Do you miss your FX1?

[Cesar Ruiz]

Has anyone replaced his FX1 with an XH-A1?

I'm thinking about mainly because of the zoom! I went from a GL2 to the FX1 and whenever I look at FX1 footage I'm reminded of how I really wanted to get a tighter shot but couldn't.

Can anyone give me an idea of how the A1 zoom compares to the GL2 and/or FX1. I have the numbers but with different chip sizes and aspect ratios I know that they don't mean the same thing.

In closing do you miss your FX1? Is the A1's LCD really that much tougher to look at than the FX1's?

[Bill Pryor]

Before buying the XH A1 I did quite a bit of shooting with a friend's Sony Z1. Same lens, etc., as the FX1.

On my first shoot with the XH A1, I found that I really liked the 20:1 lens. I got some shots of gargoyles up on top of old historical buildings, With the 20X lens, I was able to get as tight as I wanted to be. The lens on the Sony wouldn't have done that.

People seem to like to complain about the smaller LCD, but I find it very good. True, it's smaller than the Sony, but it's also very high resolution and nice and bright for outdoor use in the sun. It's sharp enough to use for focus in many situations. I do prefer the positioning of Sony's LCD up on top of the handle, but even so, you can still see the screen from the right side of the camera if necessary, looking over the handle or through it. Sony's location way up on top of everything is brilliant.

With the Canon you'll want to buy a Sony rubber eyecup (or use the one on your FX1), because that little hard rubber thing that's like the one on the GL2 sucks. The Sony part is under 40 bucks, and there's a thread on here about where to order it.

[Patrick Moreau]

I was really not happy with the FX1 and sold it rather quickly after getting it. As for the XHA1, I bought it without testing it out and I have now ordered two more. So no, I don't miss the FX1, but I would have said that before I got these as well.

[Michael Barrette]

I'm an FX1 owner myself and having the same debate about making the switch myself... I don't think the FX1 has much if anything on the A1. From what I understand, the one debatable area is FX1 you can take up to 18db gain for low light situations and still have a pretty good picture, so it may be slightly better for low light situations. (other than the smaller LCD screen as well)

[Glen Elliott]

Cesar the A1 just about matches the zoom range of a PD-170/VX2100. That might not sound right because the canon is rated at 20x and the Sony is 12x, but the Canon starts out MUCH wider than the Sony.

[Tony Tremble]

Miss the FX1?

I absolutely don't miss the HVR-V1 at all!!!!

The smaller LCD is much less of a handicap than expected. I have no trouble making focus at all. Use the colour bars to set up the brightness can contrast and it will give a reasonable reproduction of the image being recorded.

A great camera.

TT

[Bryan Suthard]

Don't miss mine at all. I do agree you have to be more careful on the gain settings with the A1. 24F, XLR inputs, and the depth of the custom picture presets are the best gains for me.

[Lou Bruno]

Don't miss my SONY FX-1 at all. I may even purchase another A1 in a few weeks.

[Tom Roper]

I like the balance of the Z1, the convenient lens shade and superb flip-out LCD, and fast battery charger.

...But I like the images of the XH-A1 the best, even the low light stuff. Never mind comparisons of gain settings. The XH-A1 makes prettier pictures in low light in my hands. The Z1 lens has less CA at the wide end, but goes soft at the telephoto end, or at wide open aperture. The XH-A1 stays sharp at large aperture openings, and the CA goes away as you zoom toward the telephoto side. I think the Z1 and XH-A1 have about the same FOV at the wide end supposedly, but it seems like the XH-A1 is marginally wider.

They are both great cams. The Z1 gives great out of the box color with less fuss. The A1 default image is bland, and requires experimentation, but the payoff is big. You can tweak it for the look you want.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Cesar Ruiz

Can anyone give me an idea of how the A1 zoom compares to the GL2 and/or FX1. I have the numbers but with different chip sizes and aspect ratios I know that they don't mean the same thing.

Cesar,

Camera manufacturers also express their lens specs by converting them to the equivalent focal length on a 35mm still camera. This provides a way to compare different cameras even though they have different chip sizes.

The A1/G1 has a zoom range equivalent to 32.5mm-650mm. The Z1/FX1 equivalent is 32.5mm-390mm. So you can see they are exactly the same at the full wide setting, but the telephoto end of the A1/G1 is much greater.

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

Cesar the A1 just about matches the zoom range of a PD-170/VX2100.

Glenn,

The PD/VX series has an equivalent zoom range of 43.2-518.4mm, so I'm not sure that I understand what you're saying. The A1/G1 goes about 25% wider and also has about 25% more telephoto reach.

"Zoom range" refers to the difference between the telephoto and wide ends of the lens. So with the FX1/Z1 the calculation is 390/32.5 = 12, which is why that camera is labeled as "12x". The same calculation for the VX/PD is 518.4/43.2 = 12, so this is also a "12x" lens. On the Canon it's 650/32.5 = 20, which explains its "20x" rating.

So comparing lenses on different cameras is really very simple if you use a little basic math. Any other comparisons are purely subjective.

[Scott Hayes]

how easy is it to match Z1 and A1 footage? I think my FX1 is about
to go bye bye, but I will still have 2 Sony cams in a 3 cam system.
Kinda concerned about matching picture.

[Larry Chapman]

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

Cesar the A1 just about matches the zoom range of a PD-170/VX2100. That might not sound right because the canon is rated at 20x and the Sony is 12x, but the Canon starts out MUCH wider than the Sony.

I also noticed this (I own a VX-2000 and a 2100). What pushed me to the A1 over the Sony was the 20x zoom . . . although I am very happy with the A1.

[Yow Siang]

hi you guys that used/uses Fx1 and A1..
is the A1 a much lighter camcorder or its about the same?

[Bill Pryor]

It's almost exactly the same weight. The FX1/Z1 is just a little bit bigger but not much.

[Alex Leith]

The images out of the A1 easily beat my old FX1.

The two things I miss are the way the Sony handled auto-exposure, and shot transition. The A1 pictures look so much better that I'm definately not going back!