Canon hx a1 quest?
 

Hello all,

As you can see this is my first post and first is always first :-) My name is tunin and I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am primarily and totally in the field of photography. I am a member of numerous forums and the one I hang on the most is photography-on-the-net :-)

I am here to ask a question and I did my search and research before I get jumped. I've been reading for the whole day trying to help my parish get their first DV cam.

I see this is a very visited and well informative forum so I hope I get a straight to the point answer.


Our budget is 2000 Euros, we wanna buy a dv cam. to shoot talks and conferences. We don't need HD (but I think we should go with something that has HD as we wanna use this camera for a while and I would think they need to be able to if need be).

I was looking at the XL1s (found used in good shape for 1500Euros) for a while and after reading and reading I jumped to the XH-A1 (found one for 2100Euros, in like new condition) and but after reading about the EF adapter (we have a bunch of eos L glass from 15mm prime to the 300 f/2.8) jumped to the XL2 (found one used for 2500 euros). And now I don't know what to do. I don't think the EF lenses should be the factor to go with the xl2 and I don't know if the xl1s is a camera that will last with all the issues I've read about (the FW board)...

Could someone help me with this. THANK YOU in advance and I apologize about my poor English.

Regards,

a confused amateur photographer lost in the video world :-)

Hi Baltazar..........
 

Just musings to test the water.

Is that 2000 EU the budget for everything or just the cam?

IE. Are items like tripods, lights, mics, dolleys etc on top or included?

XL1s - great cam in it's day but definately past it now - nope.

XL2 - No HD and about to go the way of the XL1s, and I can't really see the need for any extra glass to shoot talks and conferences - nope.

Talks and conferences:

- numerous speakers in numerous places - one cam? Can't see it.

- Indoors, less than perfect lighting for any of the cams mentioned, or indeed anything else I can think of within the budget.

Just a thought - why not two (or more) of the Canon HV/ HG units and throw a wadge of dosh at decent lighting?

Not perfect, but then again, neither is the budget.

I'm sure you'll get many other suggestions.


CS

The fact that you can use Canon still camera lenses on an XL1 is meaningless unless you are a wildlife photographer or something like that. There is about a 7 times multiplication factor between 35mm lenses and a video camera with 1/3" chips. For example, a 50 mm lens from your still camera would be about the same as a 350 mm lens on the video camera. So except for extreme telephoto shots, the ability to use those lenses is not very practical in the real world.

If you can get an XH A1 in good condition, it would be best, I think. Even if you shoot SD over HD, it has 16:9 chips for the widescreen format.

Thank zou. This was helpfull. I will go with the A1 and hope to get another one in the near future with some lights.

Is 2000 Euros a good buy on a used (year old or so) A1?

The one thing I don-t understand is why does the A1 lack a USB&fw interface!? Do they sell something separate for that opt.

Canon XH A1 HD Camcorder - Canon Ireland

Hello Baltazar,

The Canon XH series camcorders do in fact include FireWire. On the specifications page, this capability is listed as "DV in / out." That is in reference to a standard 6-pin FireWire connector on the current XH A1S and XH G1S camcorders, and a standard 4-pin FireWire connector on the older XH A1 and XH G1 camcorders.

USB is not used to move video data from tape-based camcorders, so there has never been a provision for USB on the Canon XH series. Hope this helps,

Thank you. I was looking for fw/fireware word on that specs. page. I feel so dumb asking all these questions but I go by this line "there is no dumb question..." :-)

No problem, Baltazar... that is our motto here as well. The only dumb question is the one that is not asked. Welcome to DV Info Net,

Thanks again.

Another question: Is there a side by side review between the xh-a1 and the xh-a1s. What are the main differences?