XH Upgrade Wishlist Poll v1

[Andrew Ott]

Great news about NAB.

Chris, how did they respond?

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Andrew, they responded by saying that they continue to watch this forum, and indeed this particular thread, closely and with great interest. In typical corporate fashion, no promises were made; nothing at all was implied other than their sincerity regarding the keen interest they have had in reading what everybody here has had to say.

As for myself, it was a real treat to meet these fellows -- the XH series and other Canon camcorders literally began life directly from their hands. My own take on the situation is that it is much better to expect nothing to happen, and then be pleasantly surprised if something actually transpires out of this.

Since Pete Bauer and I have already "officially" handed the poll results over to the people that matter, at this point voting is closed (but of course the thread remains open).

[Michael Mann]

Thanks Chris, good news anyway. Being open for surprises without expectations goes for me too.

[Chris Soucy]

My only excuse is the A1 and similar takes a lot longer to make it down here to the Antipodes. Then, of course, one has to get to know the camera.

Okay, it's here, and I know it (er, -ish!).

If there's one thing above all else that narks me about the A1 (and I presume this is not confined only to the A1) is the focus, and the ability to see whether it is, indeed, correct. Most of my shooting is in the countryside, wide open spaces, long zooms, little if anything for an AF system to lock on to (neither, often, can I).

Peaking is good. Peaking and Magnify is better. But it still ain't good enough. I've seriously thought of lugging a 21" or 24" HD screen around to actually "see it as it is", but decided even I'm not that crazy. Which leaves either the built in LCD or an available 7" (low res) or so external (it seems no one is going to be bringing out a 7" 1080 screen any time soon)

How to make it better?

Allow "variable mapping" (doesn't need any more buttons, just a menu option) so that the actual area of the ccd shown on the screens is either the current 1/5 ( I think, with Magnify on) or a few variable ratios all the way to 1:1. And show both Peaking and Magnify on the external screen to boot.

The ability to map, pixel for pixel, the central portion of the ccd's I/P would just about let me focus on a Fur Seals whiskers from 40 feet.

Of course, there'd need to be a facility to tell the A1 just how many pixels the external screen had to play with!

Doesn't seem like too big an ask, really.

Oh, and allow a couple more settings for that Manual Focus speed, even at "slow" it's too fast.

There you go. If there ever is another poll on the subject of the A1 (which will probably be morphing into the A1s or A2 any day now) that's my favourite. Tho' in practice, as I said, this problem probably afflicts all HDV cameras. Anone know if any other manufacturers have a better system?

Regards,

Chris

[Lev Naumov]

I vote for

Additional Shutter speeds (1/33rd and/or 1/40th)
Add intermediate steps in Gain (+9db, +15db)
Display active C. Preset name (record and playback)
Display lens info (focus and zoom) on playback

[Evre Ergun]

I would like to be able to record HD video on the scan disk.

[Chris Hurd]

What do you mean by "Scan Disk?"

Are you referring to the SD (secure digital) flash memory card?

[Evre Ergun]

Sorry, I guess that's what i'm refering to.

[Bill Busby]

I never thought I'd make it back to this thread/subject, but I suppose the current edit I'm cutting reminded me and forced me to do so.

"OIS On / Off mappable to Custom Key" was THE number one request... and for good reason. For example, on a gig that demands continually rolling tape... and having to pop off a tripod (running with OIS off obviously) and then going handheld... for one thing there's no way to even get into the dang menu in the first place while rolling tape (not to mention how cumbersome it would be) to turn OIS on! Currently, you have to stop rolling, and dig into the menu to do this.

To this day nothing has been done regarding this & I, as well as many, feel it should be on Canon's top priority list for a firmware upgrade. Seriously... how difficult could it be?

I'm steaming here, but my rant is over.

[Bill Pryor]

I guess that whole thing about the possibility of firmware upgrades was just a marketing ploy.

[Jerome Cloninger]

Originally Posted by Bill Pryor

I guess that whole thing about the possibility of firmware upgrades was just a marketing ploy.

Or they'll just use this info for the A2 or whatever.

[B.J. Adams]

Originally Posted by Bill Pryor

I guess that whole thing about the possibility of firmware upgrades was just a marketing ploy.

this will make a lot of users disappointed. i for one won't be buying an A2 if there will be one, but will get something non-Canon for sure

[Brian David Melnyk]

"OIS On / Off mappable to Custom Key"
please please please please please please!!!!!
p.s. PLEASE!!!

[Bill Pryor]

Buying or not buying a camera because of the possibility of upgrades isn't a good reason, in my opinion. I've been shooting with professional video cameras since the '80s and have never seen any sort of retroactive upgrade. It would be nice if it happened, but when you buy a camera, what you buy is what you get. Expecting more is misplaced optimism. I don't know any other manufacturer who's come out with a retroactive fix or addition you could stick on an older model, though I'm not saying it hasn't happened.

[Josh Chesarek]

I would like to go into the menus during recording, some times I have to change audio sources or even enable/disable OSI. Not sure why you cannot go into the menus once you are recording.