Ken Sivaraman
January 29th, 2007, 01:08 PM
Hello all,
I just received my XH A1 this past friday... and WOW. That's all I can say.
I purchased a plethora of accessories for it (based on information available on this forum and from CanonUSA.com). Surprisingly, I found little to no information on this forum about the Hard Case HC-4200 from Canon, so I wanted to provide some information.
Being new to the prosumer DV arena, this is my first case for a camcorder, but rest assured, it's pretty awesome.
The HC-4200 seems to be a pretty rugged case from the outside. It has aluminium corners, and the inside is lined with hard foam. There are also 2 pretty solid latches which keep the case closed securely. Inside, you will find a pretty deep case, which allows for the storage of a lot more than just the camera. You can keep your charging accessories, video cables and more with room to spare, but YMMV. The storage area has a moveable divider, so you can organize your accessories as you see fit. Think of this lower portion of the case as being shaped like a tub with a moveable divider. On top of this, Canon provides a flat foam insert that sits on the edges of the tub. This foam insert is perfectly mated to the XH A1/G1's bottom footprint. There are 2 velcro straps that allow you to attach the camera directly to this insert. The advantage to this is that when you remove the camera from the case, the foam insert is attached to the bottom to avoid any nicks, etc. and provides direct access to the storage in the tub. On the lid of the HC-4200, Canon provides two pouches to store extra batteries (very handy). And yes, even with the Sony eyecup (there are other threads that speak specifically about a Sony eyecup attachment that works perfectly with the A1/G1) attached to the XH A1, it fits perfectly (although you have to fold the eyecup onto itself). I doubt though that you could have an outboard microphone attached to the A1/G1 and still have it fit in this case. I would suspect that the outboard microphone would have to be removed in order to properly fit this case. Also, this case, which will likely be heavy once its fully loaded, comes with a padded shoulder strap to ease transportation.
In any event, I am very happy with this case, and I have no doubt that it will fit virtually any airplane overhead storage (puddle-jumpers may be an exception). Heck, it may even fit under your seat if you lay it sideways. I think its well worth the $339 I paid for it to protect my precious A1.
I hope this has been helpful.
-Ken
I just received my XH A1 this past friday... and WOW. That's all I can say.
I purchased a plethora of accessories for it (based on information available on this forum and from CanonUSA.com). Surprisingly, I found little to no information on this forum about the Hard Case HC-4200 from Canon, so I wanted to provide some information.
Being new to the prosumer DV arena, this is my first case for a camcorder, but rest assured, it's pretty awesome.
The HC-4200 seems to be a pretty rugged case from the outside. It has aluminium corners, and the inside is lined with hard foam. There are also 2 pretty solid latches which keep the case closed securely. Inside, you will find a pretty deep case, which allows for the storage of a lot more than just the camera. You can keep your charging accessories, video cables and more with room to spare, but YMMV. The storage area has a moveable divider, so you can organize your accessories as you see fit. Think of this lower portion of the case as being shaped like a tub with a moveable divider. On top of this, Canon provides a flat foam insert that sits on the edges of the tub. This foam insert is perfectly mated to the XH A1/G1's bottom footprint. There are 2 velcro straps that allow you to attach the camera directly to this insert. The advantage to this is that when you remove the camera from the case, the foam insert is attached to the bottom to avoid any nicks, etc. and provides direct access to the storage in the tub. On the lid of the HC-4200, Canon provides two pouches to store extra batteries (very handy). And yes, even with the Sony eyecup (there are other threads that speak specifically about a Sony eyecup attachment that works perfectly with the A1/G1) attached to the XH A1, it fits perfectly (although you have to fold the eyecup onto itself). I doubt though that you could have an outboard microphone attached to the A1/G1 and still have it fit in this case. I would suspect that the outboard microphone would have to be removed in order to properly fit this case. Also, this case, which will likely be heavy once its fully loaded, comes with a padded shoulder strap to ease transportation.
In any event, I am very happy with this case, and I have no doubt that it will fit virtually any airplane overhead storage (puddle-jumpers may be an exception). Heck, it may even fit under your seat if you lay it sideways. I think its well worth the $339 I paid for it to protect my precious A1.
I hope this has been helpful.
-Ken