New XA20 User Questions

[James Ratliff]

Received our new XA20 last week to replace the venerable HV20. This is my first prosumer camera and have a couple of questions.

Camera Settings

Manual - Record programs - Sports

Movie format AVCHD

Recording mode 28 Mbps LPCM (59.94P)

The audio is set - internal mic to channel 2 and the external NTG-1 connected to input 1 channel 1.

Audio output Channel 1&2.

Used the Canon import utility to copy the files from the San Disk Extreme Pro 32 GB card to the computer. Used Windows Media player (Windows 8 Pro) to view the clips. The video played but no audio. Tried Cyber Link Power DVD 13 with the same results. Opened the files in Adobe CS6 and both the audio and video played.

Is this problem related to the LPCM audio recording?

I have noticed several times when the camera is first turned on the OLED screen will flicker/flash at the top of the screen. Usually you can turn it off then back on and it will go away.

Anyone else have this problem?

When the WA-H58 is attached and the camera set to conversion lens WA-H58 there is a softness around the edges that becomes more exaggerated as the zoom increases.

Is this normal or do I need to change the camera settings?

Always used the wide angle on the HV20 and never had an issue.

Football has started for our boys. If anyone has any suggestions for camera settings please post them.

Thank You for reading.
James

[Ugo Merlini]

Hi,

give a try with vlc (videolan)

it also have a mediainfo menu where you can see the info of the clip CTRL+J

Ugo

[Alan Fitch]

If you're shooting outdoors in daylight, the camera iris may be closing down so far that you're getting a refraction around the edges of the iris. I'd suggest an ND filter to get the aperture back open to around f5.6-8.0.

Hope this helps.

Alan

Originally Posted by James Ratliff

Received our new XA20 last week to replace the venerable HV20. This is
When the WA-H58 is attached and the camera set to conversion lens WA-H58 there is a softness around the edges that becomes more exaggerated as the zoom increases.

Is this normal or do I need to change the camera settings?

Always used the wide angle on the HV20 and never had an issue.

Football has started for our boys. If anyone has any suggestions for camera settings please post them.

Thank You for reading.
James

[James Ratliff]

Thank You for your help.

Does anyone have any recommendations for camera settings recording outside, daytime football?

[Cristiana Bontemps]

Hi James,
I have the same problem when trying to read the XA20 clips with windows Media Player, VLC, Power DVD. And when I import them in Adobe Première Pro (CC and Elements 11) the sound is fine.

Did you find a solution?

Also, I don't see any flickering on the Oled screen.I haven't yet fully tested the wide angle WA-H58 R but I will do it in the coming days.However the XA20 focal ( 26,8 - 576 mm ) has already a large wide angle you may find it sufficient.

Cristiana

[Don Palomaki]

FWIW: The XA-20 standard lens is I believe a bit wider than the HV20 with a 0.7x wide adapter on it.

The added glass of an adapter can be expected to introduce some loss of image sharpness, especially at the edges. For the same field of view and camera position I would expect the XA20 to be a bit better than the HV20 with an adapter.

If you read the spec carefully, you will note that using the dynamic IS effectively reduces field width at max wide angle.

[Don Palomaki]

When the WA-H58 is attached and the camera set to conversion lens WA-H58 there is a softness around the edges that becomes more exaggerated as the zoom increases.

Is this normal or do I need to change the camera settings?

I ran across the following in literature about the WA-58H:

"The Canon WA-H58 Wide Attachment Lens for XA25, XA20 & HF G30 provides the flexibility to change the focal length of the XA25/20, G30 lens by approximately 0.75x for wide angle shooting with outstanding results. It must be used with the zoom positioned at the wide side. The subject will go out of focus if it deviates from the wide side."

This is not unusual with simple wide angle "adapters" - they are not full zoom through and only work well over a portion (e.g., wide end) of the zoom range.

FWIW: Within the Century Optics product line they offer both adapters (partial zoom through) and converters (full zoom through). Needless to say converters are more expensive and optically more complex (typically multiple elements). This logic should apply to other brands as well.

[James Ratliff]

Thank you all for the replies.

Cristiana I have not found a solution. I do not think Windows Media Player, DVD Fab or some others are compatible with the LPCM audio. They may offer a codec but I have not checked.

My workaround is to transcode the footage. The video has to be transcoded anyway for my uses so I have just moved on.

The flickering on the XA20 screen on startup is random. Turning it off and back on seems to stop the flickering. Have not had any other problems. Love the XA20.

Don,

Thank you for your help. I read about the WA-58H softness before I bought it but was hoping it would not be very noticeable. It is a great lens but you can not zoom through it very far.

[Andy Urtusuastegui]

For Football, do you really need LCPM audio? You can record at 28mbit with compressed audio or MP4 with compressed audio.

By the way, you play and hear the video in Adobe Bridge. It does not look as good as VLC though.