the Canon is much better in low light image quality than its competitors, including the EX1. If the new XHA1s improves over the current camera, then it will beat even 2/3" broadcast cameras, I think.

Chuck - you raise my eyebrows with this statement. If only all those EX1 buyers had talked to you first, and a 2/3" chip is what I have in my Canon DSLR. It's a lot better in low light than any camcorder I've used.

Paul, you must be using out-of-the-box settings if you have IQ problems with your XHA1. If you haven't gone into the settings and dialed in the image, perhaps you're suffering from low light issues. But once you do, the Canon is much better in low light image quality than its competitors, including the EX1.

If the new XHA1s improves over the current camera, then it will beat even 2/3" broadcast cameras, I think.

I wish I could say that I am new to this cam and you are right, but unfortunately I have extensive experience with it and I can tell you that the low light ability is worked around with a bright light but it is not the way I want to shoot. It kills the background scene since I have to light the foreground brighter then usual. I film mostly weddings and I can tel you anything above 6DB gain is a huge mess.

No matter the preset, the imager is not going to take in any more light then it was designed to do. You are either covering up noise by squashing the blacks, or you are hoping in some sort of downconvert it is not so obvious. The lighting has to be dead on to get good color that does not look flat in post. So in dim light the imager has a very hard time.

I do not shoot in auto at all, almost everything is manual and I do get some amazing video, but it is only when the light is good. The imager is great in the sense that it is a full 1440x1080 imager. So the sharpness is very good but the lens and the low light ability is not up to par at this level any more. I think they should stop discounting the camera and build one we all know they can build.

This is just a temp fix to a better camera in the future. But I was really hoping the new camera would come out soon. After all, they have many consumer models and only 2 semi-pro models. Why can't they update this baby every 2 years?

For me these issues are getting annoying. To see what I mean, all you have to do is plug this cam into a 36", 42", 50" or 52" HD panel ( 42"-50" is now the consumer buying sweet spot ) and you will see what your client is seeing. Very grainy/noisy low light images with way to much CA in the lens to be considered a true HD lens.

Canon can and will make a new cam, but I do not want to deal with these issues by next year so for me if something is not announced by January it's off to Sony etc to get what I need.

I film mostly weddings and I can tel you anything above 6DB gain is a huge mess.
I don't have my xh-a1 that long and only done one wedding with it so far but can only agree that more then 6db gain looks quite bad, especially when viewed in HD on a large lcd, it was like a miljon bugs crawling over the screen.
I tested some presets that did hide the noise a bit but they all caused ghosting, coming from a vx2100 and dvx100b I don't think the low light from the xh-a1 is that bad, I filmed in 25f and 1/25th shutter when it got real dark and I'm more then satisfied with what the camera produces. Only zooming in under those conditions is out of the question and I do use a dimmable led light on the camera.

I wish I could say that I am new to this cam and you are right, but unfortunately I have extensive experience with it and I can tell you that the low light ability is worked around with a bright light but it is not the way I want to shoot.

Let me explain myself, and then I'll drop this off-topic subject. I work news and have to deal with terrible light all the time. Low-light sensitivity and low-light image quality are two different things.

The XHA1 is not the most sensitive camera in the world. A DSR570 will kick it from here to the moon. In fact, I think the XHA1 is about a stop and half LESS sensitive than the way it's set up by Canon.

But once you dial in pedestal, coring and NR, the XHA1 image quality is terrific. If you expect dramatically better images with Sony or Panasonic prosumer cameras, you'll be disappointed.

You're right that you have to nail the exposure dead-on.

The main consideration in this camera's price range is workflow. The XDCAM, AVCHD, Panasonic P2 and HDV tape workflows are dramatically different. I work in a seven-shooter department with a variety of cameras and archiving for tapeless is not there yet for us, because we shoot many hours per day. Everything's a compromise in video and right now, tape is still easier in a high volume environment. We lose some time at the front end by capturing but gain it in the back end by not having to worry about what to archive.

Chuck - you raise my eyebrows with this statement. If only all those EX1 buyers had talked to you first, and a 2/3" chip is what I have in my Canon DSLR. It's a lot better in low light than any camcorder I've used.

Tom, the statement you refer to raised mine so high I'm eyebrowless now! I don't get it.

On the one hand, you could argue all these "enhancements" should have been in the original product. On the other hand, it's reassuring to see Canon making sensible improvements part-way through the model's life.

No one's getting excited about the inclusion of audio limiters? Seems like a really good addition, to me. Ought to make manual audio levels a safer bet for run-and-gun operation, I'd have thought? Or perhaps they're not that kind of limiter?

Setting an upper limit for gain is good. Say you have the switch set for 0, 3 and 6 dB, and the limit set at 12 dB: this effectively gives you an extra switch setting by going from manual to auto.

Smoother transition between zoom speeds is a nice improvement.

I won't be trading in my original any time soon, but I might contact the service centre once the new version is on sale, to see how many of these enhancements, if any, are available in a firmware update. Oh, and a replacement eye-cup!

What a shame it can't record video to the SDHC slot! That really would be worth a trade-in!

I did not see a mention of any firmware updates to flip the image in screen. I think if Canon did that it would make the a1s even more appealing esp. to those with 35mm adapters.

is it just me or does anyone else question buying a firestore right now from a company in chapter 11? the new sony CF video recorder that is/ is soon to be available on its own sounds better to me than a hard-drive based recorder from a company with an unclear future .. anyone else?

I ordered one of the new FS5 and had multiple problems. Finally sent it back (about 1 month ago). Day 1 some of the clips were unreadable. Day 2 the drive would not mount. Reloaded the firmware. Spent about 2 hours with tech support... still could not recover my files. Thank goodness I also recorded to tape.

Got one of the new Sony CF recorders on order for less than 1/2 the price.

i just want that new accessory eyecup that comes in the box. would love to know if they will be selling it separately. (for less that the sony $30 one)

I know you can always call up Canon parts to get replacements. Once the camera goes on sale, I'd imagine you could order up a new eyecup, prob for less than $20, as a new lens hood cost me just under that.

i like the simple things. everything being talked about here isn't interesting....but that eyecup is nice when i have to wear my glasses...my 7 month old A1 is doing quite well, it's never had any issued with ports, seals, tapes, etc, and produces great images, because i read the manual online constantly 3 months before buying, studied every preset i could find, and i pay immense attention to lighting. no upgrade needed here.

just read everything you can folks, and do your research. 1/2 the people who are asking if they should wait for the upgrade haven't read much. most of these questions could be answered by looking at the photos of the A1s vs the A1.

chris

Wonder if it can do the #1 requested thing for the A1 - OIS on a custom button. :)
anybody know? i'm curious if Canon is 'listening'...

back in September I finally stepped up from my Sony HC1 and got a Canon XH-A1. Unfortunately, we had a fire at my house last month and my Xh-a1 was exposed badly to the heat and smoke. I had sent my xh-a1 to the canon factory service center and they just determined it "Beyond Economic Repair" from all the smoke damage. Now i need to decide if i want to get another used xh-a1 or perhaps get a new xh-a1s. I feel a lot more comfortable spending sub-$3k because of the level of my work with this cam, but i really like the ability to record to the hard drive also. I never want to go tapeless because i like the ease of archiving that tapes provide. This is a tough decision.

On a unrelated note, i also would like to replace my hc1 which also died in the fire. I'm thinking an HV20/HV30, but again, would love something that i could record to tape and also something like a hard drive or some sort of removable media, but i'm not sure if there's anything like this out there.

My next Canon HD camera will be the 5D Mark II DSLR..I can't wait to shoot some video with my 300mm 2.8L, 85mm 1.8, and 24-70mm 2.8L

Canon seem to be a bit shy about the side of the camera where the XLR inputs are. There are no photos of that side in their press release pictures...Your wish is my command:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/canon-xh-series-hdv-camcorders/137758-comparison-photos-xh-g1s-vs-xh-g1.html

What do you think support for FS-CV DTE Recorder will be? Don't all cameras support this??

As long as Canon does not offer a solid state based camera, help yourself and attach Sony's MRC1K to the Canons' firewire ports.

According to the A1s manual I recently downloaded from Canon, OIS on/off CAN be assigned to custom button 1 or 2.

See page 73 in the US/English manual.

If that is the case I can only hope Canon will provide such an option through a firmware update for xh-a1 users.

I guess that's for the new S model only, right? Too bad we can't download something to do that on the original model.

According to the A1s manual I recently downloaded from Canon, OIS on/off CAN be assigned to custom button 1 or 2. See page 73 in the US/English manual.Awesome! That's great news, which I had not expected. Thanks
for reporting this, as I haven't seen the manual yet. Good to know,

That is good to hear!

Although I will not be updating my current A1 for a while, when I do I will likely go to the A1s.