XH a1 a good idea?

smashedburrito

smashedburrito

Well-known member
Hey guys. For some time now I have been researching what camera to buy. For a long time I had been set on the DVX, but now it seems like HD is really exploding. I have been reading reviews and watching footage from the A1 and it seems to be really impressive. I am looking for a good camera I can use for my films throughout college (I have three years left). I would like the flexibility to shoot both SD and HD along with producing a good film look. No 35mm adapter in sight now, but you never know. I noticed that the price for the A1 seems very impressive. Much less then the HVX with P2 cards and only $600-$700 more than a new DVX.

Basically I am wondering what everyone's opinion of the A1 has been so far. I am used to using an XL2 at school, but they are hard to borrow when I need it and I am not a huge fan of shoulder mounted at this point. So any rants or raves about the A1 would be appreciated. Thanks for all the help!
 
I love it! I was also in your shoes a few months ago and I figured that it would be a more versatile camera that could push images equal to or past the dvx and the hvx. I got it and it past my expectations. I never regretted my purchase.
 
Thanks, I have been watching some footage and it looks like it is an incredible camera. I have a few questions if anyone can answer.

-This does shoot SD right?

-How annoying is the LCD screen?

-I have heard that the focus and zoom is nothing compared to a DVX. Any thoughts on this?

Otherwise any pros or cons you have found while shooting would be appreciated. I really like what I see so far, but I want to be positive before I decide anything.
 
-This does shoot SD right??It certainly does, but even so there are arguments for a down conversion in post.

-How annoying is the LCD screen? Pretty much as annoying as any LCD screen as far as Im concerned - The magnify function is very useful for focus

-I have heard that the focus and zoom is nothing compared to a DVX. Any thoughts on this? Focus is focus I guess, its manual on both. The A1 doesnt have a full manual zoom like the DVX, but thats something needed how often?
 
I have been very impressed with the A1. I have rented and used the HVX as well, and like both cameras. However, if you are in that mid-3,000 price range, go for the A1. We decided to get one, and have been thrilled with it. I personally wouldn't buy a DVX now, and just got rid of mine so we could move fully to HD.

- Kevin
 
Thanks for all the help guys. I just watched the beat box clip and the quality blew my mind. I'm afraid I have to ask a few dumb questions though.

-I heard the a1 doesn't shoot in 720. How much does this really affect shooting and editing?

-How easy is the A1 to use handheld?

Sorry if these are dumb, I am just trying to cement my decision.
 
-I heard the a1 doesn't shoot in 720. How much does this really affect shooting and editing? Not at all - if you want 720 you can just drop the footage into a 720 sequence in FCP - its said with a proper down conversion to 720 you can boot the color pattern also

-How easy is the A1 to use handheld? Very easy, albeit a little unbalanced toward the lense end of the camera - 20x zoom will give you a bit more, so I think its worth the trade off

Go to the Adfest forum and view entry by Macgregor shot on the A1.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the adfest entry. It was awesome.

I know that you cant capture HDV footage through an SD camera, but what about through a tape deck? My school has these tape decks with spots for miniDV, VHS, and DVD. Would I be able to capture through them?
 
No, HDV cannot be read through those decks. In fact Canon HDV footage can only be captured using a Canon HDV camcorder. In fact, even Canon SD footage cannot be captured without using a Canon mini-DV camera for some weird reason.
 
jade8472 said:
In fact, even Canon SD footage cannot be captured without using a Canon mini-DV camera for some weird reason.
Click to expand...


This statement is untrue.

If you mean that Canon 30F and 24F SD footage cannot be captured by anything other than an HV20, or one of the XH-A1 family, then you'd be correct.

But Canon SD 60i footage can be captured normally by any standard Mini-DV deck /cam. I know this to be true for 4x3 footage - can anyone verify whether it's also true for the SD 16x9 footage?
 
Metrolens said:
This statement is untrue.

If you mean that Canon 30F and 24F SD footage cannot be captured by anything other than an HV20, or one of the XH-A1 family, then you'd be correct.

But Canon SD 60i footage can be captured normally by any standard Mini-DV deck /cam. I know this to be true for 4x3 footage - can anyone verify whether it's also true for the SD 16x9 footage?
Click to expand...

Wanna bet?

I've shot plenty of SD 16x9 footage at 60i on the Canon A1 and it cannot be captured by anything EXCEPT a Canon camcorder. I've tried doing it with a Sony cam, a Panasonic and a JVC. Sounds would be distorted, capture process would start and then stop, footage would have lines running through them etc. And this was done on several computers using different firewires and NLEs to isolate the problem.

Last time I shot a show on the A1 and gave it to a friend to edit. He couldn't capture the tape on his camera until he borrowed some mini-DV Canon cam.

There's something about the way the Canon head is aligned where footage recorded on it cannot be read by other cameras; only Canon. That's a problem that's been reported with Canon cameras before, feel free to look it up.
 
Ok, so then maybe the XH-A1's 16x9 SD 60i requires a Canon to capture. I asked people to verify this part, so thank you for doing that.

But 4x3 SD 60i footage I've shot on a Canon, be it a GL1 or GL2 or an XH-A1, can be captured by anything MiniDV. JVC and Sony Decks, a 4 year old Sony 1 chip camera, etc, for example, have always worked fine.
 
I've had trouble trying to capture tapes recorded on an XL1S with a DVX100A--maybe it depends on your settings somehow? Like, if you don't use option X you're OK with any camera, but with that on, it becomes Canon-specific? I say that because, if I remember correctly, I was using 4-channel audio on the XL1S, and it was audio trouble I was having during the capture (fortunately, we still have that XL1S :) ).
 
fwiw, i've captured several tapes worth of xha1 SD 16:9 24p footage off my sony dhr-1000 deck without any issues. procedure was exactly the same as xl2 24p footage.
 
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