Kaku Ito
September 21st, 2006, 11:31 AM
There were a couple of reviews on October issue of Video Alpha magazine, one by the same person who did the resolution test on HVX200.
Hiromi Miyata mentions;
Unlike XLH1, A1/G1 is normally shaped camcorder which is requested to broadcast users (as second camera) in Japan. Canon seems to think 1440 x 1080 pixel CCDs instead of their newly developed full resolution (1920 x 1080) CMOS for more sensitivities as prosumer camcorder. As 1/3 CCD equipped camcorder, G1 holds the highest resolution in the market. Horizontal resolution falls to over 800 lines and even displaying on BVM-D24, the resolution is assured.
Some smear on headlights of cars in the night appearing but not as bad as earlier HDV camcorders. The wide angle is achieved at 4.5 mm and 72mm threaded wide conversion lens will be available.
The autofocus and auto iris features are migrated from Canon’s popular digital cameras and they work very smoothly. It cleverly holds its brightness even with some spotted lights coming in at night shooting, resulting very subtle atmosphere.
The stabilizer is optical which is Canon’s forte, taking the theory to take full advantage of 1440 x1080 resolution. Also, two ND filters are equipped to achieve high frequency MTF for expressing the depth of the air (sorry, this part is beyond my knowledge).
The overall operation feel is improved over XLH1, but the manual zoom ring could be improved more.
The viewfinder is improved over XLH1, The resolution of the panel is close to the full resolution, which is leading other brands, the peaking scheme works better, it works great in outdoor and the addition of the magnification switch make the whole thing improved a lot. But wether it is set to display fully or safety display, the left/right area is little cut off so be cautioned.
Gradation:
very nicely curved. The auto mode seems to be set to shoot hair darker to avoid clipping white. Knee curve seems to be very smooth and natural.
Color:
Very good because of 3CCD prism. Similar to camcorders’ current trend, green is especially good, and it expresses leaves’ subtle color differences very well. It seems to be shfted a little to magenta, making the red looking little yellowish.
Resolution:
It appears that the resolution is brashed up from XLH1. But the resolution on the optical portion is high, ND filters should be used for outdoor shooting otherwise it ends up loosing the sharpness. and stay around F2.8 to F5.6.
Hiromi Miyata mentions;
Unlike XLH1, A1/G1 is normally shaped camcorder which is requested to broadcast users (as second camera) in Japan. Canon seems to think 1440 x 1080 pixel CCDs instead of their newly developed full resolution (1920 x 1080) CMOS for more sensitivities as prosumer camcorder. As 1/3 CCD equipped camcorder, G1 holds the highest resolution in the market. Horizontal resolution falls to over 800 lines and even displaying on BVM-D24, the resolution is assured.
Some smear on headlights of cars in the night appearing but not as bad as earlier HDV camcorders. The wide angle is achieved at 4.5 mm and 72mm threaded wide conversion lens will be available.
The autofocus and auto iris features are migrated from Canon’s popular digital cameras and they work very smoothly. It cleverly holds its brightness even with some spotted lights coming in at night shooting, resulting very subtle atmosphere.
The stabilizer is optical which is Canon’s forte, taking the theory to take full advantage of 1440 x1080 resolution. Also, two ND filters are equipped to achieve high frequency MTF for expressing the depth of the air (sorry, this part is beyond my knowledge).
The overall operation feel is improved over XLH1, but the manual zoom ring could be improved more.
The viewfinder is improved over XLH1, The resolution of the panel is close to the full resolution, which is leading other brands, the peaking scheme works better, it works great in outdoor and the addition of the magnification switch make the whole thing improved a lot. But wether it is set to display fully or safety display, the left/right area is little cut off so be cautioned.
Gradation:
very nicely curved. The auto mode seems to be set to shoot hair darker to avoid clipping white. Knee curve seems to be very smooth and natural.
Color:
Very good because of 3CCD prism. Similar to camcorders’ current trend, green is especially good, and it expresses leaves’ subtle color differences very well. It seems to be shfted a little to magenta, making the red looking little yellowish.
Resolution:
It appears that the resolution is brashed up from XLH1. But the resolution on the optical portion is high, ND filters should be used for outdoor shooting otherwise it ends up loosing the sharpness. and stay around F2.8 to F5.6.