Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Shaw
I wonder whether there are plans to offer at higher end cam with bigger chips? This definitely looks like the A1 replacement but what about a XLH1 replacement?
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I don't believe it's in Canon's grand master plan to produce network/broadcast/eng cams that go far beyond the niche they've carved for event cams like XH-A1, XL-H1. Canon and Fuji have been making most of the lenses for the big network cams from Sony HDCAM/XDCAM/CineAlta and Panasonic Varicam. I think they are satisfied with that, and I don't believe they intend to compete head to head in the market for the cameras, basically because the others have complete lineups and many models, whereas Canon has not even one individual cam in that category. And then there's the matter of all the support equipment that goes along with supplying cams, editing decks, VTRs etc.
But even before getting into all of that, the new Canon cam would have a few more holes to fill before it could be mentioned in the same sentence as the Sony EX series. For example, nothing has been mentioned concerning the nature of the scanning. Will the chips be native progressive? That's important because currently, the Canon chips are scanned interlaced. The XH-A1/XL-H1 shoot really impressive interlaced footage as it is, but when the mode is switched to Canon's proprietary 24F, there is a vertical resolution drop of about 12% compared to its interlaced resolution. But interlaced scanning is already compromised by row summation to minimize interlacing artifacts, thus the vertical resolution for interlaced is about 25% lower when compared to native progressive scanning, even before you consider the additional 12% cut taken by 24F. The bottom line on that, is when comparing Canon 24F to Sony EX 24P, the vertical resolution is currently about 575 lines versus 1000 lines. That's a lot to make up in one leap.
Also, in putting full raster 1920 horizontal photosites versus 1440 in the same 1/3 inch chip, it's going to be a struggle to improve much on the XH-A1/XH-L1's low light performance, which lags the EX by a good margin, again owing to the physics of more light gathering area for the EX.
And what about overcranking, slow motion? Hasn't been mentioned. From what's been announced, it just seems an impossible stretch that in one swoop this potentially great cam from Canon will be a game changer that's going to take all the sales from the EX, especially when you consider the EX line is essentially one link in an unbroken path all the way to the F23/35. Canon doesn't even have this one cam yet. But as speculated, it would appear to compare more or less to the Panasonic HPX300, which is a solid state full raster cam with 1/3 inch chips, which although produces sharply resolved images, hasn't killed the EX1 either for the same reasons, it loses on low light and depth of field to name a few.
Of course it has something to offer, newly packaged values, that will really count for the targeted niche, where it may really excell in some uses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Shealy
I'll be disappointed if it doesn't at least equal the EX cams. even at $4K. If not, I'm not sure many will trade in their older A1's.
I expect Canon will pull something out of their hat for this one, given their recent moves on the 5D, 7D, and now 2Ti. Who saw those coming as quickly as they did?
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Solid state workflow will be a big reason why A1/H1 owners will upgrade, and so is the 50 mbps 4:2:2 codec that will be much better for grading and color correction work than HDV. I also have a hunch that Canon will use low cost flash memory, possibly putting pressure on Sony and Panasonic. Sony just recently announced firmware upgrades to the EX series that specifically enable alternative memory types to the up until now, expensive SXS express cards.