XH-A1 started doing this last night..
 

Last night I was shooting some video with my A1. I shot maybe 20 minutes without any problems.

I left the camera on, but not recording, maybe 2 minutes go by. I look into the view finder and the picture looks terrible and there's nothing I can do to adjust it.

I turn the camera off and on. Still looks terrible.

I go to the factory reset option and reset the camera. Still looks terrible.

The 20 minutes of footage I shot before the camera went crazy looks fine. The minute or so I shot while I was troubleshooting looks terrible. It's not just the viewfinder having the problem obviously.

I'll try attaching a still image to show you how it looks. I am going to be sending the camera in for repairs since it's less than a year old and still under warranty. I have a wedding to shoot on September 22. I am scared I won't have it back in time.

Just thought I'd share in case anyone else has seen this.

Wow, bad news Charlie. Hope you get it back in time.

Richard

Isn't that the Van Gogh preset? :D

Seriously, good luck in getting it back promptly.

Bill

That's over a month and a half from now... you should have it back from service in plenty of time. Keep us advised about how it goes,

Ok.. just sent it off to Canon repair service in Irvine, Ca.

They say, estimatingly, 10 to 13 days assuming nothing out of the ordinary is wrong with my camera.

I just have to give a big thumbs up to B&H Photo for their great customer service. I couldn't find my copy of the original invoice and had to call them for a copy. They emailed it to me before I could even hang up with the person on the phone.

I will let you all know how it goes with Canon.

Just an update.

Canon received my camera on August 8th(yesterday).

I received an email this morning letting me know they have the camera and are beginning repairs. At this point they say it should all be covered by the warranty unless they find something strange during the repair process.

They are giving me an estimated return date of August 20th.

I will let you know how it goes when I get the camera back.

FYI

I received an email yesterday saying my camera was repaired and on its way back to me via FedEx.

According to FedEx it should be at my house sometime this afternoon.

The email did have any details as to what work was performed. I am hoping that will be included with the camera once I get my hands on it.

I will share that when I get it.

So far so good.

All better!
 

So I came home this evening to find my camera waiting for me.

There is a letter inside the box with the camera. It says they

"Replace 3P Assy clean tape path"

So I guess they replaced something and then cleaned the guts.

The bottom line is the camera is working just fine once again.

I shipped it on the 6th, they got it on the 8th, and I have it back in my hands on the 16th. 10 days, not too bad.

From what I've heard the XH A1 falls within the "pro line" with Canon service and is taken before any other "tourist" cam - sweet. I passed by Canon main service center in Göteborg in Sweden with mine - checked up a minor detail - the technician appeared within 1 minut at the desk, checked it on site - everything was perfect as is. The visit took me 3 minutes. Outstanding!

Glad you got it sorted, I didn't want to mention it earlier as thought you wouldn't be in the mood for jokes but I was afraid the contents of that baby bottle in the faulty image may have ended up in the camera while you were out of the room :)

Paul.

Glad to hear you got your cam back so quickly. Thanks for posting the follow up.

Thanks for the followup posts. Gives everybody more confidence in the system. By the way, did you join that Canon user's club with the info that came with the camera? Allegedly that's worth doing because it gets you that kind of treatment.

Thanks for sharing your story man :)

My A1 does something similar too, but only in interrior shots. It happened on one extremely critical shoot, everything took on a burnt orange cast.
For me, the "Auto Levels Adjust" control in Premiere Pro 1.5 totally solved the problem. However, it's a pain to have to do that when I shoot indoors. Prior to reading this I thought the white balance was just easly fooled indoors. It happened when the cam was on AWB.

Thanks for documenting this, I am taking mine in Monday for service.

I did not join anything. This appears to be the "treatment" everyone gets with a camera under the 1-year warranty.

No complaints.

What is the Canon Users Club?

I've "joined" it with every cam, but I've never
received anything from them on it. I was hoping for a secret decoder ring..or a Canon "member's only" jacket....with record buttons on the shoulders. That would be badass

I've also never had a problem with my cams, so I've not contacted them on it. I'd rather keep it that way.

You didn't get your secret ring? What about the secret handshake--if you didn't get that either you better check your registration. How about the coupon for a dozen free Krispy Kremes?

Curse them! All I’ve ever received is years of wonderful images and trouble free equipment at affordable price points! I want my damn donuts and handshake instructions!

I believe if they estimate a long repair time they'll try to provide you a loaner camera. Additionally, they offer a substantial discount for anual cleaning/maintenance I believe. Its free to join, certainly not a bad deal.

thanks! yeah, sounds nice. i've sent in the cards in the past, just never required any further svcs. i don't think i got one with the A1 or Hv20 though.
my girlfriend deals with that..once the package arrives it's like xmas morning.
i run upstairs with the new toy and anything that's made out of paper is dead to me.

I don't have the link right here, but I seem to recall that I registered my A1 online. I think you just need the serial number and you're good to go. Maybe someone with better memory than me can confirm or deny that...

I had the exact same problem
 

I received my A1 in late May when my folks graciously brought it down to me in Argentina and not 2 weeks after they left my camera started acting up and output both to LCD and to tape was basically green. I fooled around with every possible scenario but to no avail.

I called Canon service center and they told me to send it in but i also called Brian at Zotz digital (they sold me the camera) and told him about the problem. He called his Canon rep and they agreed to issue me a new camera. So, if your camera is fairly fresh out of the box, don't not call the vendor to see if they might work it out for you.

This is my first time to actually write anything on the forum but i have to say that the information i have found on here has been invaluable. I used to be a shooter/editor for NBC news back in the days of 3/4" tape and then Beta, so i have struggled a bit with the new technology and without this site i would be more lost than i already am. Thanks Chris

Thanks for posting that. Sometimes there's a problem, and it pays to only buy from a reputable dealer.

I also got into video back in the 3/4 days, coming from 16mm film, then moved to Betacam and then DVCAM and Avid, and now HDV and FCP (though I still shoot with a DSR500 for biz purposes). I also had endless frustration until I learned how to deal with the electronic lenses and menu controls and other eccentricities each of the 1/3" chip cameras seems to have. Got lots of good and helpful info on the boards too.

Under what conditions does you A1 do this?
 

Where have you guys seen this issue of color shift take place? Is it consistent, or does it happen infrequently?
Every time my A1 has had this color shift issue, it's been indoors only, where I am in the same small room at my clients', with recessed lighting. I use a pair of Lowell Tota ligts (running 500 watts ea. plus one Lowell Omni at 500 watts). The walls are "cottage white" paint, with very light, warm colored wood desk.
It never does it anywhere else. But it does not necessarilly do it every time I shoot there, either.
My "work-around" has been to use the "Auto Levels Adjust" feature in Premiere Pro 1.5.1, but man, that takes almost 2 hours to do on a 40 minute video. The same basic problem exists and I still need to make such level adjustments in post exist whether or not I manually set the white balance or use it on auto.

Steve,
My A1 would do a color shift after being on approximately 20 minutes, no matter the setting or the lighting. I tried full auto, full manual, camera reset, new batteries, and any other imaginable combination of things but the bottom line was that my particular camera was a factory "lemon." Seriously, every time i turned it on within 20 minutes it would "go green," for lack of a better description, and fortunately Canon was considerate enough to issue me a brand new "in the box" replacement. The new one works great and I am just starting to really get a feel for it and am having fun with the custom presets available in the forum. I'm sure i'll be posting some questions of my own in the not too distant future.