Re: First wedding with XA20
 

Don sounds like really good advice.

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

Still wouldn't mind an XA20 :)

Quick question, when using the camera outdoors in daylight, how do you see whats going on in the LED display?

Thanks.

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

The XA20 LED panel is brighter than many I've seen and is reasonably visible in many outdoor situations. However, do NOT expect it to be great in all ambient light situations.

Use of a hoodman-like shade on the LCD panel should help in bright situations
Camcorder Hoods-Hoodman Corporation
or perhaps
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/835407-REG/Vello_LHV_3_5_3_5_LCD_Hood.htmlif you need easier reach to the touch screen.

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

Thanks Don.

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

And don't forget, you don't need to use the LED - it's optional on the XA20, just get used to using the EVF and the joystick.

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

Thanks, didn't think of it that way :)

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

maybe you guys find the XA20 difficult compared to the XA10 , and I don't know much about the XA10 but I can report that the XA20 gives one of the best WB handling I had the opportunity to work with. It is a little "conservative" and the LCD doesn't represent the actual colors (at least in the camera that I had and without calibrating it, just out of the box). Anyway there are two presets , select the first one and find something white under the average lighting of the room or outdoors, fill the frame and set. After that add 100 to the kelvin set by the camera . I was able to nail it pretty much all the time. +200 will give a slightly warmer footage that I don't mind (depending on what we shoot: for a commercial use a little "fiction" with the colors is to be preferred in my opinion.
auto WB is to be avoided with any camera (not just the XA20). The temperature that the camera will set (in the touch of the 2 presets) is indeed a little too conservative. how can I say it better..? pale(ish)? add 100 and the camera will be back in the colors business.
just my 2c

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

Only two of users I know of complained about the WB on the camera, me and one other person. I never used auto white balance on the camera, it was impossible much of the time.

I sold my XA20 but do not miss my issues with WB. As one other person brought up (Tim), if you set it wrong it's ugly. I found it to be nearly non-fixable at times. This is just me.

For me it was only in select lighting situations where the issue arose. Most time it was fine.

I have replaced the XA20 with a $500 Lumix which has a longer zoom range, has a more noise-free image at full zoom, and is much more portable. I only bought the XA20 for long shots, so I do not miss it at all.

I like my XA10s, but the XA20 wasn't right, not to me. The LCD was way off in it's colors and I just could't figure it out. If the camera's working for you I congratulate you!

The XA20 has some very nice features, really not a bad camera overall.

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

Jeff,
well, we covered an entire soccer game with the XA20 via blackmagic and youtube live , and my main sony ea50 for the taped version. Before the game started we sent a girl with a white shirt standing facing the cameras and we set both cameras with the shirt in the frame. They came out exactly the same, just added 200 kelvin for youtube to make the colors rich. repeat for the second half and again the WB was correct in both cameras. Honestly, that's what happened. I don't work with the XA20 but it looked fine to me. But if you say that's not good with the colors then I believe you: you had more experience with the camera so I go back to the corner and shut up

Re: First wedding with XA20
 

Anthony, I only had issues indoors in certain lighting conditions, not outdoors. If you had read the thread earlier you would have seen that, but no worries, it's a long thread.

There are are some very good, experienced shooters here that will tell you the camera is just fine. It has even been suggested my issues were more operator error than a camera issue! That may be true, I don't know! I might have given up on it too soon, who knows.

The color thing originally came up when someone else mentioned the WB and ugly shots, and I realized I was not the only one with that experience.