XH-A1 started doing this last night..

[Charlie Durand]

Last night I was shooting some video with my A1. I shot maybe 20 minutes without any problems.

I left the camera on, but not recording, maybe 2 minutes go by. I look into the view finder and the picture looks terrible and there's nothing I can do to adjust it.

I turn the camera off and on. Still looks terrible.

I go to the factory reset option and reset the camera. Still looks terrible.

The 20 minutes of footage I shot before the camera went crazy looks fine. The minute or so I shot while I was troubleshooting looks terrible. It's not just the viewfinder having the problem obviously.

I'll try attaching a still image to show you how it looks. I am going to be sending the camera in for repairs since it's less than a year old and still under warranty. I have a wedding to shoot on September 22. I am scared I won't have it back in time.

Just thought I'd share in case anyone else has seen this.

[Richard Hunter]

Wow, bad news Charlie. Hope you get it back in time.

Richard

[Bill Busby]

Isn't that the Van Gogh preset? :D

Seriously, good luck in getting it back promptly.

Bill

[Chris Hurd]

That's over a month and a half from now... you should have it back from service in plenty of time. Keep us advised about how it goes,

[Charlie Durand]

Ok.. just sent it off to Canon repair service in Irvine, Ca.

They say, estimatingly, 10 to 13 days assuming nothing out of the ordinary is wrong with my camera.

I just have to give a big thumbs up to B&H Photo for their great customer service. I couldn't find my copy of the original invoice and had to call them for a copy. They emailed it to me before I could even hang up with the person on the phone.

I will let you all know how it goes with Canon.

[Charlie Durand]

Just an update.

Canon received my camera on August 8th(yesterday).

I received an email this morning letting me know they have the camera and are beginning repairs. At this point they say it should all be covered by the warranty unless they find something strange during the repair process.

They are giving me an estimated return date of August 20th.

I will let you know how it goes when I get the camera back.

FYI

[Charlie Durand]

I received an email yesterday saying my camera was repaired and on its way back to me via FedEx.

According to FedEx it should be at my house sometime this afternoon.

The email did have any details as to what work was performed. I am hoping that will be included with the camera once I get my hands on it.

I will share that when I get it.

So far so good.

[Charlie Durand]

So I came home this evening to find my camera waiting for me.

There is a letter inside the box with the camera. It says they

"Replace 3P Assy clean tape path"

So I guess they replaced something and then cleaned the guts.

The bottom line is the camera is working just fine once again.

I shipped it on the 6th, they got it on the 8th, and I have it back in my hands on the 16th. 10 days, not too bad.

[Mats Frendahl]

From what I've heard the XH A1 falls within the "pro line" with Canon service and is taken before any other "tourist" cam - sweet. I passed by Canon main service center in Göteborg in Sweden with mine - checked up a minor detail - the technician appeared within 1 minut at the desk, checked it on site - everything was perfect as is. The visit took me 3 minutes. Outstanding!

[Paul Joy]

Glad you got it sorted, I didn't want to mention it earlier as thought you wouldn't be in the mood for jokes but I was afraid the contents of that baby bottle in the faulty image may have ended up in the camera while you were out of the room :)

Paul.

[Philip Williams]

Originally Posted by Charlie Durand

I shipped it on the 6th, they got it on the 8th, and I have it back in my hands on the 16th. 10 days, not too bad.

Glad to hear you got your cam back so quickly. Thanks for posting the follow up.

[Bill Pryor]

Thanks for the followup posts. Gives everybody more confidence in the system. By the way, did you join that Canon user's club with the info that came with the camera? Allegedly that's worth doing because it gets you that kind of treatment.

[Amr Toukhy]

Thanks for sharing your story man :)

[Steve Wolla]

My A1 does something similar too, but only in interrior shots. It happened on one extremely critical shoot, everything took on a burnt orange cast.
For me, the "Auto Levels Adjust" control in Premiere Pro 1.5 totally solved the problem. However, it's a pain to have to do that when I shoot indoors. Prior to reading this I thought the white balance was just easly fooled indoors. It happened when the cam was on AWB.

Thanks for documenting this, I am taking mine in Monday for service.

[Charlie Durand]

Originally Posted by Bill Pryor

Thanks for the followup posts. Gives everybody more confidence in the system. By the way, did you join that Canon user's club with the info that came with the camera? Allegedly that's worth doing because it gets you that kind of treatment.

I did not join anything. This appears to be the "treatment" everyone gets with a camera under the 1-year warranty.

No complaints.