Is it as hard for you to focus on the H1 as me? I just got an H1 and find it really hard to focus in 24f mode with the smearing in the viewfinder, the delay, and just the viewfinder in general. I was trying to do run and gun style shooting, so I didn't have too much time to tell the talent to "Stop! let me focus" every time... I was shooting in bright sunlight outdoors, with the 1/32 ND on, and was almost closed all the way down... Talent was walking down the street, and the smearing in the VF was awful! I just never could tell when I was in critical focus or not...

I love this camera other than the horrible viewfinder...

How can I be more like Steven Dempsey? :)

Does anyone have any suggestions for how they get along with the H1 better?

Changing viewfinders will be a big help... you'll find that the optionally available monochrome CRT viewfinder is a lot better than the stock color LCD viewfinder that comes with the camera.

Leave PEAKING on all the time..

get the B&W finder, if you can afford the cash and the weight...

buy the 6x WA, because momentary autofocus works effectively with that lens...

join the untold thousands protesting and carrying signs...

demanding that Canon introduce a NEW VIEWFINDER...

What about the "Smearing" that I'm talking about? Do any of you know what I mean? Would that go away on the B&W viewfinder, or is it just a Canon H1 thing?

Do you have "NR1" on in the Custom Preset?

If so, turn it off.

This may not be your problem, but NR1 will cause smearing, but I have never seen it in the viewfinder.

It is worth a test, turning it off.

What about the "Smearing" that I'm talking about?

Yes, smearing is somewhat a problem, and it gets even worse in cold conditions. The stock EVF is indeed bit akward to use, and the situation has been the same with XL1, XL2 and now with XL H1. However, although while shooting have had over and over again the akward feeling that the target is not in focus, eventually I've found that this happens very seldom. Amazingly enough, it's rare that the target is off-focus, and consequently, tend not to worry about the image on the EVF.

Just couple days ago I found another reason why there's always bit difficulties with the EVF. If you shoot moving objects --such as flying birds, running animals, etc.-- you'll need to manage with the EVF's considerable delay. During the week I was shooting a pendulum and realized the delay is somewhere around 0.1 seconds. Just try it: put anything hang to a string and make it swing. You'll get surprised. The people who were there while I was shooting the pendulum thought I had put some special effect on the EVF because the phase shift appeared so unreasonable.

The combination of smearing and the delay easily creates blurred objects in the EVF. Due to the delay the cameraman's reactions are always late. So, I'm afraid that although the B&W viewfinder removed the blurring --I have no experience-- the delay will still create problems in focusing, because that's due to the image processing of the camera.

Dear Lauri,

I assume your post applied to 24F mode.

The delay in 60i is much less. I have not run a test, but I have no problem at all with 60i.

When using the console software, the delay, as viewed on the computer running the console software, is very apparent.

I assume your post applied to 24F mode.

Dan, excellent remark. Indeed, I have my camera always set to 25F. So, it's the frame mode which takes a lot of processing power and causes the delay?

Dear Lauri,

Yes.

The viewfinder works well in 60i (or 50i) mode as there is much less processing to do.

Also, in 24F or 25F mode (and all other modes) you can monitor without a delay via the composite out to an external monitor.

I have had the same problems with the EVF and it drives me crazy. For work where the camera is stationary on a tripod, I use my 7" Marshall HD monitor. Without it, I can never be "absolutely" sure I am in focus. Without using the monitor, I'd say I'm about 90% correct in my focussing judgment but it's the shots that are unusable that cause me the most frustration.

My investment in the monitor was as critical as the camera itself.

So would everyone agree that a Marshall monitor is the way to go - even versus the Canon B&W viewfinder? The only problem I see is just run and gun shooting...

Dear Bob,

While the FU-1000 is very nice to have, you have no color reference.

If the white balance is off, your footage will be hard to fix in post.

One could always white balance to a white (or warm) card. But, there are times when there are multiple light sources, such as at a wedding that can cause problems.

One option is to use auto white balance.

But, I have had some cases where I was shooting under a blue canopy and thus the light was very blue. In this case, I dialed in an unusual color temperature manually, using my calibrated but stock XL H1 color viewfinder.

I used a Marshall once and I liked it alot.

I use my laptop with iMovie to check overscan, focus and exposure (WYSIWYG). Works like a champ.

Years ago I tried the monochrome FU-1000 viewfinder on my XL1 in wildlife filming and found the following. The ability to focus was slightly faster, it was much slower to dial in the correct exposture, drained batteries much faster, threw the balance of the camera off, made it a lot heavier and over scanned in the viewfinder ( showed much more in the viewfinder than what I was capturing ). All this made me decide to return it and stay with the color viewfinder which served me well for 8 years.

I too wouldn't mind a higher resolution viewfinder on the XLH1, though I find focusing quite easy when I quickly zoom in all the way, set focus than back off to frame the shot. I'm using two 1.6X extenders mounted ( Canon's and Century's ) on the factory 20X so I usually get to have a decent close-up to focus from. If I have time I always double check everything with the eye piece flipped up.

Leon Lorenz
www.wildlifevideos.ca

Leon,

Do you have much problem with the smearing(on moving animals) in cold temperatures. I used the XL1s since 2002. I had problems with the smearing phenomena when it was cold, but I don't recall it being as bad as the finder on the XL-1s as it was this morning with my new XL-H1. I had it in the woods watching for turkey and deer at 17 degrees farenheit. The problem bothered me enough that I began seriously considering the b&w viewfinder, but after reading your post it seems that this is not the answer for a serious wildlife videographer. From your location, I assume you deal with much colder temperatures than we here in Pennsylvania.

this is not the answer for a serious wildlife videographer.

Willard, there's also another practical problem with B&W viewfinders in wildlife videography; It's much easier to find and follow the subject with a color EVF. Typically, when shooting birds or animals in action, one is in hurry to get the subject focused and the camera rolling. It's a matter of a few seconds. This is why I rather use the stock color EVF of XL H1 despite of its limitations.

What comes to smearing in cold conditions, there is a trick to manage with that. Put these small bags called hand or feet warmers --bags which start to warm up when the plastic cover is removed and the contents get oxygen-- around the EVF. I have myself a PortaBrace winter cover for the XL H1, and in cold conditions I set one hand warmer between the EVf and the cover. It helps quite a lot.

Lauri: Actually that applies to non-wildlife stuff as well.. one of the reasons that I like the color finders is that they allow me to compose in the viewfinder, as I do in 16mm, allowing contrasting and complimentary colors to add to the frame and not be lost or overpowering...

When people talk about getting a "film look" I think that this factor is often overlooked.. one of the reasons that video in the past looked so unfilmlike is that filmmakers, documentary filmmakers at least (who don't use monitors), were stuck with B&W finders...

But it's a shame that with the H1 we have to sacrifice the confidence of accurate focus for color...

By the way, I asked on the A1 forum how the viewfinder on that camera holds up.. the thread went away overnight, I guess big brother didn't think it appropriate.. anyway, does anyone know how it compares to the H1?

I asked on the A1 forum how the viewfinder on that camera holds up.. the thread went away overnightLook again, it hasn't gone anywhere: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=84944

I even replied to it within 18 minutes of your post... ?

A couple more questions for those of you brave enough...

Does the H1 utilize the same viewfinder as the XL2? My XL2 doesn't seem to have as much smearing... even when using 24p mode...

Also... The B&W viewfinder that Canon sells is 4x3 aspect correct? Don't you think they would want to update it to 16x9 at least?

Thanks for all your replies... Very helpful!

Bob

Hi Bob,

The XL2 and XL H1 have different LCD panels in their viewfinders. The one on the XL2 has a 4:3 aspect ratio with 200,000 pixels while the one on the XL H1 has a 16:9 aspect ratio with 215,000 pixels.

The B&W viewfinder that Canon sells is indeed a 4:3 aspect ratio, but it also properly letterboxes 16:9. That viewfinder is made by Ikegami.

Willard,

I found that smearing usually happens in the viewfinder when it's colder than -20 C. It's truly amazing how this camera performs in cold weather. Last November I spent 1 month filming the bighorn sheep rut in lots of cold and snow, -28 celcius with a wind which made it -40 on the coldest. After 3 hours my camera was so cold and stiff ( the zoom and focus rings ) that I had to quit for the day, my gloved fingers were frozen as well. The smearing was bad on pans and fast action and hard to tell if the focus was correct. I thought at the time my footage would look terrible, sort of like what I could see in the viewfinder but I was wrong, when I played the footage back at home it was perfect with no dropouts and the only ruined footage was when my focusing was off. I have no problems with the camera on all day shoots of up to -20 C. I too need to start using heat packs or handwarmers fastened around the camera in very cold weather.

All the best in your cold weather filming.

Leon Lorenz
www.wildlifevideos.ca

I have also noticed an audio sync/delay when monitoring with headphones.

There is distinct delay between the video display and the audio while using the standard color EVF and this delay increases even more when I've got the H1 on my steadicam. This sync is very annoying and odd because when the footage is dropped into my NLE the audio is synced up perfectly.

How is it that Canon can produce a camera with this type of issue, I dare not mention the issue with focusing (both auto and manual), and claim that it is a "pro" camera.

Cheers,
D

The first step in getting the most out of a complex device is to know what features it has. Headphone audio synch in the Canon professional cameras is a topic that has been covered before on DVinfo (available via the search engine), and headphones are covered on page 49 of your User's Manual.

There is a menu choice to output headphone audio in either realtime ("Normal") or with a slight delay to synch to the video signal ("Line Out").

Just to follow up after Pete's excellent reply, the menu choice between delay vs. real time audio does *not* affected the recorded output -- only what's heard in the headphones.

Thanks, Pete.
Last weekend was my first chance to really run tape through the camera and I was mostly concerned with being able to "fly" it and capture good video.

Now I know that I don't have to put up with the audio sync issue.

And Thanks to Chris for hosting a board where "issues" like this can be addressed.


Cheers,
D

Leon and Lauri,

Thanks for your replies. I will try the warmers.

I did try flipping up the eyepiece when possible to do so, during shooting on the last two days and found that of course while smearing was still present that the finder was much sharper appearing and a great deal easier to obtain sharp focus.

All in all, I love the camera except for this problem area, and look forward to giving it heavy field use in the near future.

Very mildly off topic for a moment.....I noticed the delay when shooting 60i SD 4x3 output through BNC connector to a projector. This was a live feed to a projector behind a man at a podium giving a speech. The delay between the man's real life movements and the projection was significant enough to look a bit awkward. I am sure the recording looks find. But this delay can cause some issues that will need to be worked around.

OK....back to talking about the horrible focusing!

:)

So am I to understand that there is a LCD screen attachment you can by for this camcorder? If so, where can I buy one at? I was getting worried when I read in a mag that it didn't come with a LCD screen. It's amazing that a camcorder that's $9000 doesn't come with a LCD screen. Does the XL H1 come with a remote?

So am I to understand that there is a LCD screen attachment you can by for this camcorder? I was getting worried when I read in a mag that it didn't come with a LCD screen. It's amazing that a camcorder that's $9000 doesn't come with a LCD screen. Does the XL H1 come with a remote?

Let me clarify. The unit comes with a more "traditional" viewfinder like you see on most ENG cameras or shoulder mount cameras. Inside of this "viewfinder" unit is an actual LCD screen that is 2.7" I believe. YOu place the viewfinder up to your eye and you are essentiall looking at the LCD through a diopter of sorts. When you want to view it externally you can flip the viewfinder up and you have an LCD screen that you can view withou having to place your eye to the VF.

It is kinda like a 2 in one unit.

There is a more professional viewfinder (fu-1000) available that is not an LCD but a small CRT that is B&W and higher resolution. It does not flip out and offer an LCD type of view.

So while the H1 does have an LCD, it is housed in, and essentially is the viewfinder. The LCD is not like on many other handheld HDV cameras where it is in addition to the viewfinder. Again, the LCD is the viewfinder. Make sense?

Peace!

Let me clarify. The unit comes with a more "traditional" viewfinder like you see on most ENG cameras or shoulder mount cameras. Inside of this "viewfinder" unit is an actual LCD screen that is 2.7" I believe. YOu place the viewfinder up to your eye and you are essentiall looking at the LCD through a diopter of sorts. When you want to view it externally you can flip the viewfinder up and you have an LCD screen that you can view withou having to place your eye to the VF.

It is kinda like a 2 in one unit.

There is a more professional viewfinder (fu-1000) available that is not an LCD but a small CRT that is B&W and higher resolution. It does not flip out and offer an LCD type of view.

So while the H1 does have an LCD, it is housed in, and essentially is the viewfinder. The LCD is not like on many other handheld HDV cameras where it is in addition to the viewfinder. Again, the LCD is the viewfinder. Make sense?

Peace!

Thanks for clarifying that for me. Now does this camcorder come with a Remote control, so I can start it when it's on a tripod?

Yes, the XL H1 has a wireless remote control.

Also, the Canon Console Software allows a desktop or laptop computer to become a sophisticated Camera Control Unit.

With this software, you can see the image that the camera is seeing, record, and make adjustments as if you were physically touching the camera.

For example, you can zoom, select modes, select custom presets, etc. and much more.

Yes, the XL H1 has a wireless remote control.

Also, the Canon Console Software allows a desktop or laptop computer to become a sophisticated Camera Control Unit.

With this software, you can see the image that the camera is seeing, record, and make adjustments as if you were physically touching the camera.

For example, you can zoom, select modes, select custom presets, etc. and much more.

When would that be useful? and does it work on osx (g5 laptop) meaning u can use the laptop as a field monitor?