XL H1 Firmware Upgrade Details

[John Richard]

Anyone who has had their H1 recently serviced by a Canon Service Center notice any new features or improvements in operation due to the new firmware installed at servicing?

[Mark Job]

Originally Posted by John Richard

Anyone who has had their H1 recently serviced by a Canon Service Center notice any new features or improvements in operation due to the new firmware installed at servicing?

....Just had my camera in for its first servicing at the authorized Canon service center here in Canada in early December and it came back with no upgrades. The camera did return with a way cleaner viewfinder, as I just about destroyed mine trying to clean it !

[John Richard]

Thanks much. Looks like we're at the end of the line on any further firmware development for the original XLH1.

[Chris Hurd]

That's right -- from here the upgrade from the XL H1 is the XL H1A or H1S.

[Richard Hallowes]

Just got my XL H1 back from the Canon UK RCC at Elstree, North London, and it is now at firmware 1.0.4.0. It was in for a new mainboard as my computer manufacturer looked to have missed that the firewire connection to the front panel of the PC was one row of pins out. This put +12V DC on one pair of data pins and 0V Ground on the other pair. With an 1100W PSU sitting behind that rail, it smoked two cameras and the PC mainboard too.

Repairs for the Canon were around $1200 USD and the Sony $400 USD plus another $500 USD for the PC damage. Strangely though the Sony kept on working but lost its iLink connection which gave me no clue what was wrong - I wrongly assumed Vista didn't like the camera. The Canon actually smoked and everything shut down but the damage was already done.

All fixed and paid for by the computer supplier, but ouch!!

I am assuming that in the UK, firmware 1.0.4.0 is the latest for the H1

Rick

[Nuno Ribeiro]

Hi there

Is the firmaware extension .FIM?

Think I just found the firmware 1.0.4.0


Best
Nuno

[Johan Forssblad]

Originally Posted by John Richard

Looks like we're at the end of the line on any further firmware development for the original XLH1.

Not yet, John!

I had our XL H1 at Canon RCC, Gothenburg, Sweden" this week for replacing the fragile and broken 4-pin FireWire connector and a cleaning.

I just checked the firmware and it is now upgraded to 1.0.7.0 !! But I still have no clue what has changed.

Does anybody know more about any possible improvements? /Johan

[Johan Forssblad]

They have improved (the hated) sloppy servo function of the focus ring on the 20x lens!

Before the upgrade (from 1.0.4.0), near the wide zoom end, the focus went from close distance to infinity with nearly no movement at all. Then, at tele zoom, you had to turn the focus ring much more for the same distance change. It was more or less impossible to know and feel how much you should turn the focus ring for a certain distance change. If you had focused on , lets say 1 m, and wanted to go to 1.5 m, the lens focused to past infinity with a slight movement of the focus ring if it was on wide angle.

Now the function seems much smoother and easy to control. Focus works more similar no matter which what zoom setting you have. More like an EF lens or manual lens.

HOWEVER, THE DISTANCE SCALE IN THE VIEWFINDER SEEMS TO BE GONE!! I'm on the phone with Canon ... I have used the distance scale very much rather than to wiggle back and forth to achieve good focus.

This is a loss. Perhaps people found the distance scale inaccurate so Canon removed it ... I don't buy it.

According to Canon they should have improved the zoom ring too. I have no idea what was included in (if any) firmware 1.0.5.0 nor 1.0.6.0.

Edit: Sorry, but I don't know if the servo is improved when using manual focus. The Canon workshop had flipped the switch to auto focus. Then the focus ring reacted in another way than usually. Canon just said they have improved the function of the focus and zoom rings on the 20x lens. Don't know if this is valid to the old (non II) original lens. If you find more info about this firmware, please chime in!

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Johan Forssblad

HOWEVER, THE DISTANCE SCALE IN THE VIEWFINDER SEEMS TO BE GONE!

Menu > Custom Function > 12 Obj Dist Unit > 00 (meters) or 01 (feet) > On.

[Johan Forssblad]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Menu > Custom Function > 12 Obj Dist Unit > 00 (meters) or 01 (feet) > On.

Hi Chris,
Not so on our 2005 XL H1 (non s/a). It has this function under DISPLAY SETUP - (next page) - OBJ DST UNIT - m (or ft). It cannot be switched off there.

But I found the error: The Canon service had flipped the auto focus lens switch to auto focus. I have never used it. It disables the distance readout though.

Sorry for making smoke!

Thank you for this great forum! /Johan

[John Richard]

Thanks guys for the info on the new firmware.

Wished we could find out more detail on specifics from Canon.

This has been one great camcorder - added an XDR from Convergent Design and it's still going strong with the 6X and 20X lenses.

[Harry Bromley-Davenport]

Hey there Chris,

New firmware for the XLH1 which fixes the 20x zoom focus readout?

Can you suggest a way of getting hold of this? Is it available on any Canon site?

And can anyone tell me, please, how I can keep the distance indicator in the viewfinder ON all the time? Mine is only visible when I move the focus ring. I can't find a way to keep it on permanently.

Best

Harry.

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Harry, Canon USA has not made it available for download as far I know.

However, if you're in the L.A. area, you could simply drive your camera down
to the CUSA service facility in Irvine and have them do a clean & check. That's
the fastest and easiest way to get the latest firmware for an XL series camera.

[Harry Bromley-Davenport]

Thanks for the reply, Chris.

I'll see if I can get Chris Canada down there to send it to me.

Best,

Harry.

[Travis Andersen]

Originally Posted by Vence Vida

Okay, I have gone around and around with Canon for over three months.
Everytime I called, they said they would send the card, but never did. Finally today, they said they have a new policy and won't send any more cards. They want me to send my cameras in. This has gotten very frustrating! All of my cameras have firmware 1.0.0.0

I have three XL-H1s and I can not afford to be without them for any length of time and sure as heck can't afford to express ship them all back and forth. I have three jobs in November that require me to genlock and link my cameras with timecode, and without the firmware update, my understanding is, it does not work well. Plus, I could REALLY use those smaller iris steps. Too often, one click is just too much change.

Does anyone have a firmware upgrade on SD card that you would be willing to send to me. I'll pay to have it sent back and forth and I will return it. Please!

Thanks,

Vence

I have the XLH1 that I bought used about a year ago, I just purchased the 6X wide lens used for it. I do not have the correct firmware (V1.0.3.0) to use the iris ring (which is why I puchased this) Called Canon and they are tell me I have to ship the camera to them to get the latest firmware. Well I can not be long without my camera as its my job. Could anyone help me out here and sent me the .FIM file by email or hook me up with the SD card to load and I will return it. Thanks for your help.