Anyone Using a Vixia HF series for Professional work?

Dean Sensui · September 19th, 2010, 04:19 AM

Here is some underwater footage taken with a Canon Vixia HF21.

It's in an Ikelite housing, fitted with a WP80 wide-angle port.

http://hawaiigoesfishing.com/videos/dive.mov

This little camera is truly amazing!

Robin Davies-Rollinson · September 19th, 2010, 05:34 AM

Very good indeed!
I really enjoyed watching that as well - although you'd never get me down there!

Gary Nattrass · September 25th, 2010, 12:19 PM

I use my HF11 for behind the scene shoots and it makes very nice pictures, I record at 1920x1080i 24mbs and transcode to pro res LT.

Once the final edit is done I export in pro res LT 1920x1080 25p and it always looks very good to me, here is an example of a commercial shoot we did, it was very low light at times but the HF11 was ideal to show the shoot.

YouTube - British Beef Jerky Shoot 7-8-09

Dean Sensui · September 26th, 2010, 12:57 AM

Nice quality.

British cowboys. Who would have thought?!

Gan Eden · September 26th, 2010, 07:28 AM

HF S20 anyone?

Dave Blackhurst · September 27th, 2010, 12:48 PM

Interesting touches with the Cactus and the "cattle" skull (isn't that a urdu or something in the gazelle family?)!

Paul Cronin · September 27th, 2010, 03:02 PM

Amazing little cameras. I have an HF10 and Ikelite housing that I used in pools over the last year for a contract. The footage was matched to EX1/Nano, F800, and PMW-350. You could not tell.

Bad plug: By the way this whole setup is in the classified for a killer deal.
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/private-...g-6090-wa.html

Dave Burckhard · October 5th, 2010, 08:46 AM

While not an HF, I use an HG-21 in some projects. The HG performs similarly to the older HF cameras with the Digic II processor but uses an HDD or SD as media rather than just SD or internal memory alone. The latest use involved a presentation in a conference room where I used a Sony HVR-Z5U on the presenter. During the Q&A, I kept the camera locked on the presenter and from behind the Sony, I hand-held my HG-21 on those in the room asking questions. The Sony was picking up the presenter's answers with a wireless mic. The Canon was picking up questions with an affixed Rode VideoMic. In post, it took a little color correction to match the looks but not a big task. The difference in look between the two was not at all dissimilar to the eye especially when seen in a window on a computer screen.

The ability for one operator to use two cameras at once is a great feature of a camera as small as the Canon cameras and the performance of these little AVCHD units is remarkable.

Dave Burckhard

Gan Eden · October 6th, 2010, 09:05 AM

Can owners please share some pics??

Paul Cronin · October 6th, 2010, 09:25 AM

Gan this is a short for my family, by no means professional production. But it was all shot with the HF10 in 30p.. I also have some underwater pool clips and some nice offshore sunset clips. Don't forget to check out Dean's underwater clip at the top of this page.

Samba Making Miles By Paul Cronin On ExposureRoom

Christian Brown · October 7th, 2010, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gan Eden

Can owners please share some pics??

YouTube - UMD Generics - Pretty Wings - Spamfest 2010

YouTube - UNC Chapel Hill Wind Ensemble - Frank Ticheli's Symphony No. 2: III. Apollo Unleashed

Graham Hickling · October 11th, 2010, 09:19 PM

> If the source is flagged as interlaced when it isn't then that might be causing issues. It needs some investigation.

I'm coming late to this thread, but I believe the above comment nails it. I have a HF10 and initially was sad about the interlacing artifacts I was getting when using it in 24P or 30P. These were a consequence of the decoder I was using (Mainconcept, built into Adobe's CS suites) being fooled by a interlace flag. With a proper decode of the footage those artifacts disappear.

Paul Cronin · October 12th, 2010, 07:05 AM

Graham that is a great point to let people know. I have never had this problem with log and transfer in Final Cut.

Christian Brown · October 26th, 2010, 10:53 AM

I would like to my ad to my evaluation of the HF100 (and VIXIAs at-large) that you should never ever shoot in 24p. It adds a blurrrrr.

For instance: YouTube - Maddy Curtis - Taylor the Latte Boy

And if you shoot in cinematic mode with VIXIAs, it seems to add even more...

Predrag Vasic · October 26th, 2010, 03:25 PM

The blur will only appear in marginal light, when the shutter speed is lowest. This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with 24p, since you could get just as much blur with 30p (or 60i), if you turn on the night mode, to allow longer shutter speeds.

Properly lighting what you shoot and perhaps selecting a higher shutter speed will eliminate blur at 24p. In fact, the owner's manual even states:

1/2*, 1/4*, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30
To record in dimly lit places.
1/60
To record under most ordinary conditions.
1/100
To record indoor sports scenes.
1/250, 1/500, 1/1000
To record from within a moving car or train or to
shoot fast-moving subjects such as roller
coasters.
1/2000
To record outdoor sports scenes on sunny days.

In 'Camera' mode, when the frame rate is set to
[ PF24], the shutter speeds available will
be the following: 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, 1/48, 1/60,
1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 and 1/2000.

Shooting at 1/2000 shutter speed will result in razor-sharp images at any frame rate. Obviously, you'll need plenty of light for that.

September 19th, 2010, 04:19 AM	#31
Dean Sensui Inner Circle Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 2,054	Here is some underwater footage taken with a Canon Vixia HF21. It's in an Ikelite housing, fitted with a WP80 wide-angle port. http://hawaiigoesfishing.com/videos/dive.mov This little camera is truly amazing! __________________ Dean Sensui Exec Producer, Hawaii Goes Fishing

September 25th, 2010, 12:19 PM	#33
Gary Nattrass Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cornsay Durham UK Posts: 1,992	I use my HF11 for behind the scene shoots and it makes very nice pictures, I record at 1920x1080i 24mbs and transcode to pro res LT. Once the final edit is done I export in pro res LT 1920x1080 25p and it always looks very good to me, here is an example of a commercial shoot we did, it was very low light at times but the HF11 was ideal to show the shoot. YouTube - British Beef Jerky Shoot 7-8-09 __________________ Over 15 minutes in Broadcast Film and TV production: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1044352/

September 26th, 2010, 12:57 AM	#34
Dean Sensui Inner Circle Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 2,054	Nice quality. British cowboys. Who would have thought?! __________________ Dean Sensui Exec Producer, Hawaii Goes Fishing

September 27th, 2010, 03:02 PM	#37
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Amazing little cameras. I have an HF10 and Ikelite housing that I used in pools over the last year for a contract. The footage was matched to EX1/Nano, F800, and PMW-350. You could not tell. Bad plug: By the way this whole setup is in the classified for a killer deal. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/private-...g-6090-wa.html __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

October 6th, 2010, 09:25 AM	#40
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Gan this is a short for my family, by no means professional production. But it was all shot with the HF10 in 30p.. I also have some underwater pool clips and some nice offshore sunset clips. Don't forget to check out Dean's underwater clip at the top of this page. Samba Making Miles By Paul Cronin On ExposureRoom __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com Last edited by Paul Cronin; October 6th, 2010 at 12:04 PM.

September 19th, 2010, 05:34 AM	#32
Robin Davies-Rollinson Trustee Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Gwaelod-y-garth, Cardiff, CYMRU/WALES Posts: 1,215	Very good indeed! I really enjoyed watching that as well - although you'd never get me down there!

September 26th, 2010, 07:28 AM	#35
Gan Eden Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Golden Outback, Australia Posts: 55	HF S20 anyone?

September 27th, 2010, 12:48 PM	#36
Dave Blackhurst Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Apple Valley CA Posts: 4,874	Interesting touches with the Cactus and the "cattle" skull (isn't that a urdu or something in the gazelle family?)!

October 5th, 2010, 08:46 AM	#38
Dave Burckhard Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 73	While not an HF, I use an HG-21 in some projects. The HG performs similarly to the older HF cameras with the Digic II processor but uses an HDD or SD as media rather than just SD or internal memory alone. The latest use involved a presentation in a conference room where I used a Sony HVR-Z5U on the presenter. During the Q&A, I kept the camera locked on the presenter and from behind the Sony, I hand-held my HG-21 on those in the room asking questions. The Sony was picking up the presenter's answers with a wireless mic. The Canon was picking up questions with an affixed Rode VideoMic. In post, it took a little color correction to match the looks but not a big task. The difference in look between the two was not at all dissimilar to the eye especially when seen in a window on a computer screen. The ability for one operator to use two cameras at once is a great feature of a camera as small as the Canon cameras and the performance of these little AVCHD units is remarkable. Dave Burckhard

October 6th, 2010, 09:05 AM	#39
Gan Eden Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Golden Outback, Australia Posts: 55	Can owners please share some pics??

October 11th, 2010, 09:19 PM	#42
Graham Hickling Trustee Join Date: May 2004 Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Posts: 1,669	> If the source is flagged as interlaced when it isn't then that might be causing issues. It needs some investigation. I'm coming late to this thread, but I believe the above comment nails it. I have a HF10 and initially was sad about the interlacing artifacts I was getting when using it in 24P or 30P. These were a consequence of the decoder I was using (Mainconcept, built into Adobe's CS suites) being fooled by a interlace flag. With a proper decode of the footage those artifacts disappear.

October 12th, 2010, 07:05 AM	#43
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Graham that is a great point to let people know. I have never had this problem with log and transfer in Final Cut. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

October 26th, 2010, 10:53 AM	#44
Christian Brown Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 194	I would like to my ad to my evaluation of the HF100 (and VIXIAs at-large) that you should never ever shoot in 24p. It adds a blurrrrr. For instance: YouTube - Maddy Curtis - Taylor the Latte Boy And if you shoot in cinematic mode with VIXIAs, it seems to add even more... __________________ http://artslaureate.com/, http://facebook.com/ArtsLaureate http://www.christianamonson.com/

October 26th, 2010, 03:25 PM	#45
Predrag Vasic Regular Crew Join Date: May 2009 Location: Manhattan Posts: 131	Well.... The blur will only appear in marginal light, when the shutter speed is lowest. This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with 24p, since you could get just as much blur with 30p (or 60i), if you turn on the night mode, to allow longer shutter speeds. Properly lighting what you shoot and perhaps selecting a higher shutter speed will eliminate blur at 24p. In fact, the owner's manual even states: 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30 To record in dimly lit places. 1/60 To record under most ordinary conditions. 1/100 To record indoor sports scenes. 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 To record from within a moving car or train or to shoot fast-moving subjects such as roller coasters. 1/2000 To record outdoor sports scenes on sunny days. In 'Camera' mode, when the frame rate is set to [ PF24], the shutter speeds available will be the following: 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, 1/48, 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 and 1/2000. Shooting at 1/2000 shutter speed will result in razor-sharp images at any frame rate. Obviously, you'll need plenty of light for that.