Another clip - 720p

[Nick Wilcox-Brown]

I have just posted a 720p50 clip on Vimeo "Plane Spotters Heaven"

All the audio, bar a few seconds is camera mics with a Rode Dead Kitten to screen wind. The built in limiters are effective and (to my ears) subtle. Much impressed, these mics are not only well damped, but very usable.

For anyone interested, the T-tail KLM aircraft at 2.03 (OK its a Fokker 70) was shot with the camera set for tele-converter (1.5x digital zoom) at 50Mbs.

Plane spotter heaven on Vimeo

Nick

[Tans Mark]

Excellent clip, thank you for sharing it. Now i think the xf serie proved that sharpness and resolution is okay, the only question is how good is it in low light versus ex1.

[Bo Sundvall]

Hi Nick

I've been too embarrased to ask this question earlier but as you used the digital tele converter I think it's time to ask the question:

How do you compare the digital tele converter to an ordinary "digital zoom"? Is it only aonother word for "digital zoom" or is there some kind of more advanced picture manipulation involved?

I'm not a friend of digital zooming but if Canon somehow have the signal processor involved creating a more sophisticated picture it might be of interrest.


Regards,

/Bo

Edited: Nice film by the way. Good example to show the camcorders qualitys.

[Nick Wilcox-Brown]

Thanks for the compliment Bo (and Mark). I would normally never use 'digital zoom', certainly in a consumer grade camera, but I found it in the menu and figured it was worth checking. Normally a digital zoom simply means stretching the image beyond the native pixel resolution, forcing camera, or software, to fill in the gaps.

This is very much a professional camera and I am guessing that Canon are not likely to provide an option that will severely compromise image quality, so the 'digital zoom' built into the camera only gives 1.5x magnification. This is still enough to extend the zoom range very usefully.

I figured at 720p it would be less obvious and so it proved: in FCP I could see no obvious difference between clips. I'm not saying this is necessarily true for 1080p, but I will certainly be trying it when I can buy one of these cameras for myself (sadly I did have do to give it back).

Nick.

[Barlow Elton]

Another great clip Nick, many thanks. I'm really impressed with the lack of CA and just the overall sharp, smooth, natural-looking image the camera makes. I can definitely perceive a BIG improvement in dynamic range over the XL and XH HD cams too.

Any chance you could upload a raw 50p mxf from this shoot to the DVINFO server? The clip you just posted appears to have been encoded as 25 fps. I'm interested in the quality of the "live" looking 50p video.

Thanks again for everything you've shared!

[Josh Dahlberg]

Nick, your clips along with the French and Japanese reviews are convincing me to buy this camera.

1/3" vs 1/2" inch is the only (largely psychological I think) stumbling block vis-a-vis the EX1r.

But beyond a marginal increase in DOP control and low light, the Canon seems to be ahead in all other respects:
* monitoring (LCD / VF)
* media
* colour / codec
* lens
* build quality

And quite possibly dynamic range and overall image rendition. Those clips (specifically the rendition of the sheep and the rescue vehicle) indicate these cameras are a huge leap from the previous generation. Lovely colours, great definition.

Great operating too Nick! All your clips are well crafted.

[Nick Wilcox-Brown]

Many thanks indeed for your comments Josh - I'm only a simple (and self taught) stills photographer ;) Still working hard to fine tune my editing skills. If anyone likes this stuff drop me a like on Vimeo - it boosts the confidence!

The vehicle and sheep clips are totally ungraded if that helps? Light and colour temperature were changing quite fast during shooting, but those two clips were 'on the nail.'

Barlow, apologies - shot in 50p, output as 25 - my bad - I have zipped up an original file and will upload it now (will take a while - 200Mb)

I am really impressed with the camera. I have a lot of time for the XH series and SDI or Component out from those cameras into a KiPro (or Nanoflash I guess) gives great results. This has built on those strengths, fixed the lens issues and gives me all I need + a form factor that is compact enough to be non-intrusive and portable. I'm sure the EX cams are excellent but 4:2:0 is an issue for me and I have shot with Canon gear for most of my career, so it feels right.

Nick.

[Bruce Rawlings]

Interesting Nick. Where will I find your file?

[Nick Wilcox-Brown]

I have uploaded it to the dvinfo Server. Hopefully Chris will provide a link to it when he has a spare moment.

[Eddie Coates]

Hello Nick,

Thanks for the videos clips! :)

My question is, How fast is the auto focus?

I mostly shoot manual focus with my EX1, but there are many times I need fast accurate auto focus.
Auto Focus on the Sony Ex1 is really slow :(

How fast is the Auto Focus on the XF300 or 305 ?

[Nick Wilcox-Brown]

AF on the XHG-1s is good and from memory the XF305 also worked fast (it didn't annoy me!) and it was definitely accurate - not something I ever use on a video camera though :(

The manual focus and zoom controls were described by a colleague as being very much like a broadcast camera - he is a TV cameraman by trade and was impressed.

Nick.