I didn't realise that was how the lens was mounted - thanks! From the photos I've seen, It looks like a beast when attached.

Do you ever use the adaptive setting in Neat (initial window)? I don't always and to be honest haven't particularly seen any difference in the results. I'll do some tests at some point, maybe.

EDIT: Just ordered one of these lenses, so will try it out first hand. Hope it's not too intimidating-looking!

Hi guys, interesting thread about the presets. When Steven Dempsey showed up here with his clever presets, because we shoot stuff for archives
and will use some for current productions, we basically settled on VividRGB for outdoor shooting. But we loaded 5 total to use indoors etc.

With the A1 cam, I wrote our preset list on a small piece of cardboard and taped it to the rear of the cam battery. You just pop the battery compartment open to see the list and in what order. The A1S shows you what they are on its screens.

We're off topic with these adaptors, however.

I started with the HV20 about 7yrs ago and now have the Canon wide angle adaptors on all our A1-A1s, HV20 and HV40 cams, never take 'em off.

As said, the color tones and sharpness are great. I first thought the slight barrel distortion was a negative but you can use it to creative advantage
when framing. They change the way you shoot, especially indoors, because of the wider angle you tend to position the tripod in different areas
as you might not have to pan as much to cover the scene. I haven't seen any light loss.

And the lens *are* heavy, you have to rebalance the cams on the tripods. I put a strip of thin white tape on the lower left side of the A1/S cams
with balance marks for each position so it's quicker to set up.

And there's no front thread on these Canon WA lens for any filters. On a review somewhere I read the front glass is stronger than normal
to resist scratches and having the lens hood helps protect it. We always carefully clean them the night before, blower brush any grit off first,
then use a microfibre cloth. Comes with front and back lens caps.

The smaller HV20/30/40 Canon WA adaptor has no lens hood, but that's another thread.

I'm surprised this offer is still available .. Canon WD-H72 72mm 0.8x Wide Angle Converter Lens 1724B001 B&H


Cheers.

Good tip with the info on the battery in the XHA1. It seems a bit of a silly thing that you can't see the names of the presets on the LCD.

That B&H adaptor looks a good deal for those who live in the US. If I did, I'd have definitely gone for that one!

Do you ever use the adaptive setting in Neat (initial window)? I don't always and to be honest haven't particularly seen any difference in the results. I'll do some tests at some point, maybe.

Yes, I set NV to "adaptive." The documentation doesn't offer much explanation other than to emphasize that "adaptive" will 'adapt' the profile to different parts of a scene, depending on noise.

EDIT: Just ordered one of these lenses, so will try it out first hand. Hope it's not too intimidating-looking!

Haha. Well, it is. Did you get a similar deal in the UK as is offered at B&H, as Allan linked below? Man, what a steal. EDIT: Ah, guess you didn't. Sorry.

Hi guys, interesting thread about the presets. When Steven Dempsey showed up here with his clever presets, because we shoot stuff for archives
and will use some for current productions, we basically settled on VividRGB for outdoor shooting. But we loaded 5 total to use indoors etc.

He and his work were the reasons I got my A1 in the first place! VividRGB cooked the reds a little too much for my liking, but that beautiful preset sure stirred up interest.

Steven, thanks for the point about the adaptive. I'm assuming by scene they mean different regions of the same image, unless they mean different frames within a sequence.

Looking forward to getting the lens. I bought a used one but it was basically the same price as the B&H - from where I am, by the time you add shipping and import duty it's much more expensive to buy the B&H so it's all good. Never had any problems with used lenses so trust this will be as good. Thanks so much for your detailed info - particularly about how it mounts, as that's not something I've read about anywhere else. Everyone seems to say they leave the lens on full-time.

I agree about VividRGB - nice but the dark areas of the pictures and some of the colours were something I increasingly struggled with in post as I got more experienced at knowing what I wanted. Frequently it would end up just looking murky. With the "stretched" presets the colours really pop when you correct them, and since using them I haven't felt the need to alter saturation at all. Taking a flat image and effectively altering or discarding the lower end of that in post is something that's counter-intuitive (to me). It shouldn't work that well given the bit-depth of the HDV codec but it works superbly.

I also have the WD-H72 for one of the cameras, and love it. However, you CAN use auto focus with it, just not the Instant auto focus. This is something I didn't realize for a long time.


There are two autofocus settings available, and the wide angle adapter blocks the sensor for the Instant auto focus, but not the slower Normal auto focus. The Normal autofocus is a through the lens feature. The Instant AutoFocus has an external sensor. See page 35 of the A1 manual.

I also have the WD-H72 for one of the cameras, and love it. However, you CAN use auto focus with it, just not the Instant auto focus.

That's even better! Thank you for the manual page reference too. Really looking forward to getting mine now!

Re the WD-H72, I bought it from B&H at that price and it was still much cheaper than buying new in the UK even with all the extra tax etc. Brilliant lens.

Re presets, gosh I feel like a neanderthal but I just chose a good looking one, rigged my A1 up to a calibrated screen, dragged the camera to an open door (most of what I do is outdoors), tweaked lots of the preset's settings (and yes, having done lots of research into what they all did and the variety of presets out there) till the screen looked the same as what my eyes saw and have used it ever since. I like it.

Part of the issue is a) like studio recording I need to get a feel for what I'm shooting as I'm doing it, not imagining what it will look like after post production; b) I just don't have the patience OR skill to colour grade EVERYTHING in post (also I'd rather concentrate on the creative element); c) never trust anyone on this forum who says this is the ONLY way ;-)

I love the A1, I think it is an excellent camera and combined with the my HV40 does pretty much everything I need. Shame about the whole interlaced business though, a complete pain sometimes.

Re presets, gosh I feel like a neanderthal but I just chose a good looking one, rigged my A1 up to a calibrated screen, dragged the camera to an open door (most of what I do is outdoors), tweaked lots of the preset's settings till the screen looked the same as what my eyes saw and have used it ever since. I like it.

Pretty much sums it up. No one in my audience ever asked, gee, what camera settings did you use? Bummer that you didn't shoot with greater latitude. OR What NLE did you use to edit? But everyone says it looks great.

If your clients still pay, you can still drag your knuckles... ;)

Just looked up the B&H price with all taxes etc - great deal definitely compared with the UK. But I paid £115 for mine inc shipping so as long as it works I'll be happy. But US prices are amazing deals - always have been. Just hope my lens hasn't been thrashed! Great to hear from everyone that it's a good lens.

I set up my presets in exactly the same way as Geoffrey Cox originally, and have lived with either that or a pretty unmodified VividRGB until very recently. Part of the epiphany came from having to wrestle with footage that should have looked great but was difficult to get right - and then comparing it with the amazing images you can get from a DSLR. I'm looking at the presets to give me the best clean, recoverable image. It's a very specific requirement and I can totally understand why that might not be suitable for everyone. What I love is that these cameras can still deliver the goods in many situations - great sound, easy to use, designed for video (unlike a DSLR)!

I revisited this thread and was glad to see what was added to it.
So Mark, what is your final favorite preset on the A1? Would you mind posting the preset that you like the best? I ended up with a modification of the true color one, don't have the cam right here with me, but I'll post it soon, we could compare
thanks
Larry

Mark, I've tried what you suggested,

Sony Levels -> Sony Color Curves- convoluted kernel

amazing, this is the way to go.
I don't have neat, but will get it soon
Thanks for all the suggestion.
Also I appreciate Eric's tweaking of the true color preset.
I'm using sharpness at -3

Thanks again all of you.