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December 14th, 2005, 09:43 PM
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#1 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 853
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EARLY ADOPTER HERE!!! - I just said SCREW IT and bought one....
Ok, so I went to the neighborhood SAMY'S Camera on Fairfax here in Los Angeles today to pick up an ARRI 650w bulb because we burnt one out during the festival last weekend......I went to the Pro lighting dept. on the 4th floor and grabed the bulb. On the way down I said "WHAT THE HECK" and decided to stop in at that Pro-Video depot.
As soon as I walk in, WHAM BAMMMM there they have a huge 50" plasma setup with an XL-H1 plugged in via component cables while they are shooting people in the store in 24p mode..... *sigh* What's a brutha to do.... It was just Callling me! CALLING ME!!! The sales rep then proceeds to pop a promo tape in of some footage......WOWOWOWOWOZERS!!!!!! Now, my Z1U footage is pretty, no denying that.....but this Canon XL-H1 footage is is absolutely STUPENDOUS!!!!!(sp?) in ALL MODES! "So do you have any in stock?" i ask. "Yep Shannon, we got 2 left." "DAMMIT, Why didn't you sell out...that would give me an excuse not to buy!! ummmm, ok, lemme call my wife....." *ring* *click* "Hey baby, how's your day going on the set of Rocky Balboa 6??" "Ummm, fine...what did you do???" "What do you mean, I can't just call you out of the blue and say hi honey bun sweetie pie??, i miss you!!" Ummmm, no....you sound like you wanna buy something again!" (I proceeded to give her the sales pitch of a lifetime...it was my best performance yet!) Needless to say......I packaged it up....and took it home. I was the 16th person to buy one he told me. and NO he didnt give me a deal like they usually do. "SORRY SHANNON, THESE PUPPIES ARE GOING FOR STICKER!" "Ok, whatever....Where's the bank so I can go snatch up some cash" and thats the story folks......Check it out...I took some flicks in my living room..... http://www.cinemahill.com/hidef/images/shansXLH1-a.jpg http://www.cinemahill.com/hidef/images/shansXLH1-b.jpg I was the first in America to buy the Sony Z1U (so i'm told) in January this year. Apparently I am one hundred or two hundred someting for the Canon, and I am here once again to serve my DVINFO community! The Z1U will go on eBay or I'll put it away next to my old XL1s, DVX100a, TRV17 (haven't decided yet). When the Panasonic HVX-200 comes out, I'm gonna buy one of those as well so I can see which is best for my production style. And then I'll sell the one I don't want on eBay or something. OK guys , so I am doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING this week, so fire your questions away! I'll see what I can do on answering the ones Pete & Chris hasn't answered already. - ShannonRawls.com
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Shannon W. Rawls ~ Motion Picture Producer & huge advocate of Digital Acquisition. |
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December 14th, 2005, 10:03 PM
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#2 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 216
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Before you get rid of that Z1U...
I (and I suspect others) would love to see some head-to-head comparisons of the Sony Z1U vs. the Canon XL-H1 in some similar situations. I'm thinking of buying one of them, and I really want to know if the H1 is worth twice the Z1U. Any chance of getting some of the following? Res charts for Z1U: 60i, 30"p", 25"p" vs. H1 60i, 30"p", 24"p" in identical situations? Similar comparison for some still color shots with a tripod and/or motion shots? Thanks in advance for anything you can provide, Bill |
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December 14th, 2005, 10:09 PM
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#3 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 547
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Wow Shannon, that was quick. I don't really have a test or anything in mind, but I'm curious: are you planning to use the XLH1 in HDV mode exclusively, or have you given any thought to using the HD-SDI capability?
It seems to me if you have the $10k lying around to consider an HVX200 as well, you could be well on your way to square pixel 1920x1080 4:2:2 uncompressed acquisition system with the XLH1. -Steve |
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December 14th, 2005, 10:21 PM
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#4 |
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Barry Wan Kenobi
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 3,863
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Congrats, Shannon! Methinks you're gonna like it! I have no doubt it'll pay for itself before too long as well (especially if you start selling off some of those older units -- are you setting up the 'Shannon Rawls Museum of Camcorder History' or something?) ;)
Do you have any optional lenses from the XL1s? Pete Bauer did some testing and found that he thought the old XL lenses gave acceptable results with the XL H1, so you might want to try the 3x or something if you've got it. I think that XL H1 produces the nicest footage of any HDV camera. Lookin' forward to seeing some of the stuff you shoot on it! |
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December 14th, 2005, 10:26 PM
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#5 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 853
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William,
Res charts....man.....I don't have one of those, and if I did, I wouldn't know what to do with it. LOL Give me something easier, like shoot a goldfish swimming in a bowl or something. *smile* Steven, I will more then likely use the camera in HDV mode. For all practical purposes HDV IS FINE....i'll say again....for pratical movie-making...HDV IS EXCELLENT. For those that forgot they loved DV and are now all of a sudden too good and upity for HDV, lemme say one more time.... HDV IS BETTER THEN DV...PERIOD! However, I may buy one of those Wafian thingys from David Newman: http://www.cineform.com/products/WafianHR1.htm Now, as far as $$$ laying around....oh no sir...I don't even have loose change in the seat of my car! I just put what little I have to good use to help me survive in America and live a 1/2 decent lifestyle. that's all. I am not materialistic, i don't buy fancy clothes or waste money on expensive restaurants. I leave that for my wanna-be actors to do. *smile* Barry, A camera Shrine? I should create one huh... I havn't sold one yet, but $9,000 grand hit to the savings account is hell noticable in my online banking! LOL I have no lenses from the XL1s, we always rented them. I will see how it pans out for this camera if a DP/Director calls for it. I'm moreso enthusiastic about a MINI/MICRO 25 solution and to see how that works out. Best of the HDV footage? you think so? Even better then the JVC??????? Hmmmmm, i dunno, but i damn sure hope so. - ShannonRawls.com
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Shannon W. Rawls ~ Motion Picture Producer & huge advocate of Digital Acquisition. |
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December 14th, 2005, 10:33 PM
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#6 |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Alabama
Posts: 165
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Congrats, Shannon. Well if you could shoot someone with alot of hair detail against a blue/greenscreen, that would be neat.
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December 14th, 2005, 10:42 PM
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#7 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 853
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Just thought of something.....
As I look at this camera sitting on the floor doing nothing and most likely it probably won't be doing anything for a good while, I just realized that my geekness is not as high as I wish it was...... Why don't some of our beloved Camera Scientists hit me up if you're in L.A. We can hook up and do whatever. Shoot whatever. Record whatever. Capture whatever. Edit whatever. I don't mind slaping a few hours on the drum for the good of mankind. - ShannonRawls.com
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Shannon W. Rawls ~ Motion Picture Producer & huge advocate of Digital Acquisition. |
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December 15th, 2005, 12:08 AM
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#8 |
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Inner Circle
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 2,488
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Would love to see some side-by-side low light tests comparing the XL-H1 to the Z1U and any DV cameras you have available. One shot with gain locked at 0 db on all the cameras, and one shot with plenty of gain to see what kind of image you can get in the lowest usable lighting. Preferably with a person in the shot in a room with maybe one dim light, or candles.
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December 15th, 2005, 01:25 AM
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#9 |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 122
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This weekend is totally booked up for me... maybe can squeeze out some time on friday... but I got a lot of shopping to do....
yes, please shoot a rez chart, try this http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/re...1956-small.jpg or this http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/respat/ |
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December 15th, 2005, 02:28 AM
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#10 |
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Tourist
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Burbank CA
Posts: 3
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Canon XL H1 Initial observation by Mike Curtis
24F is very very much akin to the motion characteristics of the CineFrame mode on the Sony. It might be sharper, using some better field blending characteristics, it might be doing some different exposure timing, but watching the 24p footage at 60i (as it is recorded) was not Not NOT a cool thing. The motion was inconsistent in a painfully obvious way to my eye. Steady pans had a gallopy nature to them.
exposure lattitude is dissapointing -especially highlight blowout - the detail is VERY impressive, however that this captures. - HDV, especially if this is second or third recompression, was alarming - skies had a dance to them, a compression flicker, ALWAYS. Check the whole article http://www.hdforindies.com/ |
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December 15th, 2005, 02:38 AM
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#11 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Grass Valley, California
Posts: 350
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Thanks for the post Shannon. Could you spare a plane ticket from Northern CA. and a cozy couch to crash on? ;:) Would love to check this camera out- being an XL2 owner with a 20x and 3x wide lense, I would love to capture some images and fiddle around on the G5 with FCP 5....see what comes of it. I still find myself on the Canon/Panasonic fence. Are you seeing any mpeg artifacts with fast motion? Do you have speedy goldfish??? : )
larry |
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December 15th, 2005, 03:13 AM
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#12 | |
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Major Player
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 853
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Quote:
Listen to me. And I hope I am clear as Crystal. I, Shannon W. Rawls of sound mind and body. Own both the Sony HVR-Z1U and Canon XL-H1 HD cameras that belong to me and only me. I have not "seen" or "tested" or "fiddled with" these cameras at some presentation or 'show' for a few minutes. and I can PROMISE YOU with ALL ASSURITY that after witnessing the picture of both cameras back to back using component(RGB) cables on my 19" DELL HDTV .... THAT THE CF24 MODE ON THE Z1U.... IS ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NOTHING LIKE..... not even REMOTELY. THE PICTURE THAT THE 24f (in manual mode with the shutter speed locked @ 48) LOOKED LIKE! : beleive me : CF24 footage looks like Re-Run doing the Pop-Lock from "What's Happening" while 24f looks like beautiful ballet dancing. and personally in my opinon, either the report was suspect (and I doubt that because HD for Indies is a reputable website with no reason to lie or hate on a particular company/product) or, which i beleive, the camera was set wrong and OBVIOUSLY the DVCPRO-HD created footage from this HDV camera that he watched was done wrong. but what do I know.... I'm just a silly kid playing with toys. *smile* Let's all wait for Barry Green, Jon Fordham, DSE, Steve Mullen, David Newman & Chris Hurd to test it first. They will tell the TRUTH and you can be sure they'll set the camera CORRECTLY. Larry, LOL - ShannonRawls.com MICHAEL PAPPAS...Yea you down below this post......I figured I'd edit this post rather then start a new one since we're next to eachother and I hate cluttering up message boards. *smile*... Answer: ABSOLUTELY you can use my photo bro! Chris, you can too (if you wanna report on the camera and a beloved dvinfo user like you did me in January!) *smile* And let me know (chris and mickael) if there's anything else I can do for you guys.
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Shannon W. Rawls ~ Motion Picture Producer & huge advocate of Digital Acquisition. Last edited by Shannon Rawls; December 15th, 2005 at 03:58 AM. |
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December 15th, 2005, 03:15 AM
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#13 | |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: California
Posts: 667
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Shannon, I'm so happy for you. The image is amazing on the Xlh1. The stuff that I shot at birns & sawyer blew me away as well others. I can't wait to see a film out from this camera.
Shannon can I possibly use one of your pics were your holding the camera for my web site's Hot News section? Again very happy for you; you have a powerful tool in your hands..... Please keep us up to date....... michael pappas Quote:
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December 15th, 2005, 03:56 AM
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#14 | |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Overland Park, KS
Posts: 32
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Quote:
You set that camera on the floor?!! LOL Jokes aside, I can't wait to hear more as you start "fiddling" with it a bit more. I've been looking into.. and looking into.. and well, dreaming about getting a HDV camera for some time, was pretty set on the Sony, but from the reports I hear is that the XLH1 is the hot ticket.... ah just mo money mo money mo money!!
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Rob @ Muchado Productions |
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December 15th, 2005, 07:03 AM
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#15 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: US & THEM
Posts: 827
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Hey Shannon; congratulations
I wonder if you can get hold of the Canon Manual lens and tell us all how much better? it is on the H1?
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John Jay Beware ***PLUGGER-BYTES*** |
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