I'm buying an A1 at tapeworks Texas, and will have it on Tuesday. We shoot weddings and other events and, for ceremonies and multi cam shoots, have been using the H1 as main cam, sony FX1 as second and HV10 as third. My Sony needs repair so will be out of commission for god knows how long...
I down loaded the manual for the A1, and it looks like we shouldn't have any problems. I wanted to direct a few questions to those of you who have shot with both cameras (Steven Dempsey, Marty Hudzik,Steve Rosen, etc.).
1- I read the thread months back about matching presets from both cameras. Is there a consensus/ formula about how to convert H1 presets to A1? I see there are downloads available, but I have several of my own presets (which date back to my XL2 days) and would obviously like to be able to match both cameras.
2-I didn't see anything about Phantom power in the manual. I hope I missed it, because I can't imagine not having that feature.
3- I see that there is no full gain control switch, like on the H1. But since it has the same basic three position gain switch as the Sony, my second shooter should be ok. Bummer that you have to go into the menu, though.
4- I'd appreciate hearing about any other issues that you guys have encountered when shooting with both.
Thanks
Bruce S. Yarock
www.yarock.com

...<snip>...2-I didn't see anything about Phantom power in the manual. I hope I missed it, because I can't imagine not having that feature...<snip>...




Check page 11 of the manual. There is a diagram of the camera and if you look for description #15, there is the locater for the +48 Phantom power switch.

...gain control switch... Bummer that you have to go into the menu, though.Don't know what you mean by that, sorry. Use the switch to activate gain, not the menu.

David,
Thanks.
Chris,
What I meant was that it would be nice to have the same kind of gain knob as on the XL2 an XLH1. The set up on the A1 is the same as on the Sony, though, so that won't be any big change.
Bruce S. Yarock
www.yarock.com

I had the same issues when moving from the xl2
it is a pain, but will get used to it. One of my biggest issues is the lack of noticable rec led on the cam (like the XL has under the LCD) this only has onscreen labels which stinks when you want to turn them off.

I'm still an XL fan myself.. I've been using the A1 for about a year and I'm just now getting used to the transition.