Changing display settings
 

I must be doing something wrong. I've made a set of display settings I want, but I can't seem to get rid of the pesky zoom slider display.

Bill, I think I have an answer for you, but first, can you go ahead and upload your display files? They should be on your SD card -- if you have an SD card reader so you can move them to your computer -- look in the DISP folder on that card and attach the DISP01.CHF and DISP01.TXT files to your reply (use the "Manage Attachments" button when you're submitting a reply).

Change the zoom slider to a zoom number (arbitrary scale of 0 to 99):

Go to Customize > Custom Function > CnF1 > Tune > Postion 12: Zoom Indicator

Set to Option 01: Number > Return > Apply This Set > Acvtive > Return

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Get rid of zoom indicator entirely:

Go to Customize > Custom Display > Tune > Position 03: Zoom

Set to Option 00: Off > Return > Save to Card > OK > Return

...or just toggle the "Display" button 3 times

...that gets rid of everything. The idea of Custom Displays is to keep only the info you want on the screen. If you still want to get rid of all of it at any time, you can always hit that display button.

If I push it once I get everything, if I push it twice the zoom slider and battery level go away, if I push it a third time everything goes away.

That's right, and Custom Displays let you define precisely what that "everything" is. That's the whole point of this discussion.

Correction: there are *four* stages that the Disp. button cycles through.

First: Everything (defined by your choices in the Display Setup menu)
Second: Only your desired info, as defined in the Custom Display menu.
Third: Guides only (markers and aspect ratios, from Display Setup menu)
Fourth: All Off

See attached pics (click each to view large) -- Hope this helps,

Thanks. I think I've done just what you recommended, but I better double check. I don't have an SD card reader now, just a CF.

I tweaked all the display settings the way I want and everything works properly--except for the zoom bar. I can't get rid of it, no can I change it to just numbers, although if you turn the wheel off manual to one of the automatic shooting functions, it goes away.

Also I thought I'd be able to assign the stabilizer on/off function to one of the custom key buttons, but they're limited in only accepting a limited set of functions, apparenlty.

These aren't big deals, just minor irritants. I've been fooling with the camera all afternoon and so far it's great. I really like the lens and focusing capability. The peaking and magnify switches are excellent. The LCD may be small but it looks great compared to others I've seen. Hopefully before the weekend's over I can shoot some real world things other than kitchen chairs and the back yard. I did find a regular eyecup that hopefully will fit over the one that's on the viewfinder--it's not so good if you wear glasses. The one I found says it's for a VX2000 and a GL2. If it's a little small it looks like it can stretch a bit.

I'm surprised Canon didn't think that stabilizer might be something that people would want to add to the custom buttons...

Personally I'm constantly turning it on and off as the camera comes off or goes on the tripod.

A significant portion of the XH feature set is lifted directly from the XL camcorder line, including the Custom Key options. I guess I never made a big deal about this before the release of the A1, because from my point of view, Custom Keys weren't any different from the XL line so they weren't really worth talking about. However for somebody unfamiliar with the XL series Custom Keys, I can understand the confusion. The deal with the original XL Custom Keys, were that they allowed immediate access to some items that were buried within the menu. On the XL cameras, OIS was not a menu item but a phyical switch on the lens. Now the XH Custom Keys are an exact duplicate of the XL Custom Keys. But alas, the physical switch for OIS is gone from the XH cameras. If the OIS switch had been mapped to a Custom Key, that would have been big news and I would have reported it. I guess I should have reported that the OIS switch is *not* available as a Custom Key, but I never thought of it in that regard. I thought of it only as, "well, Custom Keys are just the same as the XL cameras." Sorry about that,

No big deal. The camera looks so good that it wouldn't have been a deal-killer had I known about it in the first place. It would be very nice to have an external switch, but I've shot lots of stuff with the DSR250 and I've already found that it's a lot easier to jump in the A1 menu, go down one heading to "camera settings" and turn it on and off. The DSR250 buries it and it's hard to find. So it's something I would like to have, but it's a minor thing. It takes me under 10 seconds to make the change here. I think with the 250 it was always 2 or 3 times as long to do the same thing.

What's really annoying to me is that there's plenty of real estate available on the XH body for a physical OIS switch... right where the "Fluorite 20x" logo is... a matter of the manufacturer's priorities, I guess.

Yep, there's room for it. But also, if they can give me time code switch access on a custom key, they ought to be able to give me the same thing with the stabilizer. I like being able to set time code without having to go hunt for it, but given one or the other, I'd take the stabilizer over time code. Maybe they'll have a software upgrade eventually to do that, you think? That would be very cool.

Anyway, the camera is so cool, the image so good, and the price so reasonable that I can't really complain much. This is my first non-Sony camera purchase since 1985, and so far I'm a happy camper. Watching composite out on a home TV, non-HD, non-wide screen, shows better latitude and color than I expected. I'm at home and have no way to load anything here to post it, but I shot some stuff out the double glass doors of the kitchen, exposed for the exterior, and the inside shadowed dark oak cabinet with dark tile backsplash looked the way it should, even with the mild pressing of the blacks I had cranked in.