I highly recommend that you initialize your SD card in the camera.

This is preferred over initializing it in your computer as the SD card will be properly formatted. Your computer may (or may not) initialize the card in the proper format.

This is described on page 128 of the XL H1 manual (English Version).

This process will erase any and all data on your SD Card.

1. Turn on your XL H1, by setting the Power Wheel to "VCR/Play".

2. Set the Tape\Card Swith to "Card".

3. Open the Menu (by pressing the Menu Button).

4. Select "Card Operations".

5. Select "Initialize".

6. Select "Execute".

7. Select "Yes" in the confirmation screen.

8. Wait for the initialization to complete.

9. Then remove your SD card and insert it into your computers SD Card Reader's slot.

10. Then, using standard computer procedures, access the SD Card, create a new Directory named "PRESET".

(I will be happy to describe the "standard computer procedures", if requested.)

11. Then copy your Custom Presets to the "PRESET folder.

12. When the flashing light stops, you can then remove your SD Card and re-insert it into your camera.

13. You may then choose to copy up to 6 of your favorite Custom Presets into the internal memory positions of your XL H1.

14. When done, be sure to restore the "Tape\Card" switch to "Tape" for normal camera operation.

Hi again!
The shoot went flawlessly (besides a little tape problem) ... and it was absolutely no problem to use an RS-MMC card "formatted" on the PC (well it was pre-formatted anyways) - of course I meant to write "PRESET", sorry - my bad.
The "PANALOOK" preset was really great (I fine tuned it a bit according to personal taste) and provided the image tweaking I was looking for - thx a bunch especially for this! ;)
So if anyone has an (RS)MMC card lying around: it can be used as well as the SD card standard is defined as being compatible with these smaller (slower) cards....

Cheers,
-Sören

Hi,
is there any known explanation why some of the presets (the
first seven of A.C.) have 40 bytes and the rest have 39 bytes?

Felix

As some of you guys know, after having tested the Canon XH-A1 for a couple of weeks I am now giving the fixed Sony V1E another chance. Putting its own problems aside, I love its vivid colours and sharp look without too much EE. Hence the question: did anyone succeede to aproximate that kind of picture with an XH preset? If so, could you please post the settings?

If somebody did try but couldn't do it, please share your experience as well...TIA!

has anyone attempted to make a PRESET for a Sony PD170 ?? (or PD150, VX2100, VX2000 etc)

(sorry -- but this is for the XHA1, not sure if this matters...)

Can you edit .cpf files outside the camera using a word processor, notepad , etc., or can you only do this the XL-H1 or XH-A1.

Thanks.
Stphen Cannon

Yes you can edit them using this nifty program designed specifically for the XHA1: http://www.slashcam.de/artikel/Aktionen/XHTuner---slashCAM--freeware-tool-for-finetuning-the-Canon-XH-A1-and-XH-G1.html

I have written two programs, which can edit the custom presets. One for the
XLH1 and one for the XH A1, either in a mac and a windows version. They
can roughly convert from the XLH1 presets to the XH presets and vice versa.
If you want to download and use it, it´s on your own risk. The software is
beta and provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. Since I have never
made an announcement in the XLH1 forum, I don´t know whether anyone had
tested the XLH1 Editor under realtime. (The XH Editor was first developed)
The link is:

http://www.felixtheissen.com/apps/Web-Site/custom%20presets%20editors%20for%20mac%20and%20win.html

If someone uses or had used theese apps for the XLH1, I would appreciate
feedback, how it works, because I never had this camera for testing.

Regards - Felix

P.S. There is a XHL1 Editor which generates XLH1 presets in it´s output file
and there is a XH Editor which generates XH A1/G1 presets in it´s output file.
If you download, be sure to download the appropriate app for the camcorder.
As far as I know the XLH1 camcorder itself can not read the presets from the
XH A1/G1 camcorder and vice versa.

That really looks cool Felix! I don't have time to try it now, but I will download it.

Thanks---Mike

Thanks for the info on the cpf editors Steven and Mike

Best.

Stephen Cannon

Great tool, thanks a lot.

Having trouble importing these .cpf files from the Card to the Camera.
I can copy these presets to the Smart Card from my laptop,d.

???

how do you that? how do you connect the card to your laptop?

My laptop has an SD card slot. Upon inserting the SD card, the laptop sees the card and you can work with it just as if it were a floppy disk or a USB flash memory stick, etc.

Some Epson printers also have multiple ports including an SD card port that a computer without an SD port could use to get to an SD card.

how do you connect the card to your laptop?With an inexpensive USB card reader -- Andy, see this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=607747

Specifically my post here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=607747&postcount=3

Hope this helps,

Hey Chris,

I should have contacted you earlier regarding my preset (16). Could you delete that. I haven't used that in a very long time, in fact when I sent you that preset the white balance was out of whack. Now I don't use any preset at all and just use warm cards. I get a much more natural look.

Here's the DSC Chart 1:1 balance I came up with

for 24F
gam 1
kne h
blk s
ped -4
set -4
shp-nr2 users choice
cmx n
cgn 1
cph 0
rgn 0
ggn 1
bgn 1
rgm 5
rbm 3
grm -4
gbm 4
brm -2
bgm 2

Nick, what do you mean by DSC chart 1:1? I guess you mean that it matches the DSC chart with these settings? And the KNEE you have set to HIGH?

Floris,

Yeah that's what I was going for. It's from the thread were someone was trying to match the JVC settings to a DSC chart. I was surprised by the different settings as well, but it was all based off of a vectorscope waveform, and the results were repeatable. I don't necessarily believe that this is the only way to get a one to one result, but it's the way I did it. I have a different setting for 60i that I need to post as well. Take a look at it I've been very happy wit the results.

Nick,

I have a different setting for 60i that I need to post as well.

I know you are a busy man but if you'll ever find the time to post your settings for 60i I'd be forever thankful.

Here's what I have, please note there are a number of ways to get this similar look (I'll be doing another test in a couple of months after I send the camera inside for routine maintenance.)

GAM 2
KNE H
BLK P
PED 3
Set 4
SHp 0
HDF L
DHV -9
COR -9
NR1 0
NR2 0
CMX N
CGN -1
CPH 1
RGN 4
GGN 6
BGN 6
RGM 9
RBM 0
GRM-3
GBM 4
BRM -1
BGM 2

Hope this helps!

Hope this helps!

It surely does! Thank you very much, Nick!

Chris,

Can you help with this. After importing the CPF's into the PRESET
folder on my SD card and trying to read them from Card to Camera - I
get 'DATA ERR' showing on the screen. On my card they show up as
PRESET01.CPF PRESET16.CPF etc etc and they seem to be Unix
Executable File format.

I have no problems doing camera to card saving.

Thanks in advance.

Dear Henrik,

Where did you format the SD memory card? Was it formated in your computer, or on the camera?

I believe it may work better if you format the card on your camera, then insert it into your computer and then download the custom presets in the "PRESET" folder.

Caution: If you reformat your card, you will lose everything on your card, including any pictures that you have saved. If you can, offload them first.

Dan,

No it was formatted already I believe, from the factory, I didn't format
the SD at all. Had to problems loading presets from camera to card at
all.

Dear Henrik,

If you can afford to lose all the information on your SD card, I would format it in your camera.

Then I would take it to your computer and create a "PRESET" folder, if you do not already have one.

Then load the custom presets to the "PRESET" folder.

Be sure they are named exactly as provided in this thread with a ".cpf" file extension.

An example would be PRESET01.CPF

From Chris Hurd:

You've got to have a folder on that card called PRESET -- just like that, all caps, and in the root directory of the card. All of the CPF files go in that folder. If for some reason you're still having trouble with it, I've got a trick that will help you out but it's a longer process. Try creating the PRESET folder first, and if that doesn't do the job, let me know.
__________________
CH

Dan,

Thanks alot. After reading yours and the manual, I loaded the card
and first initialized it and then hit complet init. Obviously it erased
the only PRESET named folder on there. Then again make new folder
PRESET and then I downloaded the (say) PRESET01.CPF to the desktop
and then into the folder. Tried both card and tape setting on right-hand
side of camera (A1) but still got DATA ERR showing in my viewer.

Nothing seem wrong with the card as I can take photos from the camera
no probs.

Where do I go wrong?

Appreciate any advise.

Dear Henrik,

Just to be clear, did you initialize the SD memory card in the XL H1?

If so, all of the steps that you listed seem to be ok.

I welcome suggestions from others.

Try another SD card to see if it duplicates the problem.

Dan,

Yes it was initialized in my A1, will try another card as Chris
suggested.

Thanks yr help.

Dear Henrik,

You mentioned that you formatted the card in your A1.

I had assumed that you were using an XL H1.

The custom presets for the XL H1 and XH A1/XH G1 are different.

Please download and use the XH A1 presets from the XH A1 forum on DVInfo.net.

As a new owner of an XH A1 I appreciate the fact that there are so many presets already setup for download. However, I wish to learn more about how each preset affects the image appearance and quality.

I understand the basics about gamma, color gain, black stretch and such, but was wondering if there is an online source that explains each setting in a bit more detail . . . until I get up to speed.

Here is one "White Paper" for the XL H1.

Note that the XH A1 uses different values, such as -9 to +9, however the principles are the same:

http://downloads.canon.com/cpr/software/video/XLH1_TotalImageControl.pdf

Here is another way to access more info on the XL H1:

http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/XLH1/download_library.shtml

Dan,

Thanks for politely kicking me over in another forum, I somehow never
picked up there actually existed one for the A1, and my apologies for not
being clear on model: XH A1. Still learned alot here though and hopefully
one day I'll be able to contribute, if not just a little.

Dear Henrik,

No problem at all, that is why we are here.

The XH A1/XH G1 Custom Presets are 40 bytes long while the original XL H1 presets are 39 bytes long.

Ahh, that could be why I got 'DATA ERR' from downloading XL H1
presets.. Anyhow, seem I already surfed the A1 forum before without
knowing, life is most wonderful when you are abit confused even for
a Newbee like me.

Thanks again for your help.

Dan,

All done and dusted. Thanks alot your help.

Dear Henrik,

You are most welcome.

I am happy it is now working for you.

Looking for procedure for importing the VIVID RGB preset on the XHA1 to the XLH1. Not sure what the steps are and now to use it. I have downloaded the XLH1 Editor for MAC. Do I just put the little card from the XHAI in my reader, then click on open Preset, then remove the card, and inset the XLHI card and go save preset? Is it as simple as that?

Sorry, but the XH A1 Custom Presets are different than the XL H1 Custom Presets.

You can not just take an XH A1 Custom Preset and load them into the XL H1.

For some guidance, see my posts in this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=81457

...but you'll have to work backwards from the steps I took there.

Well, I read that page and realized I might be getting in over my depth! :) Can I not take the XLH1 editor that I downloaded, load in the VIVID RGB from the preset I have on the XHA1 card and then remove the card and insert the card from the XLHI and click save on the My preset sidee of the application. Doesn't this application do the math that you outline in your page...or do you have any idea what the preset settings might be for achieving the VIVID RGB look on the XLH1? I am just after one preset at the moment. I just got my XLHI following the recent price drop. I have not yet tried the original XLH1 presets you have on this site. Do any of them look close to VIVID RGB. I might be happy with something that is close..

Tim

Hi Tim,
if you have downloaded the XLH1 Editor from my website it is possible to open a preset from the XH A1 (it shows a messages that it will convert the preset). It will be roughly converted then to a XLH1 preset (the math is similar to what i have read one year ago in this forum about the different preset schemes, though tweaking could be still necessary). If you save it then it will be saved as a XLH1 preset.

Felix

Wow, that's great Felix! I had no idea about that capability. Thanks for clarifying this -- much appreciated,

Well, I thought this might just be the case...any idea how close the very popular VIVID RGB might be?
Tim

I tried this but it doesn't show up in the list as preset30.cpf

I tried this but it doesn't show up in the list as preset30.cpf

Hi Tim,

the names of the presets must be from PRESET01.CPF till PRESET20.CPF

Felix

What if any existing preset is closest to the Vivid RGB available for the XL1 H1. I am now out in the field and can no longer edit my presets. I do have the presets from Chris's list loaded onto disk....but which one to use...The camera default is pretty bland when viewed on a portable Ikan LCD which I have hooked up via an S-video cable.

Tim

Does anyone know of some "safe" settings to use when recording on the XH-A1 if you want to apply a filmic look in post?

By "safe" I mean minimising the possibility of clipping or colour aberrations. And recording the video data in such a way that all the data needed for generating the filmic look in post is recorded.

Steven Dempsey has a preset that he designed around using the Letus Extreme / Ultimate - very flat image with neutral color tone that is designed to be manipulated in post.

I don't recall the name of it off my head though - just have it stored.

mike

It's called VIVID RGB. Just search for it.

By the way, this is the Canon XL preset thread. Wrong forum for Canon XH.