XHA1 Footage grainy/noisy? Is this right? at DVinfo.net

Luke Hill · March 21st, 2007, 05:02 PM

Hi all,

I recently made the switch from the XL1 to the XHA1. I've been reviewing my first few tapes of footage shot w/ the new camera in 1080i, and even on a large HDTV, the footage appears to be grainy. It's not real noticeable except in low light, but it's definitely there. I had a client ask me today if that grain was normal in HD or if it had something to do w/ my specific camera. Anyone have any input? I'm just having a hard time believing that HD footage is supposed to be noise/grainy like this....

Thanks,
Luke

Larry Kamerman · March 21st, 2007, 05:22 PM

Check to see if the automatic gain switch is on.

Luke Hill · March 21st, 2007, 05:35 PM

Thanks so much!! I'd messed with the gain presets, but didn't even notice that the AGC switch was set to 'on'. Wow! What a difference!! Now it looks like what I was hoping for!

Thanks again!
Luke

Eric Weiss · March 22nd, 2007, 10:42 PM

Luke, can you tell me what the A1 SD footage is like compared to
the XL1? Is it the same, huge improvement, not as good in low light?
Thanks in advance!

Patrick Moreau · March 22nd, 2007, 11:08 PM

Hi Eric,

I haven't had an XL1 in a long time but I did just sell my Xl2s for the XHA1. Sd footage looks much better, the lowlight performance is considerabely better. If you extrapolate that back to the XL1, it woulod be a huge improvement with the XHA1.

Luke Hill · March 22nd, 2007, 11:08 PM

As of right now I'm not sure. So far the only footage I tried, I mistakenly had both the ND Filter *AND* the AGC on, so the footage was rubbish. I may wrong, but I would think the footage in SD would be at least as good as on the XL1.... anybody?

Don Palomaki · March 23rd, 2007, 04:47 AM

Just received my A1. Will be able to do some comparisons to the XL1 and GL1 this weekend I hope.

Brian Ladue · March 23rd, 2007, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Weiss

Luke, can you tell me what the A1 SD footage is like compared to
the XL1? Is it the same, huge improvement, not as good in low light?
Thanks in advance!

Luke, just yesterday i tried a few tests with A1 footage.... i took some of Steven Dempseys, and a few more different cilps and resized them with After effects and transcoded with Adobe Encore 1.5 to SD DVD, just to do some comparisons of different HD footage down converted to SD and to see what they would look like. I also took some JVC HD100 and 200 shots as well as XDCam footage. I can tell you that the XHA1 footage is alot sharper and has a lot more detail than the XL1s (i have the XL1s) footage. Even the color is alot richer. By my tests i could say that all the cameras that i mentioned convert really well to SD, and it probably looks as good as or even better than some of the material you see on regular TV. hope this helps....

Bill Busby · March 23rd, 2007, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Ladue

Luke, just yesterday i tried a few tests with A1 footage.... i took some of Steven Dempseys, and a few more different cilps and resized them with After effects and transcoded with Adobe Encore 1.5 to SD DVD, just to do some comparisons of different HD footage down converted to SD and to see what they would look like.

Brian, that's not a reasonable comparison & isn't going to be the same as shooting SD with the A1. I believe that's what Eric was asking about.

So far, I haven't made up my mind regarding the A1's SD quality. For me, it's either a just OK, or a yuck, or a maybe I'm just too picky & can't decide just yet. OR... I'm just getting too spoiled by the HD quality :)

Bill

Eric Weiss · March 24th, 2007, 07:44 AM

Thank you. I actually use an XL1-S too.
I had a really hard believing that an HDV camera would
be better in low-light than the XL1-S, so I am delighted to hear that.

I should probably just shoot in HDV anyway and then convert to SD when needed.
That's what the cam is made for and would probably get better results. Thus far, that seems to be the case.

March 21st, 2007, 05:02 PM	#1
Luke Hill Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 76	XHA1 Footage grainy/noisy? Is this right? Hi all, I recently made the switch from the XL1 to the XHA1. I've been reviewing my first few tapes of footage shot w/ the new camera in 1080i, and even on a large HDTV, the footage appears to be grainy. It's not real noticeable except in low light, but it's definitely there. I had a client ask me today if that grain was normal in HD or if it had something to do w/ my specific camera. Anyone have any input? I'm just having a hard time believing that HD footage is supposed to be noise/grainy like this.... Thanks, Luke

March 21st, 2007, 05:22 PM	#2
Larry Kamerman Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New York,NY Posts: 100	Check to see if the automatic gain switch is on. __________________ www.gencofilms.com

March 21st, 2007, 05:35 PM	#3
Luke Hill Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 76	That did it. Thanks so much!! I'd messed with the gain presets, but didn't even notice that the AGC switch was set to 'on'. Wow! What a difference!! Now it looks like what I was hoping for! Thanks again! Luke

March 23rd, 2007, 04:47 AM	#7
Don Palomaki Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,489	Just received my A1. Will be able to do some comparisons to the XL1 and GL1 this weekend I hope. __________________ dpalomaki@dspalomaki.com

March 22nd, 2007, 10:42 PM	#4
Eric Weiss Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Philly,PA Posts: 360	Luke, can you tell me what the A1 SD footage is like compared to the XL1? Is it the same, huge improvement, not as good in low light? Thanks in advance!

March 22nd, 2007, 11:08 PM	#5
Patrick Moreau Still Motion Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,186	Hi Eric, I haven't had an XL1 in a long time but I did just sell my Xl2s for the XHA1. Sd footage looks much better, the lowlight performance is considerabely better. If you extrapolate that back to the XL1, it woulod be a huge improvement with the XHA1.

March 24th, 2007, 07:44 AM	#10
Eric Weiss Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Philly,PA Posts: 360	Thank you. I actually use an XL1-S too. I had a really hard believing that an HDV camera would be better in low-light than the XL1-S, so I am delighted to hear that. I should probably just shoot in HDV anyway and then convert to SD when needed. That's what the cam is made for and would probably get better results. Thus far, that seems to be the case.