Hi there,

Day 3 with my new XH-A1 ...

Filmed this footage about a week ago (Sat 3 May) but have only just had the chance to edit it.

I ventured out to the Dave Hack Classic Car and Warbird Meet to do some more tests with the A1 - and to bust out a few Top Gear camera moves!

http://www.vimeo.com/996086

My videos still seem to have a slight stutter on Vimeo .... :( Not sure why that is.

I went to town on the colour correction so it might be a bit over the top ... let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Matthew.

http://www.vimeo.com/996086

Loved it! Rich blacks and saturated colors. Very nice. Reminded me of Philip Bloom's work.

My videos still seem to have a slight stutter on Vimeo .... :( Not sure why that is.

I've never seen anything on Vimeo that doesn't stutter to some degree. Most of it looks similar to what those old table top standards converters of yesteryear would look like, ex: ntsc to pal.

I prefer www.exposureroom.com It doesn't seem to have the stutter problem of Vimeo. The site lets the user chose Low Mid and HD for playback.

very nice. Were you using a stabilizer on those shots? They were very smooth.

Thought the video looked good. Definitely know what you mean by Top Gear, love watching that show the camera moves and editing. Your shots looked good and color correction seemed appropriate. When you shoot with your XHA1 do you shoot it flatter for post or do you use any "presets" for film look, gamma... etc... in the camera?

Loved it! Rich blacks and saturated colors. Very nice. Reminded me of Philip Bloom's work.

Hey Russ,

Wow. Thanks for the compliment. I don't think I can allow myself to accept it though - Philip Bloom is a dead-set legend in my book. His work is so inspirational ... have you seen his latest stuff from Tokyo - absolutely amazing.

Maybe in 5 or 6 years I'll be qualified to carry his tripod ;)

Cheers,

Matthew.

Jim - Yep, I was testing out the Merlin with the XH-A1

Jeff - Thanks for your comments. Yeah, I prefer to shoot flat and then CC in post. I never really got into using presets even with my XL2. Presets are something I need to spend some time experimenting with but I tend to just go with what I know.

Bill & Marcel - Thanks. I'll have to check out Exposure Room a bit more ... I do like the interface of Vimeo though.

I was quite impressed with how well the reds held together on the A1, especially considering how far I pushed the colours. Certainly couldn't do that with my XL2 - not sure if that is the camera or a limitation of DV itself. Probably the latter I guess ...

Top Gear is such a cool show. I'm not really into cars much, I can appreciate them but I'm not a car nut - but the camera work, editing and colour work on Top Gear is exceptional. And James, Richard and Jeremy are pretty funny too!

Cheers,

Matthew.

Matt, that was great! Did you like the Merlin--the shots were so smooth. It almost looked like one clip used a jib, or perhaps you stepped up onto something? Very enjoyable and look forward to seeing more of your work. BTW colour looked good to me (I reckon they saturate the s... out of Top Gear anyway!)

Great shots and composition. The reds scare me on my A1 so intense I have to be careful with it. In saying that the reder a Ferrari the better :P

have you got an vest/arm for the Merlin or just handheld?

keep it up the great work :)

Jim - yeah, I love the Merlin. It's really fantastic once you get the hang of it. I still need a lot of practice but I'm amazed at what can be done with it so far.

Peter - Thanks for your comment. It was just the Merlin itself. I'd love to get the arm and vest down the track but there's a few other things ahead of it on my wish list :)

Cheers,

Matthew.

Nice work Matthew!

I'll take the Mini Cooper over the Ferrari any day. Unless I need the DeLorean to get back to 1985 :)

Best,

Good Job, Matthew. Make sure that you do head on over to Exposureroom. It's the best.

Then, check out my custom car video. It also was my first time out with the camera and I had a lot of fun.

Here's the video: http://exposureroom.com/members/WillMahoney.aspx/assets/103179e854414d9296b6c163f580bcd5/

That looks great!

What frame rate were you shooting at? 24f, 48f, or 60i?

I love seeing what the XHA1 can do! I have been practicing for about 6 months now and I can't wait to keep improving! thanks for sharing.

Alex - Thanks!. This was shot at 50i (PAL) and then de-interlaced in post.

John - Thanks for your comment. The A1 is awesome hey!

Will - Nice video! Some really cool cars at that show.

Me? You're the one with the nice video. That Merlin makes things as smooth as butter!! I had to slow down a lot of my hand-held stuff to smooth it out. Well done.