Low light and Auto focus XH A1 or FX1000?

[Chris Soucy]

Just a shot in the dark, but why not post in the "Helping Hands" forum for someone in your neighbourhood with either of the cams you mentioned, to see if you can hook up for a test drive?

Gotta be a few Perthie DVinfo'ers with A1's at least.

May just work.

If it pans out, buy the cam where you can get the best price if your local retailers are below par in the service department.

I'm not au fait with your "other thread" going, so have no idea why you're restricted to hand held, but I do agree, hand held with an HD cam is not a great way to go.

A tripod on a dolley is magic if the floor surface is smooth enough, and can cover one heck of a lot of ground in a hurry if required.

Else there is the SteadyCam et al approach if the readies are available.

Not much, but it's something.


CS

[Martin van der Poel]

I am in contact with someone local (about 100Km away) and had a look at his XH A1 today, he (editor of AusCam) gave me a tape to watch and some of his older magazines to read.

This is a great help.

I am mainly restricted to handheld as I am part of the general public whilst shooting, it is hard to become the official camera operator as I also compete in some of the events and therefore are not 100% available.

The video can not be so bad as 6 months ago at a large competition in Canberra (NCDC) I took video of the final and published them on YouTube, and straight away the organisers of the event linked to my clips.
I contacted them and they said that they had their own video taken by a "professional" and they would put that on the website soon. I noticed the "professional" during the course of the competition and I could not work out how he was going to put all these little clips he was taking from all different angles into something that would have continuity, it is a dance event and the movements of the dancers are synchronised to the music. My video even in low quality YouTube format (old format) is still the obnly stuff they have got up on their website.
I will again attend this June so I will contact them beforehand to see if they are interested in my footage? If they are I can supply it in a better format and might even get something for it, a better position to video would be nice.

In case you are interested the NCDC website with the links to my video is here Footage of the 2008 NCDC Adult Latin American, Standard & New Vogue Finals - Latest News - NCDC - National Capital DanceSport Championships

As my son was in the final in the New Vogue style I only videoed him (I never expected the organisers to link to my video).

Regards,

Martin

[Doug Bennett]

keep the camera wide and you should be OK. As you zoom in you reduce DoF and the amount of light reaching the CCDs. The smaller the lens the faster this typically happens.

[Martin van der Poel]

So no close-ups when the subject is on the far side.

Never thought about it too much, but it makes sense.

Regards, Martin

[Bryce Comer]

Hi Martin,
So how did it go with looking at the camera? Will the XH A1 do what you want? I am curious to know how much better it was than your current camera.

Bryce

[Martin van der Poel]

I did do some short tests with the XH A1 and my GS400 and that indicated that the XH A1 does perform better, by how much was hard to say as the test was only a simple point it at something dark and compare the pictures.
I did get quite a lot of information about the camera as well a he lent me a DVD that explains the use of the custom settings, that was also interesting.

I realise now that only an owner of both an GS400 and a XH A1, that uses the camera in similar conditions to me, could make a judgement about the performance of both cameras, and then only if he had mastered the settings of the XH A1 first.

There is some feedback on this thread that makes me believe that the XH A1 is the one for me. I have done a lot more reading about the FX1000 and I think that is not the one for me.

Thanks for your feedback and interest.

Regards,

Martin

[Martin van der Poel]

Just to complete the story, I have purchased a new XH A1s and am now trying to come to grips with the customisation.
A quick side by side test with the GS400 and XH A1s indicated that the A1 is far superior to the GS400 in low light.
With the same light the picture of the GS400 looked darker, with little detail and lots of noise, whilst the A1 produced a slightly brighter that what your eyes see picture (Close the iris a little to correct) with much better colour and a lot less noise.

It is a big step forward.

I will be doing a dancing floor show next week, that will really show the difference.

I am currently looking for a preset that handles bright spotlights with darker areas at the same time, you don't want the bright regions to stand out so much that the less lit areas look black and dull.

Regards,

Martin

[Peter Manojlovic]

I too am migrating from a GS400 to an XH A1.....

Quick observation leads me to believe the Canon is only a slight improvement over the GS400....But it's been short lived subjective testing...I hope you're right about the low light conditions...The GS 400 was very tricky under low light....

[Martin van der Poel]

Have you tried the cameras side by side, as I found that side by side the A1 is a fast improvement over the 400 in low light.

I will find out for sure about the focus next Friday night.

Regards,
Martin

[Bryce Comer]

Hi Martin,
Great to hear you are happy with the camera. If you need a good preset, try the one on this link out. http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/xh-series...-included.html I have used it & am blown away with its performance. Give it a shot & see what you think.
Bryce

[Steve Wolla]

Originally Posted by Peter Manojlovic

I too am migrating from a GS400 to an XH A1.....

Quick observation leads me to believe the Canon is only a slight improvement over the GS400....But it's been short lived subjective testing...I hope you're right about the low light conditions...The GS 400 was very tricky under low light....

I must comment here as a long time GS400-shooter as well.

I have seen truly significant differences between the A1 and the GS in low light. I have not done side-by-side comparisons, but know from experience that the A1 will out-perform the GS with less noise, better color in low light situations, etc. In my experience, the A1's auto focus is as good and fast as any of the HD cams currently out there. Is it perfect? No, but it should handle your material satisfactorally.

Actually if you are discounting the Sony, the only other HD cam that would better the XHA1 is liely going to be Panasonic's HMC150. Now that cam is a bit better than the XHA1 in low light and has good auto focus too. It's worth looking at to be sure.

[Martin van der Poel]

Hi Steve,
Here in Australia the recommended retail price of the Xh A1s is $6,499.00.
I bought mine from the VideoGuys in Melbourne for $5,295.00.
The HMC150 is either super seeded or we have a different model here, but it is at the same shop $7,269.00.

I believe the Canon XH A1s is a very good buy right now here in Australia.

I completely agree with your observations about the performance of the GS400 VS the XH A1s.

The comments you made in January were correct, and I am very satisfied with my XH A1s, as you predicted.

Regards,

Martin

[Martin van der Poel]

Thanks for the reply, I am taking quite a bit of video over the weekend, a floorshow, drag racing and ballroom dancing competitions (right arm will be sore for sure).and I will try the preset you mentioned for the floorshow as the light at that location is always quite low.

Regards,
Martin

[Jeff Kellam]

Originally Posted by Martin van der Poel

Hi Steve,
Here in Australia the recommended retail price of the Xh A1s is $6,499.00.
I bought mine from the VideoGuys in Melbourne for $5,295.00.
The HMC150 is either super seeded or we have a different model here, but it is at the same shop $7,269.00.

I believe the Canon XH A1s is a very good buy right now here in Australia.

I completely agree with your observations about the performance of the GS400 VS the XH A1s.

The comments you made in January were correct, and I am very satisfied with my XH A1s, as you predicted.

Regards,

Martin

Wow, I can see why you didn't get the HMC-150/151

A1s AUD= $4424 USD

HMC-150 AUD= $4,948 USD

It's a bummer your prices in AU are significantly higher than the US on some items.

[Martin van der Poel]

I think you missed the point.
The shop price for the A1 is AUD $5,295.00 and the HMC150 AUD $7,269.00, that is nearly AUD $2,000.00 MORE.

Regards,
Martin