Z1 or XHG1

[Bob Zimmerman]

Douglas any word yet on how much noise with the Canon A1?

[Douglas R. Bruce]

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

The Z1 HDV looks very 960x1080 if you give it really hard stuff to compress (like lightning strikes) - big wide pixels. It's never quite been 'sharp'

That sounds a little "odd" to me. Most every instance that someone has said "the Z1 isn't sharp," it turns out that they've had stabilization enabled. This makes all the difference in the world.
As far as lightning strikes, I'd never shot these before, but have shot a lot of sparklers in complete darkness, as have other pre-production testers of the Z1. They are clean, crisp, and clear.

We just had a week of very intensive thunderstorms.
First time I've tried to record lightning with my Z1.
Whether it was at night or daytime the lightning bolts showed up clear and crisp - no sign of a stray pixel anywhere.

The point about the ImageStabilasation is a good one.
I know that it should be off when you use a tripod.
But I sometimes forget!
3 weeks ago I was watching a shrine gate in my viewfinder.... it started to sway back and forth?!
I thought.....oops Earthquake !
It wasn't. After a few moments I realised that I still had ImageStabilasation switched on.
Switch off! The "earthquake" stopped.

[Gints Klimanis]

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

That sounds a little "odd" to me. Most every instance that someone has said "the Z1 isn't sharp," it turns out that they've had stabilization enabled.

Are you talking about tripod or handheld ? Is this the classic problem of overcompensation of microvibrations on a tripod ?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Originally Posted by Gints Klimanis

Are you talking about tripod or handheld ? Is this the classic problem of overcompensation of microvibrations on a tripod ?

Gints,
I dunno. I'm not the one that said I thought the Z1 was soft.

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

As far as lightning strikes, I'd never shot these before, but have shot a lot of sparklers in complete darkness, as have other pre-production testers of the Z1. They are clean, crisp, and clear.

Hey Spot,

I've got a pitch black sparkler section of a wedding tommorow night, what were your settings on your z1, I was alternatively thinking of mounting my light on my camera?