Tony as a matter of policy, to be fair to our site sponsors they are the only dealers we discuss on this site. In the UK we recommend Production Gear in Hertfordshire. Thanks in advance.

As you've got both the V1 and XH-A1 I wonder if you could/have compared low light performance together.Well I had the V1 and A1 together for all of about 60 seconds, just barely enough time to take the photos I've posted in another thread.

Elsewhere in the V1 forum Steve Mullen mentions that he had the use of one (the same one Douglas Spotted Eagle had) to study for an evening in his hotel room. The next morning he brought it downstairs to hand off to Leigh Herman of Sony, who was about to pack it away, when I asked if I could quickly photograph it with the A1.

No doubt there will be an opportunity to compare the V1 and A1 in a variety of tests very soon.

Ah, I see. I saw the pics and put 2 n 2 together and made 5. :-)

Any info is always gratefully received...

TT

Chris

You comment that the lowlight performance of the G1/A1 is similar to the H1. is that based upon testing the cam or going from the specs?

thanks

If you are in LA this Saturday, we are having our H1 seminar at 9am and we will have an A1 or...a G1 for people to play with.

Jim Martin

does the viewfinder and/or LCD screen do underscan or do they crop like the other Canons?Bill, re: the image area coverage in either LCD viewinder is something like 95% or maybe a little less. There is a 90% action safe zone guide in the display menu, and when the guide is toggled on, it hugs the border of the visible image. Since it's a 90% action safe guide and since it's almost but not quite to the edge of the frame, that leads me to believe that the display is showing perhaps 95% of the total image area. In other words, nothing new here. Hope this helps,

Yeah, I kinda expected that. Not cool, but not a deal-breaker. Thanks for checking. So far that's the only thing I've found out about the A1 that I don't like. That puts it ahead of all the other 1/3" chip cameras so far.

Will there be a larger eyecup, like with the Sony Z1/V1? The EVF looks a bit uncomfortable compared to the one on other cameras.

One thing I forgot to ask...I've been shooting a documentary with a friend who has an XL2, and the damn thing turns itself off all the time. I'm wondering if these new Canons do the same thing and if so, is there any way to get in the menu and turn that off or make the camera stay on longer. With the XL2, you get a shot all ready, stand around until things are set, and the camera has switched off, and you have to rotate the dial all the way back to the off position, then back to manual and wait for it to fire up. That's the most annoying thing I've ever seen on a camera.

One thing I forgot to ask...I've been shooting a documentary with a friend who has an XL2, and the damn thing turns itself off all the time. I'm wondering if these new Canons do the same thing and if so, is there any way to get in the menu and turn that off or make the camera stay on longer. With the XL2, you get a shot all ready, stand around until things are set, and the camera has switched off, and you have to rotate the dial all the way back to the off position, then back to manual and wait for it to fire up. That's the most annoying thing I've ever seen on a camera.

Both the XL2 and the XLh1 have a menu option to tell the camera to put the tape heads on standby instead of turning off the camera. In this case there will be a slight delay when you hit record after standy instead of turning the camera on again. It is a safety mechanism to protect the heads.

Excellent--just like a "real" camera. That Sony V1 is going to have to really be something if they expect me to like it better than the Canon A1.

Dear Bill,

The Canon Standby mode works very well.

May I suggest that you also look in the manual for the "Standby" button.

If I remember correctly, if your camera has shutdown, you can press the Standby button to resume operation.

Sorry, but I am doing this from memory, and I welcome any corrections from other members.

The XL2 isn't my camera, but I'll check that out with the guy next time I use it. I've always thought there ought to be a way to turn that thing off.

Yes you can disable the auto standby mode in the XL2, XL H1, XH G1 and A1, and HV10.

And the GL2 as well... In fact I think that Canon has this auto-shutdown consumer thingy covered for a while now.

Hey, are you perchance the David Ferdinand who worked for Eagle Dolly and sold me a dolly and Trovato jib about a dozen years ago?

Chris, do you know if there will be a large rubber eyecup for the EVF, like with the Sony's? And you already checked if the EVF can be set to black and white?

No word on a larger eyecup from Canon. Perhaps there will be a third-party solution? The flip-out LCD can be set to B&W. The color in the EVF can be reduced, but it cannot go all the way to B&W... sorry. I checked this myself.