Canon XL H series -- various sample clips

Matthew Wauhkonen · April 30th, 2006, 11:29 AM

Impressive. The OIS seems to work incredibly well and the resolution and color are outstanding. No grain, either. Wow...

The compositions are nice, too (unsurprising given your dvx work) but I love especially how the telephoto lens compresses the drops of rain (which seem large since your subject is a small bird) into kind of abstract out of focus blurs. Shot in slow motion that would look particularly beautiful, but it's pretty unbelievable as it is.

Looks like you picked the right camera. Fantastic.

Steven Dempsey · May 12th, 2006, 10:54 PM

I'm in the midst of developing a new Black and white setting and there are also two color shots. All from my son's baseball game:

Chris Hurd · May 13th, 2006, 07:02 PM

Wow, looking great! I'm tweaking my own B&W preset, can't wait to compare notes with you.

Steven Dempsey · May 19th, 2006, 08:15 AM

This is why I love living here. This is from a shoot I did last night. These stills are highly compressed but the original footage is pristine and artifact free. This is just to give you an idea...

Oleg Kalyan · May 19th, 2006, 08:49 AM

Steven, pics look good, how did you set up exposure?

Steven Dempsey · May 19th, 2006, 08:55 AM

I had to resort to a pretty fast shutter speed, maybe 1/1000? I can't remember exactly. Having shot with the DVX for so long, I'm still getting used to the fact that I can't shut the iris down on the Canon as much.

There's an interesting lens flaring that happens with the 20x lens in that it produces a thick line that is perfectly vertical from top to bottom of the frame. I haven't experienced that with the DVX so I'll be avoiding shooting directly at the sun with the XLH1, which is kind of a bummer because I like those kinds of shots.

Pete Bauer · May 19th, 2006, 01:01 PM

Hey Steve,

In the "pebble" still grab, that is actually not a lens flare but a CCD artifact. Not sure if camera engineers have a more sophisticated name for it, but it has been discussed on DVi every so often as "vertical smear." Bigger and better chips are less prone to get it, but it can happen even to the big dollar broadcast cameras and I've seen it happen on network broadcasts.

If you key word vertical smear, you'll find several threads about it on various cameras. But you've already found the solution: avoid shooting objects so bright compared to their surroundings that they exceed the CCD's capacity to handle them. Here's one of several threads:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...vertical+smear

Steven Dempsey · May 19th, 2006, 02:00 PM

Great to know, Pete. Thanks.

Steven Dempsey · May 20th, 2006, 10:01 PM

Took the kids and cam to the zoo today:

Oleg Kalyan · May 20th, 2006, 10:52 PM

Good work!
Steven, are they deinterlaced frame grabs from interlaced video?

Steven Dempsey · May 20th, 2006, 10:57 PM

I use cineform Aspect HD for capturing and it strips the pulldown making it 24p native. I took these stills from the 24p end file.

Yasser Kassana · May 21st, 2006, 06:35 AM

How much res do you loose when doing that Steven?

Steven Dempsey · May 21st, 2006, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yasser Kassana

How much res do you loose when doing that Steven?

None...it's just extracting information that's already there and stripping away extraneous info. The 24p frames are not actually "processed" in any way so they remain clean.

Barlow Elton · May 22nd, 2006, 10:55 AM

http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/AhhhCute.m2t
http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/Buds2.m2t
http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/Buds6.m2t
http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/Buds7.m2t
http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/BudsSwing.mov

The last one is is slow motion clip in PhotoJPEG 720p QT format. It's a large file, but the quality is good and seems to be reasonably cross-platform compatible.

Chris Hurd · May 22nd, 2006, 11:38 AM

Rec'd from Martin Costa:

"I've got a couple of uncompressed stills from my XLH1. One is 8bit and the other 10 bit of the same subject, the difference in colour surprised me. They are 5mb in size."

8bit image, 5.6mb: http://media.dvinfo.net/xlh1/mcwinch418bit.pctx
10bit image, 5.6mb: http://media.dvinfo.net/xlh1/mcwinch4110bitnew.pctx
10bit image, 5.8mb: http://media.dvinfo.net/xlh1/mcgreen10bit.pctx

To view these images, download them to your local drive and re-name the file extensions from ".pctx" to ".pct" and open them with an image browser that supports the Macintosh PICT file format. Most photo apps such as PhotoShop and Paint Shop Pro will do fine.

May 12th, 2006, 10:54 PM	#47
Steven Dempsey Disjecta Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 937	Black and white stills I'm in the midst of developing a new Black and white setting and there are also two color shots. All from my son's baseball game: Attached Thumbnails

May 13th, 2006, 07:02 PM	#48
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Wow, looking great! I'm tweaking my own B&W preset, can't wait to compare notes with you. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

May 19th, 2006, 08:15 AM	#49
Steven Dempsey Disjecta Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 937	Northwest Sunset This is why I love living here. This is from a shoot I did last night. These stills are highly compressed but the original footage is pristine and artifact free. This is just to give you an idea... Attached Thumbnails

May 19th, 2006, 01:01 PM	#52
Pete Bauer Wrangler Join Date: May 2003 Location: Eagle River, AK Posts: 4,100	Hey Steve, In the "pebble" still grab, that is actually not a lens flare but a CCD artifact. Not sure if camera engineers have a more sophisticated name for it, but it has been discussed on DVi every so often as "vertical smear." Bigger and better chips are less prone to get it, but it can happen even to the big dollar broadcast cameras and I've seen it happen on network broadcasts. If you key word vertical smear, you'll find several threads about it on various cameras. But you've already found the solution: avoid shooting objects so bright compared to their surroundings that they exceed the CCD's capacity to handle them. Here's one of several threads: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...vertical+smear __________________ Pete Bauer The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Albert Einstein Trying to solve a DV mystery? You may find the answer behind the SEARCH function ... or be able to join a discussion already in progress!

May 20th, 2006, 10:01 PM	#54
Steven Dempsey Disjecta Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 937	Stills from a trip to the zoo Took the kids and cam to the zoo today: Attached Thumbnails

April 30th, 2006, 11:29 AM	#46
Matthew Wauhkonen Major Player Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 285	Impressive. The OIS seems to work incredibly well and the resolution and color are outstanding. No grain, either. Wow... The compositions are nice, too (unsurprising given your dvx work) but I love especially how the telephoto lens compresses the drops of rain (which seem large since your subject is a small bird) into kind of abstract out of focus blurs. Shot in slow motion that would look particularly beautiful, but it's pretty unbelievable as it is. Looks like you picked the right camera. Fantastic.

May 19th, 2006, 08:49 AM	#50
Oleg Kalyan Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: MOSCOW Posts: 860	Steven, pics look good, how did you set up exposure?

May 19th, 2006, 08:55 AM	#51
Steven Dempsey Disjecta Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 937	I had to resort to a pretty fast shutter speed, maybe 1/1000? I can't remember exactly. Having shot with the DVX for so long, I'm still getting used to the fact that I can't shut the iris down on the Canon as much. There's an interesting lens flaring that happens with the 20x lens in that it produces a thick line that is perfectly vertical from top to bottom of the frame. I haven't experienced that with the DVX so I'll be avoiding shooting directly at the sun with the XLH1, which is kind of a bummer because I like those kinds of shots.

May 19th, 2006, 02:00 PM	#53
Steven Dempsey Disjecta Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 937	Great to know, Pete. Thanks.

May 20th, 2006, 10:52 PM	#55
Oleg Kalyan Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: MOSCOW Posts: 860	Good work! Steven, are they deinterlaced frame grabs from interlaced video?

May 20th, 2006, 10:57 PM	#56
Steven Dempsey Disjecta Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 937	I use cineform Aspect HD for capturing and it strips the pulldown making it 24p native. I took these stills from the 24p end file.

May 21st, 2006, 06:35 AM	#57
Yasser Kassana Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: UK Posts: 223	How much res do you loose when doing that Steven?

May 22nd, 2006, 10:55 AM	#59
Barlow Elton Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UT Posts: 945	H1 and a ProMist 1/8 http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/AhhhCute.m2t http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/Buds2.m2t http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/Buds6.m2t http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/Buds7.m2t http://www.realm.cc/upload/Elton/BudsSwing.mov The last one is is slow motion clip in PhotoJPEG 720p QT format. It's a large file, but the quality is good and seems to be reasonably cross-platform compatible.

May 22nd, 2006, 11:38 AM	#60
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Martin Costa's 8bit and 10bit uncompressed stills Rec'd from Martin Costa: "I've got a couple of uncompressed stills from my XLH1. One is 8bit and the other 10 bit of the same subject, the difference in colour surprised me. They are 5mb in size." 8bit image, 5.6mb: http://media.dvinfo.net/xlh1/mcwinch418bit.pctx 10bit image, 5.6mb: http://media.dvinfo.net/xlh1/mcwinch4110bitnew.pctx 10bit image, 5.8mb: http://media.dvinfo.net/xlh1/mcgreen10bit.pctx To view these images, download them to your local drive and re-name the file extensions from ".pctx" to ".pct" and open them with an image browser that supports the Macintosh PICT file format. Most photo apps such as PhotoShop and Paint Shop Pro will do fine. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!