Need Advice on Canon XH-A1 etc.

[Roger Wilson]

Originally Posted by Bill Pryor

I mentioned the Libec 22 as being barely adequate.
...
Still, if that's all a guy can afford at the time, you can make do with it. Better than shooting everything hand held.

When I got my A1, I looked at several different tripods. I had to balance budget with quality, therefore I settled on the Libec 22. I've been very happy with the tripod and I think its a great tripod to start out with.

[Steve Wolla]

Originally Posted by Alex Manning

Hello all, I just recently entered into the world of independent film making with my acquisition of the Canon XH-A1 (No Complaints yet) but I do have a few questions for your experts here at DVI. I plan on making documentaries and short films, but mostly the latter. Here are my questions:

1. I have multiple tripods lying around my home, however, I need a tripod that can pan and tilt fluidly and without any hiccups. Any suggestions? Is there a great tripod under two-hundred bucks that does this well? If I said fluid 2-way head would I be correct?

2. I've heard a lot about the dangers of using the camera's playback. Are these substantial claims? Will it kill the heads? Can I use it to move my footage onto my computer (via firewire)?

3. I purchased the Sony HDV 1080i tapes to use on my Canon XH-A1. So far they have worked fantastic. Lots of people warn against using a different brand of tapes on the same camera. Any thoughts?

4. I was told in a tutorial video, before you start to film on any video camera, to fast forward through the entire tape then completely rewind to adjust the tapes tension to the cameras liking - never heard of this before it was mentioned by the video instructor - anyone have an idea if this is true or practical?

Thanks for everything in guys...really appreciate the help.

With respect to "pre tensioning" the tapes....I recall that being done going all the way back to my audio days in thew mid-seventies (oops, I am dating myself).

Reason it was done then and recommended by the manufacturers of the day (Scotch, Ampex) was so that the tape would not stick to itself when recording. Reels of tape were not always stored under ideal conditions, there may be variations in humidity and / other factors that could cause the sticking and sometimes result in tape sticking and causing errors. I saw it most commonly recommended with use of open reel audio tapes, and cassettes.

I have not done it much in video lately, it doesn't seem as necessary, in part because mini DV tapes don't approach the tape speeds used in past tape formats, and improvements in manufacturing. You can do it today if you want, it will not hurt anything, but I d not beleive it's necessary.