shot my first HD wedding... at DVinfo.net

Yang Wen · December 2nd, 2007, 01:36 AM

Rented two XL H1s for today wedding. Came away very dissapointed.

1) The camera was waaayy too heavy. I use the tripod as little as possible so for my style, the extra weight and the ENG/shoulder mount shooting style was a hinder.

2) The viewfinder sucked! I had the eyecup flipped so the VF was small and didn't have enough resolution. Image in the viewfinder was very smeary, even with shutter at 1/48. As a result, while shooting outdoor dance activities, it was diffcult to judge focus on a fast moving subject. I know peaking is suppose to make it easier to focus but it seemed to me everything had peaked edges, I couldn't tell which edges were in focus. <- I think this also had to do with the low res VF..

3) The ND filter design is poor. When zooming & manual focusing with the lens barrel rings at the same time, I found myself inadverdently engaging ND on many occasions. Also why do we need to turn the ring so much to engage the various ND levels? A simple lever with small range of movement would be best.

4) The lens is not wide enough. This coming from a person who usually shoot weddings with the DVX.

5) Servo-only zoom felt very awkward. Having gotten used to the manual zoom on the DVX(which I use 99.9% of the time), the servo zoom on the XL H1 felt like molases - even on the highest speed. As a result, I couldn't do any snap zooms as a shooting style or for focus check.

So it seemed to me the XLH1 is not very "event coverage" friendly. I want to upgrade to HD next year so the XLH1 will defintely not be considered. Does the XHA1 have big improvements over the XLH1 on the aforementioned points?

Kenny Shem · December 2nd, 2007, 09:14 AM

I had no experience with XL-H1, I'm using XH-A1. Instead of using peaking, why not try magnify. I prefer to use that though. I have no issue with the ND thingy.
XL-H1 is more suitable to be used on tripod or on Steadicam, given the heavy weight, it will give smooth dolly shot.
I think the issue here is you had chosen the wrong equipment for your usage. A1 is more suitable for wedding especially when you are always on the move.

Yang Wen · December 2nd, 2007, 10:13 AM

Yeah, I've already reached the conclusion that the H1 is not a friendly camera for run n' gun videographers.

I guess my key questions are:

1) Is the LCD on the XHA1 much better than the XLH1? Does it leave motion trail/smear like it does on the XLH1? My DVX100's LCD exhibited no smearing whatsoever and the image on the LCD was a very close representation of the actual video.

2) I assume the XHA1 has the same type of servo zoom as on the XLH1. Is it identical in response speed?

December 2nd, 2007, 01:36 AM	#1
Yang Wen Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 991	shot my first HD wedding... Rented two XL H1s for today wedding. Came away very dissapointed. 1) The camera was waaayy too heavy. I use the tripod as little as possible so for my style, the extra weight and the ENG/shoulder mount shooting style was a hinder. 2) The viewfinder sucked! I had the eyecup flipped so the VF was small and didn't have enough resolution. Image in the viewfinder was very smeary, even with shutter at 1/48. As a result, while shooting outdoor dance activities, it was diffcult to judge focus on a fast moving subject. I know peaking is suppose to make it easier to focus but it seemed to me everything had peaked edges, I couldn't tell which edges were in focus. <- I think this also had to do with the low res VF.. 3) The ND filter design is poor. When zooming & manual focusing with the lens barrel rings at the same time, I found myself inadverdently engaging ND on many occasions. Also why do we need to turn the ring so much to engage the various ND levels? A simple lever with small range of movement would be best. 4) The lens is not wide enough. This coming from a person who usually shoot weddings with the DVX. 5) Servo-only zoom felt very awkward. Having gotten used to the manual zoom on the DVX(which I use 99.9% of the time), the servo zoom on the XL H1 felt like molases - even on the highest speed. As a result, I couldn't do any snap zooms as a shooting style or for focus check. So it seemed to me the XLH1 is not very "event coverage" friendly. I want to upgrade to HD next year so the XLH1 will defintely not be considered. Does the XHA1 have big improvements over the XLH1 on the aforementioned points?

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December 2nd, 2007, 09:14 AM	#2
Kenny Shem Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Singapore Posts: 163	I had no experience with XL-H1, I'm using XH-A1. Instead of using peaking, why not try magnify. I prefer to use that though. I have no issue with the ND thingy. XL-H1 is more suitable to be used on tripod or on Steadicam, given the heavy weight, it will give smooth dolly shot. I think the issue here is you had chosen the wrong equipment for your usage. A1 is more suitable for wedding especially when you are always on the move.

December 2nd, 2007, 10:13 AM	#3
Yang Wen Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 991	Yeah, I've already reached the conclusion that the H1 is not a friendly camera for run n' gun videographers. I guess my key questions are: 1) Is the LCD on the XHA1 much better than the XLH1? Does it leave motion trail/smear like it does on the XLH1? My DVX100's LCD exhibited no smearing whatsoever and the image on the LCD was a very close representation of the actual video. 2) I assume the XHA1 has the same type of servo zoom as on the XLH1. Is it identical in response speed?