Hopefully these snapshots will give you a better idea of the size of the XH cams... in this case a G1, with the new wide angle adapter and lens hood attached (more about the adapter coming up in a separate thread). The Peter Garrett lookalike modeling the G1 in these photos is my good friend Mike Mount of Canon USA. Strike a pose, Mike! Click the pics to see 'em big.

Thanks for the great pictures! Looks like a nicely balanced camera.

perhaps it's the focal length of your lens, but that thing looks huge!

Chris,

Any chance you might get a chance to try (and maybe pictures) with a teleconverter?

Holy Crap! That Wide Angle Adapter is huge! No wonder it blocks the Instant Auto Focus sensor.

I have used the Century Optics .8x adapter on the H1 and it is nowhere near that big.....I am really surprised Canon engineered it like that but it looks cool. It definitely makes the A1/G1 start to look more like something out of "star wars" like the H1. Right Chris? :)

Is that a zoom-through?

The wide angle shots Chris did make it look bigger than it is, except for the first one. Looks about the size of a PD150 to me. How's the weight?

And, is that the standard lens hood? If so, that's nice that it attaches to the adapter.

I haven't heard but that has got to be a zoom through. .8x is pretty mild for a wide angle adapter but it lends to more easily being able to be a zoom through adapter. I am anxiously awaiting that "seperate" post about the wide angle adapter Chris promised.

AThe second picture almost makes it look shoulder-mounted!

I know it's an artifact of the wide-angle view (of the photo) and the flash shadow, but still!

True, .8X is mild, but better mild than more distortion, in my opinion. With the wide end of the Canon lens being 32.5mm (in "rea"l lens terms), the .8x gives you about 26mm. That's pretty good. The widest 35mm lens I've used was a 24mm, and it was wide enough for most anything I shot.

True, .8X is mild, but better mild than more distortion, in my opinion. With the wide end of the Canon lens being 32.5mm (in "rea"l lens terms), the .8x gives you about 26mm. That's pretty good. The widest 35mm lens I've used was a 24mm, and it was wide enough for most anything I shot.

I'm not complaining that it is mild. I am simply saying that most .7x - .8x adapter I have seen have been zoom through and the .5x and .6x have not. Nut sure that means anything decisive but as I said...I'm guessing the Canon .8x is zoom through.

Zoom through would be nice, but I could live with it if it's not. I have one on a DSR250 that is not zoom through, and I've used it successfully. I have a friend with a zoom through .7x on a PD170, and he leaves it on all the time. That would be handy.

Is that a zoom-through?Yes. It is full zoom through.

And, is that the standard lens hood?Nope, that particular hood is only for the WA adapter.

Of course the adapter adds some weight to the front of the XH which is already just slightly nose heavy to begin with. The 0.8x factor is somewhat mild and you have to determine for yourself if it's worth the extra cost, extra weight and losing the Instant AF function.

Any news on the price?

Price is $499 and yes that includes the lens hood.

Chris- The A1 just got here and our lens guy Stacy is throwing it up against the H1 as I write. By the way, Hellova wide angle......Jim

Chris- The A1 just got here and our lens guy Stacy is throwing it up against the H1 as I write. By the way, Hellova wide angle......Jim

Great news. Make sure you keep us updated! One thing I really want to know, is if the EVF can be switched to black and white? And the other thing being if there will be a larger rubber eyecup for the EVF... like with the Sony's. If those things are available, I will likely order one right away.

From what I've heard, this is just a XL-H1 without interchangeable lenses, a normal body (no shoulder-mount)... but the imaging technology is the same. And of course the professional jack-pack (which the G1 does have).

So please updated is with everything you know/find-out!

EVF can be switched to black and white?Unfortunately no -- only the flip-out LCD can be set to B&W. See http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=553942&postcount=67

If it's not a high resolution monitor, switching from color to B&W wouldn't make it any better, would it?

So how did the A1 perform Jim?

Since this WA has 72mm threads as does the XL H1, how well do you think it'll work with the H1?

Good to have some pics of the machine with a person for scale reasons.

My only point would be to perhaps re-shoot but not at a wideangle setting as taking pics with wideangles at fairly close range is notorious for distorting size of objects (near vs far) and relative size is exactly what we're trying to judge here......

This tends to be one reason why stills guys shoot head-n-shoulders shots with (classically) an 85mm-105mm focal length range (35mm..).

is the WA through Canon?

Any results yet from Birns & Sawyer?

perhaps re-shoot but not at a wideangle setting as taking pics with wideangles at fairly close range is notorious for distorting size of objects...Not possible for me to re-shoot, but no doubt there will be others who can provide similar photos in the coming weeks. I took these snapshots with a PowerShot Elph SD700 at full wide, which on that cam is about 35mm.

Being a busy Friday, our lens guy just started to get to play with the A1.....and then he went home for the day. Saturday, Greg Salmon was here for the seminar and we did have it on the 26" Panasonic and it looked real good but it was not a production model. It was the same unit I had 4 weeks ago so to be fair, when we get a production model, I think we'll know exactly what the numbers are and how close/same/better it is to the H1.

Jim Martin