Hi everyone - I am filming on Friday some interviews with my Canon XH A1... can I ask what would be the best setting for this? I am certainly doing it at 1080i - but would you film it at 60i or 24p?

Also - obviously manual focus... but what about shutter speed? Nothing less than 1/48 to avoid flicker from the overhead fluorescent lights in an office?

Lastly - what preset is good for interviews in general.... I do use VIVIDRGB but unsure if that is a bit too powerful...

Thanks all!

Coming from PAL land I shoot interviews in both 50i and 25p with great results. Shutter speed at 1/50. 25p works well for a softer look and great for web delivery.

I shoot everything at 24f, keep it 24 fps all the way through the edit and exporting the final master H.264 as 24p. If I have to go back to tape with something, then it'll get converted to 60i and SD.

Standard shutter speed for 24 fps is 1/48. The only reason to set it any different would be if you're looking for an effect. You go slower and you can get a blur that's annoying, also strobing. For most everything keep it 1/48. You won't get any flicker from the office fluorescents.

Thanks Jonathan and Bill!

I will keep it at 1/48!

What preset do you normally use? Flat out of the camera? or using something like PANALOOK, VIVIDRGB etc?

Clare, day? night? male? female? lighting? Take some softboxes and shut the fluros off if they cause trouble.

I'd say VIVIDRGB would be too much. I'd use PANALOOK2 for the flesh. Don't forget to white balance each set up.

Cheers.

I just went through a frantic phone call from a friend with an XH A1. He is rather technologically challenged and couldn't figure out why his shutter speed suddenly said 1/2000. He had inadvertently moved the wheel when doing a lot of handheld work. With that in mind, it's probably a good idea to go into the menu and lock the shutter at the standard speed. You can always unlock it if you need to shoot at 60i for some reason.

Never thought about locking the shutter! Yes, good idea. Thanks Bill.

It's Male and Female, day in an office with window light.. will turn off the fluorescents as suggested if they are causing a problem. Lighting wise I have daylight balanced fluorescents....Will hunt out PANALOOK2 - thanks Allan!

I just went through a frantic phone call from a friend with an XH A1. He is rather technologically challenged and couldn't figure out why his shutter speed suddenly said 1/2000. He had inadvertently moved the wheel when doing a lot of handheld work. With that in mind, it's probably a good idea to go into the menu and lock the shutter at the standard speed. You can always unlock it if you need to shoot at 60i for some reason.

Having "adjusted" that wheel accidentally on a number of occasions, I like the idea of locking the shutter speed - hadn't realised it was possible. Now, where's that manual (actually it's in the camera bag so I can refer to it)

That's great Bill, I in fact was on a fishing boat last week shooting and it was pretty hectic and it was soooo easy to turn the shutter wheel. I had to keep double checking every few secs, even still A couple of mins of footage were shot at 1/500!! Locking the shutter will solve the problem in future.

That's so funny you say that Annie, mine is in my camera bag too for quick ref.... maybe I should go back and actually read the 'de-structions' again!

Cheers

Jon

You have to look for it. It's not in the camera settings menu...it's one or two lines down from that...overall setup, something like that. My camera's at the office now so I can't look. When you find where it is, it's easy to spot. Says something like shutter lock, on/off. Toggle it on after setting the shutter to 1/48 and you're safe. If you try to change the setting you get a little flashing red lock icon.

Yeah it's in the System set up, forth of fifth down. Great little feature

That's it! System setup. I was close, heheh.

I found the file for the PANALOOK but not PANALOOK2 - is there a file link anywhere?

Hi

One of the Custom configuration buttons can be configured to toggle lock/unlock on the shutter wheel. When the wheel is used for fine tuning White Balance, the lock/unlock will work the same way and will be controlled by the same Custom button.

Regards,

/Bo

Thanks Bo.... another great idea.

My word today has turned out to be very educational..;)

Cheers

J

I found the file for the PANALOOK but not PANALOOK2 - is there a file link anywhere?


Try this link:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/canon-xh-series-hdv-camcorders/233997-panalook-panalook-2-preset-differences.html

Thanks Bill! Will give that a go :)

What do people normally have the Skin Detail option set at for an interview?

Off, Low, Middle or High?

Clare, I've never tried the Skin Detail feature on the A1. I'd imagine it's similar to a custom preset, so if I'm running the PANALOOK2 preset it'd counteract it.

Unless you could try a few extensive tests, I'd leave it turned off.

Cheers.