I have owned and really enjoyed my Canon XH A1. I love the audio inputs on the camera.

Aside from that I have better video from my consumer canon camcorder when i set it to vivid.

All the video I shoot on the Canon XHa1 Looks flat and does not "pop". I always white balance and just this past weekend I played with using the presets in the camera.

It normally looks pretty good when I hook it up to my tv, when I upload it into FCE4 it looks like this:

‪Hoke Test‬‏ - YouTube (http://youtu.be/QMLnTfW8sRU)



The first clip has a filter the rest don't. I spent two days shooting this house. I almost want to sell my Canon XHA1 and get something more dummy proof. I am by no means a novice but I don't know too much on the intricate details of the camera....

Could it be the camera or settings inside my computer on Final Cut Express?

What preset were you using when you shot the video?
Frame rate?
Output settings? 720p should be an option on you-tube.

Custom Factory preset 8?

Frame rate is 60i

export on FCE to youtube is

1440x1080 16:9

I save it as an mpeg4...


I wish there was a class I could take to learn rather than junk up the message boards with questions. But I TRULY appreciate any input!

The footage out of my Sony NX5 was flat, dull and technically excellent, but like your XH, it had little aesthetic appeal until I delved into the settings to give the colours a good kick up the backside. I'm thinking your XH like my NX is sold 'neutral' so as to excell on test chart day.

tom.

I was feeling similar to you when I first started shooting with the xh-a1 and didn't know about the custom presents.

1) I would try some of these presets http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xh-series-hdv-camcorders/126811-xh-custom-presets-download-library-copy.html vividrgb or natrualo may work well for you.

2) I would shoot in 30p, (no need to de-interlace in post)

3) Export 1280X720

4) Enjoy!

Thanks for the information! I have manually added the two presets you mentioned.


I appreciate the help.

I'm thinking your XH like my NX is sold 'neutral' so as to excell on test chart day

The xh is even flatter then the nx :) The xh-a1 has always been know to shoot a very flat picture, the first time I shot with it I was dissapointed as well, my older dvx100 had much richer color. But actually it's not that bad if you consider that you can give it almost any look you desire, because it so flat and neutral it's easier to match up with other brand of camera's but you need to know your way around color correction. I give my footage some extra punch in edius pro with the white balance tool and that works very well and I"m not such a CC specialist. I also work with a sony xr520 and somethimes a fx1000 and I can quite easily match all 3 camera's up. Only with dslr I need to take care a bit more and also film as flat as possible.

Hi

Do not use the factory presets. I just checked the parameters for preset 8 and it will give you a very flat picture with Black set to Stretch, low sharpness (-4) and dull colors (Color Gain -20).

Try PANALOK2

Gamma: 2
Knee: L
Black: P
Ped: -4
Set: -2
HDF: M
CMX: 2
CGN: 6
RGN: 8
GGN: 11
BGN: 12

All other parameters set to 0.

Try to change Gamma to 1 or Normal depending on contrast in scenes. Adjust Ped and Set up to 0 if the picture is too dark, positive numbers might give flat out picture. Set black to Middle or Stretch to get more details in the shadows.

I use this preset very often with the above parameters as a starting point. I can then do adjustments in post if something isn't as I expect.

Good luck!

Regards,

/Bo

I think pretty much everyone who upgraded to the A1 had this experience. The camera ships with a very bland preset and it's designed to be tweaked to have the look you want. Take a look at this post and the thread it points to.
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xh-series-hdv-camcorders/498313-help-me-get-look-my-a1.html#post1667364

A couple posts down, I attached one of my favorite presets.

Don't give up.

I've been shooting for years with a very slightly modified TrueColor preset. Off the truck, that preset is incredibly bland, maybe more so than the factory preset . . . by design. The original author of the preset figured out that it gives the most color information possible so that in post I can push it around quite a bit. In post, I white balance if necessary and do all color grading; this, on Cineform intermediate files. I'm always very pleased with how even a simple S-shaped gamma curve makes the footage pop. Add in saturation, if appropriate, and push the colors around...beautiful!

$0.02,
Steve