record to sd card

custom keys able to record / pause - there is no easy record /pause for the left hand when the right is on the tripod

custom keys able to turn on/off image stabilization

i have a few other little bugs but they are the main ones

A button on the remote to bring power back on to camera when it goes into sleep mode after the 8 mins or whatever the default is.

There's a rec/pause button on the top handle

You can de-activate this in the menu.

So did anyone bug the Canon folks at NAB 2008? I know updating cameras isn't common (yet), but camcorders have become so ITcentric these days I don't think it would be that earth shattering anymore. My HD DVD players, Blu-Ray players, PS3 and iPod were/are all updatable through either direct download, CD images or SD card files. I think its safe to say we've reached the point where we know how to copy some files onto an SD card and then not turn off the power of the device during an update ;)

Come on Canon, its 2008, not 1988.

Hey Bill... do you think it's okay to deactive the sleep mode altogether? I'm assuming there is a sleep mode for a reason. I think I've read it is so the tape drum doesn't wear out. I certainly don't want to do any damage to my camera... but this sleep mode is VERY ANNOYING for me since I shoot myself, by myself.. A LOT!

Spot focus?
 

I'm surprised no one asked for spot focus, or for the ability to choose the size/position of the focus area.

I need that for the wildlife video I like to shoot. I wrote to Canon about it and I was told my idea would get passed on to the firmware folks.

Jay

Deke, I must have missed this when posted. Refer to page 28 in the manual (at least in the pdf manual), if you haven't discovered this already. You can deactivate the Power Save function and assign the VCR Stop function to a custom key.

Jay, nice idea, but I can't imagine that being able to be done only through a firmware update. I would think the hardware would have to be re-tooled for something like that.

It -appears- pretty easy to do spot focus in firmware actually. Right now they use a pretty large rectangle of the captured area to determine focus, all they have to do is first allow it to have more than one size and then allow it to have a different position and move the lens accordingly.

They currently have a rectangular region defined for auto focus. For my purposes I need it smaller and to work like the regions in my Nikon D200. If my understanding is correct embedded firmware (somewhere in the system) is deciding when the camera is in focus.

Sorry if this has been posted, but the ability to output raw, uncompressed video to hard disk would be sweet.

Um... could you clarify that? The camcorder already outputs 4:2:2 uncompressed video over component output. Firewire is limited by hardware and/or standards to pump out HDV only (even *if* someone could output uncompressed output over Firewire there'd be no receiving hardware that would know what to do with that signal). Not sure what else can be done beyond that...

Already a feature in the XH G1 via SDI.

Also possible with XH-A1 via Componant cable, with a suitable A/D capture card?

Focus Ring Speed
 

My camera operator complains about the very sensitive focus ring. It makes it tricky to focus accurately on tracking and panning shots. It would be nice if they address this in any firmware upgrades and give you a very slow and extremely slow option for focus control speed.

Stuart, there already is one... in the Custom Functions in the menu (Normal, Slow)