XF100 or XH A1?

B

Barsanuph

New member
Hi there,

I'm planning to buy a new camera which should be as professional as possible within the price range of 3000$. The ones I'm interested in the most are the XF100 and the XH A1? How do these two compare? The XF100 seems a little small and the XH A1 a little old.

Thank you and best wishes
A.
 
They're pretty different cameras, it really depends on what you're shooting. I'll say the following:

I'm not much of a fan of tapes and HDV (although I don't have any major issues with them); I'd probably rather have a tapeless workflow which you'd get from the XF100. Not enough to compel me to go get one though.

The enormously long lens on the A1 really helps. I don't know of any other professional camcorders that have a 20x zoom lens. It's great for events that require a decent distance between you and the subject.

I like the rings for zoom, focus, and iris on the A1. Something that would definitely be possible to get by without, but it's nice

If you're doing lots of greenscreen work, XF100 all the way. 4:2:2 will be much better suited for chroma keying than the 4:2:0 that HDV uses.

I think they're pretty close as far as low light performance goes, although I haven't seen any tests that I actually trust that can confirm this.

The A1 is known to have pretty good resolving power due to the native 1440x1080 sensors, I have a report from the BBC where the resolution was tested on the SDI out from the G1. I think it's good for 1015 lines in 60i and 940 lines in the F modes, but I'm sure the HDV compression would hurt that. I'd imagine the XF100 wouldn't be as good considering it has only a single 1920x1080 sensor, causing lots of information to have to be interpolated after debayering, but I wouldn't consider that too big of an issue. You can pixel peep all you want, I've seen SD DVDs projected in a theater that look pretty good.

You'll also have to take into account your budget. The A1 can be obtained for very cheap compared to the XF100, I got mine for 2 grand with a $160 pelican case and a $75 pro mist filter for free. It did wind up needing a $275 repair before I could really even use it, but this was before the XF cameras were released. Now, I'm sure you could get a perfectly working one for what I paid.
 
My main goal is to shoot short films and documentary.

Looking at XH A1 videos on vimeo, it seems the camera is doing a better job of capturing a more nuanced cinematic feel. Or is it mainly due to the fact that it has been around for much longer and more good work could be done - also with the help of post-production? Most of the XF100 videos however appear to be simple test shots by only a few people.
 
The XF100 hasn't been out very long and because of the earthquake in Japan it has really slowed down getting here is one reason you are not seeing much footage. I'm shooting a documentary and kind of glad I'm using my DVX100b. I'm not ready to deal with HD storage!! Plus it is nice having the tape back up but like the other guy said the tape workflow is a hassle too.
 
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