Any comments, maybe on content?

T

I enjoyed the video. It definitely was not boring and your shots were nicely done. If that's the worse this camera can do...wow!

Really useful to see this to see what the A1 can do in SD in an office environment. It gives a good benchmark - particularly knowing it was used with "out of the box" settings. I guess this was actually shot in SD rather than down-converted in camera / in editing?

I did a bit of video level tweaking and subtle sharpening just out of interest, and I can see that the video is going to look really vibrant. I appreciate deeply having some footage to play with before deciding to purchase this camera. A lot of footage posted on this site has had a considerable degree of post-production or is shot in unusual conditions (because you'd want to see the absolute best it can do) so it's great to see what the camera might do in a "typical" situation with available light, and in SD (I've got a pretty good idea what its HD performance is like!).

The only thing I'd at all fault is nothing to do with the pictures or sound: it's the commentary, which uses passive language throughout - putting a bit of a downer on the whole thing. It took me a few minutes to work this out. I know it's nothing to do with sound and pictures, but funnily enough, it does affect the overall impact of the thing. Hope that's useful feedback to give to whoever wrote the narration. Great to see all the technology in the business, by the way - and it would have been fun to see samples of the complete game creation process rather than just bits of it (but appreciate you're confined to what's actually happening in the duration of that shoot, and I thought you presented a great sequence).

Very Nice video especially the first shots

I've been shooting hours of footage for my kids' basketball league with my new A1. I'm presenting a short video for the awards ceremony next week, and presently trying to come up with a way to cull all of that footage down to 5 minutes of screen time.

Today I played around with rotoscoping some A1 footage. I first down-rezzed to 1280x720, and worked with the square pixels in After Effects to roto a few dozen frames. Details on the process (and low-rez Flash version) are on my blog site here: http://www.brownland.org/blog/2007/03/21/rotoscoping-in-after-effects/

Here's the 720p WMV file (22 seconds, 15MB): http://www.brownland.org/video/roto1.wmv

Enjoy,
Brian Brown
BrownCow Productions

My first footage with the A1. Shot in 1080 60i, most with factory defaults. Boosted contrast a bit in post.

http://www.ftcvideo.com/VIDEOSAMPLES/HD.wmv

My first footage with the A1. Shot in 1080 60i, most with factory defaults. Boosted contrast a bit in post.

http://www.ftcvideo.com/VIDEOSAMPLES/HD.wmv

Looks a lot nicer than my footage from my Digital 8 taken just after 9/11...

How did the A1 hold up in the middle of no where? Any issues in the field? I have been really impressed with the battery life so far... Any things you learned that do work or don't work? Was it as rural as the footage looked? Very nice footage btw...

How did the A1 hold up in the middle of no where? Any issues in the field? I have been really impressed with the battery life so far... Any things you learned that do work or don't work? Was it as rural as the footage looked? Very nice footage btw...

Well, from my perspective Yellowstone is not "the middle of no where". I've had my VX-2000s on the top of 16K' mountains with no way out but an airplane! :-)

The shoot was really very tame. The hot springs were shot right from a tourist walkway (although I did drop the durn lens cap there!). We did a couple hikes on snow and pulled the camera gear in a mountaineering sled. I like that a lot better than a backpack. Less load on my back and typically easier/quicker access to the gear. The temps were mild with lows in the mornings around 20F and highs during the day in the mid 40s.

What did I learn? Not much really because I've done so much shooting with other cameras in similar, or worse, environments. The A1 didn't have a single issue the entire trip. We reviewed the footage at night on a portable DVD player and my laptop (once it was captured).

Ah, there was one thing . . . I can't reliably hand-hold the A1 at full zoom without ending up with too much motion (at least for my eye). I can hand-hold my VX-2000s at full zoom. There are probably several reasons for this:

1) Longer zoom on the A1.
2) HD vs. SD
3) It seems to me that the OIS on the Sonys is better than the A1.

I'm really impressed with the quality of footage you were able to get of the fast action with HDV. May I ask what camera settings you had? Interlaced or Progressive, etc? Would love to hear? Great example of rotoscoping.. I'll have to experiment on my own! Thanks.

Thanks!

I shot in 30f mode for the footage, default preset, and 0db gain. Progressive frames are really the only way to go for roto work. Fast-moving subjects will blur, of course, which is why I used a healthy dose of feathering on my masks. Plus, I could be a little sloppier with my masks with more feathering. I might try to dial the feathering down a bit on the next render and see how it looks with cleaner edges.

Hope this helps,
Brian Brown

Boy that's great. Thanks for the info and tips. Do you happen to remember what shutter speed you were set on? I am just really impressed with how the HDV handled the action. When I see sports shots like this it really eases my fears that I will see artifacting. Thanks for the help!

You're quite welcome for the info. The shutter was 1/60th. Anything less would strobe badly with the action. I would have loved to shoot higher, but kept bumping up against low apertures. The zoom on the A1 loses light as it goes into telephoto and can start under-exposing pretty quick.

Indoor sports like b-ball and volleyball are perhaps the worst to try to shoot smooth action with, because gyms are usually lit horribly. I also found that 6db of gain to be too noisy for my taste, but some users don't mind it.

I learned a LOT by shooting several hours of tape this way. I'm sure that the A1 is not the ideal camera for this type of action (steeping zoom mentioned above, tough to focus with EVF and LCD, and you can't zoom and focus at the same time). But, all in all, I'm very pleased with the various footage I shot.

HTH,
Brian

720P clip from my short film. Compression really degraded the quality but oh well, you get the idea.

http://www.citizencine.com/films/celestie/remember_web.mov

Marlon, once again you guys are great. I love it just the way it looks. Your editing skills are super. I love the way you take a simple shot an turn it into a fascinating image. WOW.

Very nice! Great to see what this camera can do with the right person behind it.

Two today...shot at dawn in Kirkland, WA

Early in the morning, no body is moving. the nature is simply out there.
So carm.... Very nice.

Those are cool shots Steve! Very nice! I did not realize that Kirkland looked like that...

Thanks for posting them!
~Gabriel

Hello everyone! I'm looking to share my clips with everyone on these boards but I don't have the hosting available to me. I remember reading sometime back about hosting clips on DVinfo's server (media.dvinfo.net) but my email was never responded to.

Thanks!

I do not think it's available at the momene, write an email to Chris. Here is link,
http://www.guitarsmagazine.ru/read.php?girls-list

Oleg you are very naughty.

Hello everyone! This is my first (and so far, only) project I've done with my A1. It came on a Tuesday, and we had to shoot the next day so I didn't really have time to get used to the camera just yet.

Everything was shot on the A1 except for the on-ride footage. This was a class assignment for my Documentary Filmmaking class. There are still some things that need to be cleaned up (like fix some music cues, and re-record the voiceovers)

I'm interested in what you guys think!

http://www.adster.net/videos/coastingforkids.html (60mb, 7:19)

I have to admit to only scanning it because I don't have the time right now to watch it through. I will later, though. Initial impressions are that it looks like a nice piece. Colors were very saturated, what preset did you use?

The sound is distorting a little, is that in the original?

I'll add some more thoughts later. Thanks for sharing.

I have to admit to only scanning it because I don't have the time right now to watch it through. I will later, though. Initial impressions are that it looks like a nice piece. Colors were very saturated, what preset did you use?

The sound is distorting a little, is that in the original?

I'll add some more thoughts later. Thanks for sharing.

The preset I used was the original VIVIDRGB that weas posted in the preset thread. I do believe there have been several updates to the preset since, but I used the original one.

The audio was recorded using a combo of a Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic and a Sennheiser EW100 Wireless lav system. This camera is a little louder then my old Sony A1, so the mic levels were set a little higher then I wanted and a bit of clipping occurred. But hey - it's all a learning experience!

PS, I'm starting to want the Letus more and more each time I see your footage...

Nice :)

I would recommend you use the latest VIVIDRGB because it doesn't have any color cast and it is as intense as what you are using.

Yeah, there's something special about using a 35mm adapter on the camera. I haven't shot with the stock lens for over two weeks!

just got the cam last week and went out in the yard shot some flowers etc.. no tripod yet :( any suggestions on a tripod?

http://download.yousendit.com/3983AB652B12FA5F


-Sam~!

Purdy.

What were you shooting (60i, 30f, or 24f)? I noticed some slight blur from some of the shots either because of slowed down interlaced footage or slowed down progressive and you NLE generating some intermediate frames... If you use After Effects for footage that is slowed down it can generate some really authentic looking interpolation of frames...

Were you using a preset or or did you just do a levels / curves adjustment?

Really nice looking though...

Yea man some of those clips were slowed down in vegas. Thanks for the tip I'll try After FX next time I slow-mo footage.. this is my first time working with hdv. as for the settings I shot in 24f with the ND on 1/6 and 1/32 for some shots and the presets were vividrgb and a modified version of naturalo.

-Sam~!

ahh forgot to mention i dropped a MB on all the clips i think it was the buffalo preset.

-Sam~!

It's nice. I like it. Good DOF shots too. God I can't wait to get this camera. XD

I took this a while ago but just came across it. It's part of a timelapse.

So, if you're like me, having bought the XHA1 as your first prosumer camcorder, after extensively shooting with consumer Sonys (a couple of TRVs and the odd FX1), then this is what you should expect to get at your first real testdrive...

This also served as a testdrive for my FCS-workflow.

http://www.rogepost.com/n/0039654355

My A1 arrives on Monday. - Can't wait! Was this straight out of the box? It seems to look a little soft in the colors and contrast which is what I understand the standard settings reflect - or did you use one of the posted presets?

I did use some of the presets (I think it was the first four + panalook) which were mixed together with the standard looks. Everything was filmed in Manual modus and I think sometimes the autofocus was on. Today, I went through most of the presets from the preset thread, also today I used -3dB and different shutterspeeds (1/500 and 1/2000) and f-stops (6.7 and 3.4). I did this so I can watch them later tonight on an LCD-TV.

I noticed that a lot of footage had grain to spare, so I also switched off the Auto Gain Control. I hope the images will be better now.

perfect MOOOOOD :)

Nice! Looking good.

thats looks like one of the CG shots in my movie

I'm looking for ET flying accross on the bicycle.. he's gotta be in there somewhere. Looks good.

I was bored at home so I put together some video of my daughter and myself for fun. 24f sd edited in vegas

http://www.mayosproductions.com/videos/24PTEST.wmv

Wow, camera shoots great SD also!

Wow, camera shoots great SD also!

Yeah It's great!

It's not much, and the quailty is pretty bad (You Tube), but never-the-less... My first contribution to the "sample clips" page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYB0e4FyDZ0

Stacy Dudley

...Wow...

I really hope you were on drugs when making this video because if you weren't you have an insanely trippy mind. lol.

Well I know what video to show my stoner friends. XP

A couple of pleasant evenings recently... couldn't resist trying out the new XH-A1 - back yard shots plus a few of the locale..
Still learning about how much I can modify things - but used VIVIDRGB for most shots. Hand held shots were hard - should've taken the tripod...
http://web.mac.com/rossdjones/iWeb/Movies/Spring.html
Comments welcomed..
Rgds, Ross.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Access:
Username: Guest
Password: Movies
Size: 83.2MB
Type: QT (H.264)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's asking me for a username / password...? IE 7.0...

Ah, good point..!

User: Guest
P/W: Movies

Sorry about that..!

Rgds, Ross.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Its a big file... But it looks really nice!

Looks like you live in a cool area. Its very nice looking!

I am impressed how well you can hold the camera stable! I have the hardest time with freehand..

Cool stuff, keep it up!
~Gabriel

Its a big file... But it looks really nice!

Looks like you live in a cool area. Its very nice looking!

I am impressed how well you can hold the camera stable! I have the hardest time with freehand..

Cool stuff, keep it up!
~Gabriel


Might try the spider brace... Reasonably cheap $69...


Looks like good stuff man... I really like the VIVID RGB preset... One thing I seem to have noticed with the A1 is that the footage overall seems to be flat... In post I usually make a brightness / contrast adjustment to really push the color envelope almost to the sureal point but not crossing it... Just my two cents...

...Wow...

I really hope you were on drugs when making this video because if you weren't you have an insanely trippy mind. lol.

Well I know what video to show my stoner friends. XP

Believe it or not, I take that as a very big compliment! Thank you.

NO, I don't do drugs. I am a drummer in a band and when I got my A1, I told my guitar player I would like to use her as my Guinea Pig for my first test video. I had another song in mind but this is the one she chose. When I think of Timothy Leary, I can't help but think of all the 60's acid trip stuff so I took extra time in post to try and achieve that feel. The feedback I have received thus far (family, friends, coworkers, etc.) leads me to believe I managed to pull it off.

As far as the "footage" goes, I am rather embarrassed to post the link here on this site because of all the great video footage I have seen from everyone else. The "extremely" compressed You Tube footage looks horrible but since I don't have any other site to post my footage to (at this time), I decided to go ahead and link what I have.

I have never used a camera like this before so I really don't do it justice. All the settings were straight out of the box. I used this video as a learning tool to get familiar with the cameras functions, etc. I can't wait to get into the custom presets, etc. Not just yet though. I have to become a lot more familiar with shooting good video first.

Until now I have only used small camcorders in automatic mode. I didn't even understand what it means to "white balance"! Even after going through every part of the manual and studying everything in it, I was quite overwhelmed when I actually went to shoot. I really started to think I bought way too much camera for my needs. So... I have a LOT to learn yet but thanks to the information I have gained so far here on DVi, I am excited to continue my painful yet pleasureful journey into my video hobby.

Honestly, I should have just taken up guitar or keyboards. I didn't realize learning how to use a camera was like learning a new instrument! I have definitely gained a new respect for those who do this for a living.

Stacy