Still image recording with EOS lens
 

H1 does not let you capture still photos to the card with the XL to EF adaptor even with the professional L series canon lens. Is there a way around this problem beside frame grab from the tape? The resolution from my canon 70-200/2.8 is simply fantastic, yet won't let me capture stills, which is a bit sad, but not a complaint, maybe someone has found a way around?

That is certainly an annoyance. The only lens with which you can capture a still photo to the SD card on the XL H1 is the stock 20x HD lens. All other XL lenses, plus any EOS lens with the EF adapter, return the error of "this lens has no still shooting capability."

Updated 2006.05.14 -- incorrect, see http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....4&postcount=13 below

Interesting. Unlike Sony, whom has to be careful not to undercut their high-end market with their HDV camera's, you would think that Canon is free to go as far as it wants. However, since I shoot with canon digital stills (a G5 and EOS-1Ds), are they worried about taking business from that market with an HDV camera that will pull double-duty? Ah, maybe I'm blowing smoke but it does seem somewhat a deliberate limitation?

EOS lens on XLH1
 

I noticed you used an EF lens on the XLH1. Do you know how the mm translate in comparison to the stock 20x? Also, do you keep servo zoom and autofocus?

thanks.

Since there is no zoom motor on any EOS photo lens, that means the zoom rocker on the XL H1 body can serve no purpose for these lenses. Therefore all zooming must be performed manually.

You lose any AF function but if the lens has IS you get to keep that.

The 35mm equivalent for the stock 20x HD lens is 38.9mm to 778mm.

Multiply the focal length of any 35mm lens by a factor of 7.2 times to yield the equivalent field of view when mounted on an XL H1. In other words, a 50mm EOS prime gives the same results as a 360mm lens when mounted on the H1. An 18mm lens delivers 130mm, a 200mm gives you 1440mm and so on.

EF lenses on XL
 

Thanks for the fast response.

I just want to make sure i'm understanding this correctly....

so, a 300mm EF lens, would be 216mm on the XLH1, about 3x tighter than the HD20x?

2160mm Sandor! Extreme telephoto.

All EOS lenses become telephoto on the Canon XL camcorders.

For the XL H1, multiply the focal length of the 35mm lens by 7.2 times.

That's the equivalent when you put it on the XL H1. So a 300mm lens is like a 2160mm telescope.

Even if you had a wide angle 18mm, it looks like 130mm telephoto on the XL H1.

EOS lenses on XLH1
 

Thank you all for you quick help, that's a great help in my decision making process. Just to fill you in. I am using 6 - XLH1 to cover a musical performance (i am replacing my Sony Z1U's). The tight shot i need from back of house is just a little shy of making it. I was debating using a 1.6x converter just to get me a little more reach, but i can't find one i'm happy with. I am hoping that using an EF lens that give me just a little more range than the stock 108mm will do the trick.

Do any of you have any experience with those lenses on an H1? I want to make sure i can make the pictures match.

Sandor

Picture match should not be a problem, but as long as you remember this becomes a compleatly manual lens and difficult to pull focus while rolling.

Not to mention, nearly impossible to smoothly change focal length (zooming) while rolling.

Picture match may actually very well be a problem. I've used both the stock 16x IS II zoom and a variety of EF lenses on my XL-1s, and there's a distinctly different look to the footage taken with the EF lenses. It's more contrasty and leans slightly towards a greenish hue, whereas the stock lens leans toward red, in my experience. I've therefore grown accustomed to manually whitebalance between shots, using a grey card.

This issue is less pronounced when using automatic white balance, but more than likely you'd want to stay away from that feature when filming a stage performance.

Of course, this situation may have changed with the XL-H1. Maybe someone with hands-on experience can chime in (Lauri Kettunen)?

HTH,

Ron

Wanted to revisit this subject because I gave some misinformation earlier.

My reply which was in error:

Boy, was I wrong about this -- yes you *can* record still images to the SD card with any lens including all 35mm EOS still photo lenses. There's a very simple trick which allows you to do this.

First, locate the Tape / Card switch on the camera and set it to Tape. Yes that's Tape, not Card.

Next, go to the Menu under Recording Setup and select "Still I. Rec" to On, or if you want, to On + CP Data. Then set the image size and quality, also in the Recording Setup menu. Size L (1920x1080), Quality SF (least compression) is the way to go.

What this does is it enables still photo recording to the memory card even though the camera is in the Tape (not Card) recording mode. That's it, now you can record still photos to the memory card no matter which lens is on the XL H1. If you had selected Card recording, you'd be limited to using only the stock 20x HD lens that came with the camera (presumably because it has a mechanical shutter and all the other lenses to date do not). However with the camera set to Tape recording and the Still Image Record option selected, you can get a still image on the card with any lens. If you chose the "On + CP Data" option, then the camera writes whatever custom preset data you're currently using as additional files which go with that image. You get a text file detailing the CP settings and a .CPF file that you can transfer to and from any XL H1, making it easy to share presets with others. Very handy, very powerful.

The only real drawback to this method involves the way the camera processes the still image. When set to Card record mode, the XL H1 processes the image as a still photo with the correct color space for printing a hard copy... in other words, processed as a photograph. When set to Tape record mode, the XL H1 processes the image as a frame grab in the correct color space for video, which is different from photo. You can print this image but it won't look the same as it would have looked when processed in camera as a still photo, because they are after all two completely different color spaces.

Chris, if I set the "Still I. Rec" to On, does this effect the still recording on the card in the standard mode or would I have to go back to the menu and set it back to use the std lens card mode? Also will the color space effect the resolution loss? .... Man, am I lazy!!

Hi Bill,

Sorry but I'm not sure what you mean by "does this effect the still recording on the card in the standard mode." Do you mean the non-HD standard definition DV mode, or the standard Card recording mode? Either way there is no difference... once the Still Image Record option is selected, it's available in either HD or DV mode and it doesn't affect Card recording at all. When you switch the camera to Card record mode, it will adjust to whatever settings you previously specified for that mode and process the image as a printable still photo.

Color space does not affect still image resolution loss. Unfortunately even the "Super Fine" quality setting, which is the best available in the H1, will in fact exhibit some typical JPEG artifacts. I wish there was a RAW mode on this thing like other Canon D-SLRs and certain PowerShot digicams.

Color space shouldn't be much of a problem. I assume the color space of the video is NTSC and simply translate this to my working space when opening the images in PhotoShop. From there you can go to sRGB or Adobe RGB or whatever space you need for your particular purpose.

Michael Morcombe
 

Newcomer to DVi, perusing old postings, so hope this is not too late to be of any use.
When taking stills on card with suppied 20x zoom, there are momentary interruption as black 'curtains' cover the viewfinder. sort of shutter symbol to show that pic has been recorded. From memory does not happen in suggested method (previous post) of still photo with other lenses, however the pic is there on the card.

With action shooting, this has advantage theres no blackout while trying to follow subject.

But there's other ways of getting stills. On can re-play tape in camera and press still photo button, in which case the camera does show the black curtains which indicate picture recorded. Advantage of this method, is that best instant of still photo can be obtained by replaying that part of video several times over, and make as many still shots until the best moment is captured. One can use the camera's remote to step frame by fram or set to slow replay to pick the precise moment to record the stills, or get a frame-by frame sequence of stills, to the card. To do it while filming just adds another complexity to focussing, zooming etc. To see stills in this case, re-set switch (below photo button) to card, and step thu the stills. But as those stills are copied off tape, a jpeg of tape data thats already compressed, maybe quality is less than if photo was direct to card? (which is jpeg direct from original image?)

My preferred method however is to import parts of tape into computer (imovie on Mac), where one can choose still photo moment by replaying frame by frame the segment of tape, then save frame as a PICT, file, which means, I think, no further compression other than that which occured in recording to tape.

However if recording to external drive via the HD/SDI output, one could presumably (via imovie or other) then save selected still photos as pict or other uncompressed file. I wonder whether anyone has experimented with this.

Even as stills off tape, the results are excellent, suitable for say, up to 1/2 page (say 14 to 20 cm diagonal) book illustrations (especially with a little in-computer sharpening.

Ron, the image of EF-lenses and the standard 20x lens is indeed slightly different. The white balance, constrast and sharpness are not the same. For my own needs, wildlife documents, this is not a real problem.

I've stored the signal from HD-SDI output to Cineform Prospect AVI files, and then exported the corresponding frames to Photoshop. Such "still" images appear just wonderful and as good as those taken with the still image option of XL H1.