Any clue as far as when they will be announcing official specs? NAB?

NAB sure seems to be their best bet for a prime target date. I can't imagine them not having it as their NAB showpiece.

Thanks Chris great work. My guess is those switches in front of the volume controls are 3 position attenuators for each mic. +10 0 and -10dB. Hope they got the vol controls right way up :) USB 2 and 3?

Lorinda looks like it is heavier than the A1.

PT3 top pix. the lens hood looks bigger than the A1s hood .. 82mm?? groan .. not another set of filters :(

Cheers.

Great set of images and commentary.

I am really looking forward to seeing the published specs on this new camcorder!

Speculation:

I measured the diameter and the power/command dial on pictures of an XH-A1 and the new model. The ratio between them shows that the lens house is larger than on the XH-A1.

1/2" ?

(It is, however, much possible that I'm very wrong)

/Bo

Hi Bo, Canon USA has confirmed that the chip size is indeed 1/3rd-inch.

They haven't said whether it's CCD or CMOS. I had originally speculated CCD, but now I have my doubts... it may very well be CMOS after all, based on a statement made during the presentation at the February SuperMeet: the camcorder was referred to as an "all-Canon solution," meaning that the codec, which was the focus of the presentation, was entirely Canon's own, as is the camera (emphasis mine). The last time Canon referred to an "all-Canon" camcorder was with the introduction of their HV10, which used a Canon CMOS sensor. Their marketing strategy made a big point about that. Since Canon doesn't make CCDs, they wouldn't refer to a CCD camcorder as using "all Canon technology." That's why I'm beginning to think that this new camera has three new CMOS chips instead of CCDs.

Looks great! As much as I love the 5D/DSLR Canon cameras I'm still planning on using my XH series cameras for event shooting for years to come. Thanks for sharing this Chris!

what are the advantages/disadvantages to cmos vs ccd?

Just do a search and you'll find lots of CCD vs CMOS talk.
CMOS has some skew plus problems with flash, but it's cheaper to make it to the same resolution spec. CCD creates more heat too so cameras have to be bigger due to bigger fans etc.
CMOS is really a way to make a high spec affordable, but it does have a few issues which some can live with and others can't, depends on what you shoot.
Steve

With Canon's expertise in CMOS sensors, I'm wondering if they haven't sped up the small sensor enough to make the CMOS problems moot.

By introducing one additional transistor per pixel, one could make a CMOS sensor without rolling shutter artifacts. But, frankly, I'm thinking that developers are working on speed, rather than new architectures. Higher sensor speeds would allow super slow motion shooting as well.

I've seen the camera with an xha1 about a metre away at Earls court. No doubt in my mind it was significantly larger than its predecessor. Particularly the lens as i recall. Unless Canon put the new one in a magnified perspex case, i'd say it's a bit bigger than an EX1.

Dom,

I agree. I've also checked on Cris Hurds picture where Joe Bogacz is holding the camcorder. My opinion is that the lens barrel is larger, unless mr Bogacz is a hobbit of course. :-)

Enough of speculations, let's see what the future will bring us.

Regards,

/Bo

Just the opposite... he's a Canadian.

The most intriguing bit to me is the lens barrel that seems to be ready for a follow focus unit.
Does this mean that they finally are coming out with a "proper" focus ring on these cameras?
I really hope they do so. Looking fore ward to see some footage from the camera.
Will it be enough to make me want to trade in my EX-3?;-)
(I doubt it, but you never know)

Have you heard any further news of the lens bayonet version (H1s update) Chris?