CA problem is not a problem. Every camera in this range has some kind of weakness. Just pay attention to what you shoot, lock off scenes. Know the limitations of your equipment and you will have shots that approach the look of 35mm film. The 20x lens is a beautiful piece of engineering and I challenge the naysayers to keep in mind that you cannot make a camera be something it's not. If you know what HDV can do and you control your environment (even if you just take an extra second to properly lock a shot in a grip and rip situation), you will get stunning results.
Even messing around with my own stuff, the shots I have gotten are as good in resolution as anything I have seen on Discovery HD Theater. I watched some HD shows last night and nothing looked any better than what the XLH1 can achieve with some careful thought.
I have seen a little CA in some of the high contrast shots I have taken but it is almost invisible to my eye and completely invisible to friends of mine who have seen the footage on a 42" plasma TV.
The OIS is amazing and I have read comments from people saying they wouldn't use it because it produces smearing and compromises the picture. I respect that if people are really seeing it but I have examined the screen from about 12 inches away and frozen the frame and I can't see it. It makes me wonder what these guys are looking at to see footage they say is unacceptable....it's a mystery to me.
I continue to be amazed by the quality and beauty of this camera and, for now, it really is my dream camera and it can capture anything I want in a way that is predictable and just simply gorgeous.
My hat is off to Canon. They didn't announce the camera with trumpets and pomp, like other companies, they just let this beauty speak for itself.
The moral of this diatribe is: know your art and your equipment and you can produce anything you want.
I have not had a lot of time to shoot with the H1 but enough to know what's what.
First, a little lecture
DV has lots of limitations as we all know. It does not have the latitude of film and, despite some cameras having lots of knee adjustments, you just know it's video if you shoot high contrast scenes because it will not resolve light to dark gracefully. So what do you do? You control your shots, you look for framing that minimizes the high contrast problem. You use lighting when you can, bounce cards, whatever, and suddenly DV looks great. The DV limitations are inherent in HDV also, particularly with 1/3 chip cameras. It's really DV that's much bigger and more detailed.
The CA problem is not a problem. Every camera in this range has some kind of weakness. Just pay attention to what you shoot, lock off scenes. Know the limitations of your equipment and you will have shots that approach the look of 35mm film. The 20x lens is a beautiful piece of engineering and I challenge the naysayers to keep in mind that you cannot make a camera be something it's not. If you know what HDV can do and you control your environment (even if you just take an extra second to properly lock a shot in a grip and rip situation), you will get stunning results.
Even messing around with my own stuff, the shots I have gotten are as good in resolution as anything I have seen on Discovery HD Theater. I watched some HD shows last night and nothing looked any better than what the XLH1 can achieve with some careful thought.
I have seen a little CA in some of the high contrast shots I have taken but it is almost invisible to my eye and completely invisible to friends of mine who have seen the footage on a 42" plasma TV.
The OIS is amazing and I have read comments from people saying they wouldn't use it because it produces smearing and compromises the picture. I respect that if people are really seeing it but I have examined the screen from about 12 inches away and frozen the frame and I can't see it. It makes me wonder what these guys are looking at to see footage they say is unacceptable....it's a mystery to me.
I continue to be amazed by the quality and beauty of this camera and, for now, it really is my dream camera and it can capture anything I want in a way that is predictable and just simply gorgeous.
My hat is off to Canon. They didn't announce the camera with trumpets and pomp, like other companies, they just let this beauty speak for itself.
The moral of this diatribe is: know your art and your equipment and you can produce anything you want.
Last edited:
