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-   -   Sticking with the XH-A1 (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xh-series-hdv-camcorders/503011-sticking-xh-a1.html)

Greg Clark November 25th, 2011 10:11 AM

Sticking with the XH-A1
 
After much comparison I have come to the conclusion that a camera upgrade this year is a poor investment:
* A 1\2 chip camera with good ergonomics, excellent lens and price doesn't exist yet.
* I have learned to work with the poor design of the A1 audio controls.
* I have found that Instant Auto Focus is too sensitive and a mix of Manual and Auto works well with practice.
* I love the manual adjustments of the A1 to allow me for example to reverse the Iris ring.
* The A1 20x zoom is so close to the new 23x zoom.
* I have two DN-60's, and after a steep learning curve, these compact flash recorders have proven an extremely helpful upgrade.
* HDV editing instead of AVCHD allows me to get another year out of my older backup editing computer.
* The CCD chip, in my opinion, versus the CMOS chip is still more dependable.
* Low Light sensitivity can definitely be improved over the XH-A1 with a DSLR. I'm quite sure that the gain from this move would be squashed by the extreme problems trying to turn a still camera into a video camera.
I might even pick up a used XH-A1 as a third camera Christmas present to myself.

Taky Cheung November 25th, 2011 02:09 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
It was quite difficult for me to part with my XH-A1. It was an awesome camcorder.

Peter Manojlovic November 25th, 2011 04:15 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
One more year with the XH-A1...
Especially after dropping some coin on a Pilot....

Next camera though might be the AF100...It's the only thing i can think of currently that beats the low-light issues that plague the XH-A1...
A big plus on the workstation..HDV is still very workable..Going to AVCHD would force an upgrade on both software and hardware...

Taky Cheung November 25th, 2011 05:37 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
I sold both of my XHA1 this year. I overstock those Panasonic PQ tapes. selling them at lost now.

Panasonic AY-DVM63PQ Mini DV Tapes 5-Pack | L.A. Color Online

Click on the add to cart button to see the sale price .

Les Wilson November 25th, 2011 07:30 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Drats! Where were you when I was selling my A1? :-)

Seriously, when I look at your list, I see my own beefs with the A1 that I found are overwhelmingly addressed by the Sony EX1R.

* A 1\2 chip camera with good ergonomics, excellent lens and price doesn't exist yet.
There are exactly two 1/2" chip cameras the EX1R and EX3. Neither Canon, Panasonic or JVC have one. The ergonomics of the EX1R are superior to the A1 and the EX3 gives you shoulder mount with eyepiece ergonomics

* I have learned to work with the poor design of the A1 audio controls.
Kiss the A1 poor audio block design goodbye. The EX cameras have individual limiters, separate phantom, separate line/mic and you can use the onboard mic as one of the two channels

* I have found that Instant Auto Focus is too sensitive and a mix of Manual and Auto works well with practice.
The EX has an auto focus mode that works like that... you get it close and let it finess it

* I love the manual adjustments of the A1 to allow me for example to reverse the Iris ring.
Unlike the XF100 or XA-10 which replace d the A1 in Canon's line, the EX gives you all three rings. However, the reversal feature isn't there. The EX iris ring is a proper ring with stops, printed graduations and teeth.

* The A1 20x zoom is so close to the new 23x zoom.
That A1 zoom was nice. I thought I'd miss it dropping to 14 on the EX but I don't. The EX footage is that much better than HDV, so much so that you can get that extra zoom in post

* I have two DN-60's, and after a steep learning curve, these compact flash recorders have proven an extremely helpful upgrade.
Leave the frankenstein rig at home. In the EX cameras, you have pro SXS solid state media built-in. Two slots with smooth as silk rollover. The NLE ingest software auto-detects the split clips and joins them when you drag/drop them to your computer

* HDV editing instead of AVCHD allows me to get another year out of my older backup editing computer.
XDCAM cuts and edits as easy as HDV

* The CCD chip, in my opinion, versus the CMOS chip is still more dependable.
I think a valid criticism of CMOS is rolling shutter effect. Some cameras are worse than others. I don't see any effects in the 900GB of EX footage I've shot since getting the camera in sept 2010.

* Low Light sensitivity can definitely be improved over the XH-A1 with a DSLR. I'm quite sure that the gain from this move would be squashed by the extreme problems trying to turn a still camera into a video camera.
Well that's the rub. The EX cameras give you a huge boost in low light without suffering the workarounds of DSLRs. The DSLRs are still better at the low light and sDOF but ...12 minute clip limits, SD displays, no focus or exposure assists while recording.... Everybody gets all excited about dusting off the old prime lenses and such from their film cameras. But compared to camcorder lenses they are cheap. The DSLR lens rings are nothing like the silky smooth ones you are used to. I have Canon L lenses on a 5DM2 and compared to the A1 or EX lenses, the L lens rings stink.

Personally, in spite of the frankensteined solid state A1 (I had an MRC1K) I hit the limits of the A1 and wanted more of the features found in more professional and modern cameras. The EX1R had what I wanted and more. YMMV

Peter Manojlovic November 25th, 2011 10:19 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
FYI Greg...

The XH-A1 is 1/3 CCD...That's the main reason for the EX1 having better low light performance..

Oops....
My bad..I didn't read close enough...

Terry Martin November 27th, 2011 01:26 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
I'm definitely keeping my A1. The solution was to get a blackmagic componet video to sdi converter and record with a Sound Devices PIX240 recorder. Now the A1 delivered flawless audio and Avid ready media.

Allan Black November 27th, 2011 03:48 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
We're keeping our A1/A1s for now as we have a huge archive of tapes and Canon is apparently coming out with cut down versions in their new 300 family.

We bought the last 500 Pana 83min MQ tapes in a close out deal from BnH. Make sure you keep a stock of new DV cleaning tapes on hand, late last year Panasonic here stopped stocking theirs. There are other brands but I bought a carton of 10 so when I sell our A1s they'll have new Pana MQ tapes and new DV cleaning tapes to sweeten the deal.

Cheers.

Don Palomaki November 27th, 2011 07:27 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
You have done the analysis as fits your business model.

There are two main reasons to upgrade.
1. It make business sense in maximizing return on investment and net income, or
2. we want and it will make us feel good.
Both are valid reasons even if based on a different ownership driver.

We pays our money and takes out choice.

Jeffrey Fuchs November 30th, 2011 06:28 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Greg, I totally understand you viewpoint. The XH-A1 is a great camera. I LOVE the XH-A1! That being said, I have just drop some $$ on 2 new Panny AC130. Below are the the reason why I made the move:

- I hate tape drop outs! (Either when recording or when capturing)
- The DN60 and me did not get along, I sent it back
- No more capering tape!
- I think the AC130 is the best replacement for the A1.
- Love that the AC130 you can record on 2 cards at once. Nice back-up option.
- After 4 year of use, I feel my cameras are nearing there end of life cycle
- Needed a tax right off this year. :)
- I got a FANTASTIC DEAL on the AC130s that I could not pass on.

I am really interested to compare my new AC130 with my old A1. For now I plan to sell one A1 and keep the other one and use it as a 3rd camera at events. Let me know if you are interested in my A1.

Les Wilson November 30th, 2011 09:22 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
@Jeff, Since you have both cameras and can A/B test them, it would be very interesting to see how the AC130 compares in low light since that is one of the main complaints of the A1 as people contemplate moving on..

Terry Martin December 1st, 2011 02:13 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
I checked the relative sensitivity of the A1 vs a HPX250, and found them equal. The test was just measuring the f stop required for a similar gray card exposure (as indicated on a DP6 false color monitor).

Noa Put December 1st, 2011 05:05 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
I still use a xh-a1 combined with a sony hvr-dr60 and that combo works very well together, I also use dslr's in area's where my xh-a1 is not that good: low light. The pana ag-ac160 is on my to buy list but I will wait at least another year, never been an early adopter and the new pana prizes will come down for sure if you wait.
As long as the light conditions are good the xh-a1 still shines and for more controlled shoots (where you could add light if needed) it will give you great results.

Les Wilson December 1st, 2011 07:27 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Noa, I think the issue is for those who want to move to a solid state camera but stay with the 3-ring, long zoom 3-chip ENG package. The Panasonic cameras are logical upgrades that while providing solid state, focus assist, exposure assist, hi-res LCD and VF and an XLR audio block without the A1 restrictions that has independent phantom, impedance and use of the internal mic all in a modern 3-mos ENG package. I would expect the CMOS to improve the lowlight performance of the A1 CCDs.

Hameed Aabid December 3rd, 2011 10:49 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Me too... perhaps for another 4 to 6 months.

Jonathan Shaw December 11th, 2011 10:50 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
It's funny I pulled one of my A1's out for a corporate job last week and used instead of my 5D because I couldn't be bothered to capture separate audio, convert the footage etc etc.
It came out great, I used a large external monitor instead of the crappy LCD, the client loved it and I didn't have the usual conversation as to why am I using a stills camera to shoot video. The A1 rocks, the Ex1 is a better but not by that much. It will be interesting to see whether the Ex1 gets an upgrade or whether they are sticking with S35 chips now.

Les Wilson December 11th, 2011 11:22 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
I can't disagree more. I had an A1 and now have an EX1r. The EX1 is twice the price of the A1 and worth every bit of it.

Noa Put December 14th, 2011 11:19 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
It "was" twice the price but it's not twice as good, the ex1 is a better camera in every aspect but not to a degree that it will put a xh-a1 to shame, a lot depends on your delivery format and light conditions. In poor light, yes, the xh-a1 sucks and certainly does not match up to a ex1 but as long as the light conditions are good you will barely see the difference if you go to dvd or deliver for web, compare the images in hd on a hd screen, then ofcourse differences in mainly sharpness will show more.

Maurice Covington December 14th, 2011 02:51 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
This is all good information for me. I currently own an XHA1s and a recently purchased XHA1 and I did so because like one of the earlier posters commented, I didn't feel that I could justify the cost differential between what I have vs what I thought I wanted. Is the technology of an XF300 or the EX1 for that matter worth the thousands of dollars more. I don't mind the tapes and well...I'll have to deal with an occasional dropout but what really is the value of technological differences. Now, I did pick up a HF-G10. I figured this was a good way to at minimum take a look at what it would be like in the world of AVCHD. Being of the lowest level of amateurs, I actually find that working with the AVCHD is more difficult and time consuming than working with the tapes. Again, I am an amateur. I think my biggest problem is that I'm only working with a 8GB MacBook pro. Does anyone know really where one needs to be on RAM?

All being said, I have never used the EX1 but have seen the footage. It looks great! but not so great that I would spend the additional money considering where I am in my business.

Les Wilson December 14th, 2011 04:36 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Noa Put (Post 1703540)
It "was" twice the price but it's not twice as good, ... In poor light, yes, the xh-a1 sucks and certainly does not match up to a ex1 but as long as the light conditions are good you will barely see the difference if you go to dvd or deliver for web, compare the images in hd on a hd screen, then ofcourse differences in mainly sharpness will show more.

That's like say a car is great as long as you don't go on the highway or drive at night. Pick your analogy. The A1 has it's limits.

The EX1 image from its 1920x1080 1/2" sensors is better than the A1's 1440x1080 1/3" sensors. The EX1 codec is also superior. Not even in the same class.

Also, there's more to a camera than the image. Something you won't appreciate until you move off the A1 and shoot/produce beyond it's limits. My DVD and web productions from the EX1 are superior to the ones from the A1 and easier to come by to boot. Fortunately for A1 owners now, there's some nice modern solid state cameras to choose from in the same price range as the tape based A1.

Noa Put December 15th, 2011 07:06 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

The A1 has it's limits.
That's what I said Les.

I don't own a ex1 but have edited ex1 footage mixed with footage from older generation camera's like a sony fx1000 and a xh-a1 and to be honest, on dvd or web I hardly see the difference. Only when I look at it on my HD tv screen in full hd, then I see a difference.

I never said the xh-a1 was "superior" but given it's limitations and age it's still a camera that can be used together with a ex1 if you output to dvd or web, you make it almost sound like it's a SD camera. :)

Don Palomaki December 15th, 2011 07:16 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
The XH-A1 is over 5 years old now - ancient as high tech devces like camcorders go, and overtaken by tape-less workflow and corresponding video file fomats, but it is still capable of good video in the hands of a skilled shooter.

Tape, HDV format, and 1/3" CCD's impose certain physical/optical limitations, as did S-VHS, Hi8, DV and so on. Canon did produce a line of camcorders with 1/2" chip and interchangeable lenses too - the L1 and L2 from the 1990s. Larger chips tend to mean larger packages, lenses, and cost. It is a trade-off.

The relatively slow growth of Blu-ray confirms that the image quality improvement over DVD is not as significant as the move from VHS to DVD was. The Blu-ray ads (that a sort of make you want one) that are on DVDs confirm how good DVD can look.

We tend to focus on the technology, yet that is 10% of the equation as far as the overall final product goes. At least 90% (maybe more) is the skill of the shooter, and editor (and talent as applicable). And of course the customers expectations, which just happens to be the most important factor (for a hobbiest they are often the customer).

The bottom line being that if the XH-A1 video is "good enough," money spent to shoot a better image may be tough to justify if cost is a concern.

Noa Put December 15th, 2011 07:40 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

We tend to focus on the technology, yet that is 10% of the equation as far as the overall final product goes. At least 90% (maybe more) is the skill of the shooter, and editor (and talent as applicable). And of course the customers expectations, which just happens to be the most important factor
Well said, we often get to hung up on numbers, sensors sizes, resolution, codecs or whatever while that doesn't say much about the end result, "Crank high voltage" was mainly shot on xh-a1's and that looked really good on a big screen, they even used small handycam's for "special" action scenes. When the dslr's came out with the videofunction a lot of people acted like it was the holy grail but dslr's also has some serious shortcomings, as long as you know how to bypass this you can get fantastic results, just like you can with a xh-a1 if you use it as a second cam or main camera as you wait until it's financially justified to make the jump to newer and better technology. But if you don't know how to operate a camera well and how to work with it in post, you can make ex1 footage look like crap as well :)

Maurice Covington December 15th, 2011 07:53 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
@ Don Palomaki...What software are you using to burn DVD's that give you footage comparable to a Blue-Ray? I import the footage in and it looks great. When I make the DVD and burn it, the finished product is not nearly as good.

Roger Van Duyn December 15th, 2011 09:34 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
I don't output to Blu-Ray, but I do have a Blu_Ray player. The DVDs look better when played on the Blu-Ray player than on the DVD player it replaced. Most, if not all output through HDMI port and upconvert the DVD.

I don't have Blu-Ray disks to compare with DVDs, but the player has a USB port that lets me play HD footage from a jump drive or hard drive. Sitting across the room, there is negligible difference, in the same video played in H264 HD from a drive vs. the same video encoded to DVD. Mostly what influences how good the video looks is the color space, 601/709 vs RGB used.

DVD has better color on the HDTV, unless I used the 601/709 colorspace making the H264 file. Most of the time, however, I encode the H264 files as RGB because they will be uploaded to the internet.

I still like my XH-A1, and get a lot of favorable comments from corporate clients on shoots. The camera is just part of the gear for a shoot. The wide angle adapter gives a good look, and looks good too, especially with the hood. Having extra microphones, lights, stands, external hard drive recorder, sometimes external monitor, clients don't complain about the gear. It gives pretty decent results, and is cost-effective.

That being said, when I can afford to upgrade, I want too. But it's a business decision. What I want is less important than making wise business decisions.

Christopher Icha December 15th, 2011 02:30 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
I love the original A1, and am looking to get a second one. (The A1s doesn't have the standby switch which is crucial for me) I am always blown away by the image when I look back at the A1 footage. I've shot with EX1 and EX3, and they are beautiful and easy to use, but to me not worth the extra expense. I have issues with them too. I hate the fact that you can't use the zoom ring or rocker at the same time. You have to flip a little servo switch underneath and it drives me nuts. Also the EX's seem to take forever to turn on... and that's always when something is happening. The SxS cards cost a fortune, and I occasionally shoot 6 hour events. Can you imagine all the archiving! Naaah!....

Minor gripes aside though, If money was not an option, then sure, I'd probably get one or more likely an XF305. Can't see that happening for now, so it's me beloved XHA1 x2 with WD H72 wide angle on at all times, absolutely lovely.

Noa Put December 15th, 2011 03:33 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Maurice Covington (Post 1703758)
@ Don Palomaki...What software are you using to burn DVD's that give you footage comparable to a Blue-Ray? I import the footage in and it looks great. When I make the DVD and burn it, the finished product is not nearly as good.

Like Roger said, I too see a difference playing my dvd's on a regular older dvd player and a new blu-ray player with upscaling technology and I have seen differences between players how they upscale, not every brand does an equally good job. Best experience I had so far is with LG blu-ray players, they seem to do a very decent job upscaling and there are moments, especially with dslr footage that it's hard to see the difference between SD en HD if you are watching from a "normal" distance.

Roger Van Duyn December 15th, 2011 05:06 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Noa,

As a matter of fact, our Blu-Ray player is an LG.

Back on topic to the A1. I've been thinking of picking up another one myself. There have been some really good deals on them posted lately. Mine is a workhorse. I like the way the controls are laid out. Low light, the image falls off quite a bit. But, most of my work is corporate, and I have lights. With adequate lighting, the A1 still does the job very well.

Noa Put December 15th, 2011 05:15 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
You can still buy the xh-a1s here new but it's getting rare, most stores have sold their last stock and replaced it with newer models. I was tempted some months ago when I saw one store nearby selling a new xh-a1s (it's still available in their webshop) with a discount of 1100 euro, the xh-a1s used to cost 3600 euro and it's being sold for 2500 now and that's a great deal. If my xh-a1 would breack down and I had only 2500 euro to spare, I'd get that xh-a1s, if I needed a second camera to complement my xh-a1 I rather would go for a sony cx700 type of camera, I also have a sony xr520 and it easily matches up with my xh-a1 image wise and is a bit more light sensitive. (meaning it can deal better with higher gain values).

Les Wilson December 16th, 2011 06:29 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Christopher Icha (Post 1703852)
... I hate the fact that you can't use the zoom ring or rocker at the same time. You have to flip a little servo switch underneath and it drives me nuts. ... The SxS cards cost a fortune, and I occasionally shoot 6 hour events. Can you imagine all the archiving!

I can't speak to the original EX1 but this statement is untrue about the current model EX1R. The EX1R does not have the interlock limitation. Both are available simultaneously. However, the XF300 and XF305 *DO* have the limitation that you can't use the zoom ring and rocker simultaneously.

Actually, P2 cards cost a fortune and the CODEC requires 2x more storage per minute. The XF300 is similar that way storing 50MBS vs the XDCAM 35MBS.

Users of modern solid state cameras in sub $4K class are enjoying the benefits of solid state and full raster sensors with as good and better low light performance. I doubt many look at the lineup of cameras in this price range and choose the tape based A1. But I understand if you are stuck on staying with Canon, well, you are stuck as they have abandoned the 3-ring, 3-chip, under $4k market.

Don Palomaki December 16th, 2011 08:15 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

@ Don Palomaki...What software are you using to burn DVD's that give you footage comparable to a Blue-Ray?
I mainly author DVD and Blu-ray with AW4 these days, encode with AW4 or TMPGenc 5 depending on the source material , and burn with AW4 or Nero using LG writers. And I occasionally author with DVD Lab Pro. But the point I was making is not with material I burn using affordable authoring/encoding products, but the material on commercial DVDs / rental movies.

Many commercial DVDs have, among the trailers, an ad for Blu-ray claiming the Blu-ray is much better than DVD and showing what they imply is a sample of Blu-ray quality. If fact the demo material looks spectacular - but the funny thing is that it is on DVD already therefor it cannot be better than DVD (well, DVD's potential).

As noted by others, DVD played on upscaling Blu-ray player connected via HDMI to an HD set looks very good, indeed and baring a side-by-side A/B comparison, it woud take a critical eye to object to the DVD.

My 2 cents. While the final viewed material cannot be better than the weakest link in the chain, there are many links in that chain. The most significant technology links are arguably (in order of increasing importance) the camcorder, the encoder, and the final display/viewing system. And they pale compared to the importance of the human creative links in the chain.

Roger Van Duyn December 16th, 2011 11:52 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
"But I understand if you are stuck on staying with Canon, well, you are stuck as they have abandoned the 3-ring, 3-chip, under $4k market."

I agree with you Les. The XF-300 has the right ergonomics, but the wrong price. The XF-100 has an attractive price, but the wrong ergonomics. I'd like a good used EX-1R, when I can afford it.

Jan Luethje December 16th, 2011 02:25 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
There's another point, why I hesitate to replace my XH A1. XF 300 and HPX 250 are options but cost a lot of money. And their (resale) value is likely to drop dramatically, when a new 1/2 chip camcorder at the same price point and quality level (4:2:2 / 50-100 Mbits) enters the market. I'm quite sure, that this will happen one day, the magic question is: When? Next NAB? 2014? Does it make sense to wait any longer? That drives me crazy...

Noa Put December 17th, 2011 02:55 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

Does it make sense to wait any longer? That drives me crazy...
It only make sense to make the best out of what you have now :)

Les Wilson December 17th, 2011 04:52 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jan Luethje (Post 1704089)
... XF 300 and HPX 250 are options but cost a lot of money. And their (resale) value is likely to drop dramatically, when a new 1/2 chip camcorder at the same price point and quality level (4:2:2 / 50-100 Mbits) enters the market. I'm quite sure, that this will happen one day, the magic question is: When? Next NAB? 2014? Does it make sense to wait any longer? That drives me crazy...

Is there some information out there that someone is working on a 1/2 chip 4:2:2 50MBS camcorder?

You can see the current camera lineup in ascending price order here:
Camcorders (ENG)

Sony XDCAM camera line is the only one with 1/2" chips. JVC, Panasonic and Canon are all 1/3" 4:2:2-50MBS. Sony's 1/2" and the 1/3" 4:2:2-50MBS cameras are $5-$8K. That's the price of upgrading above AVCHD and HDV cameras.

The under $4k market is 1/3" based AVCHD (except for the 1-chip XF100) and HDV. The Panasonics are new and they show that 3-chip 4:2:2 50MBS is not an under $4K feature set. Canon was unable to put 3-chip 1/3" 4:2:2 50MBS in something under $4k. Panasonic was unable. JVC was unable. What makes you sure there's a 1/2" chip 4:2:2 3-chip camera coming out?

Jan Luethje December 18th, 2011 09:54 AM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
No sorry, neither do I have informations about an upcoming 1/2" / 4:2:2 / 50 Mbs unit ( I wish I had...) nor did I want to imply that. But considering the quick advance of camera technology it might happen quite soon, that's what I want to say. The line up - policy of the manufacturers is a barrier, there you're right. Otherwise, they do make mistakes sometimes. Remember what happend to the pro-market, after DV had entered the scene.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I'm not a native speaker.

Don Palomaki December 19th, 2011 06:19 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Price point rarely drops (if it was successful). They just add features to the next generation model.

Waiting almost always makes sense if your current gear meets your needs.

Bryan Gilchrist January 5th, 2012 12:51 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
The main reasons I want to sell my XH-A1 are:

- Dropouts.
- Capturing and sometimes recapturing.
- Being in Florida, weather extremes can get to the tape, heads, etc.
- NOT HAVING TO SIT THROUGH 20 MINUTES OF VIDEO TO CAPTURE IT. :)
- Did I mention capturing and sometimes recapturing?

Concerns:
- No good 1/2" CCD tapeless cameras out yet that are under $5k. :(

I've been pondering the XA-10...but not 100% on it yet. It seems like a nice camera and would be compact and light weight, and for the price (under $2k) I could buy several.

Tariq Peter January 5th, 2012 01:44 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
I recently switched to shooting with DSLRs but I always take my XHA1 as a backup.

A few weeks back as I shooting an wedding where the bride and groom wanted to spontaneously make a speech on the stage. I had no time to flip from my 50mm lens to a wide angle lens as so quickly ran over to my XHA1, which was placed on a tripod. After watching the finished DVD back I have to say the XHA1 quality is still amazing.

John Stakes January 5th, 2012 02:38 PM

Re: Sticking with the XH-A1
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryan Gilchrist (Post 1707598)
The main reasons I want to sell my XH-A1 are:

- Dropouts.
- Capturing and sometimes recapturing.
- Being in Florida, weather extremes can get to the tape, heads, etc.
- NOT HAVING TO SIT THROUGH 20 MINUTES OF VIDEO TO CAPTURE IT. :)
- Did I mention capturing and sometimes recapturing?

Sorry to hear about your woes with the A1 Bryan. I've only had 4-5 dropouts in about 4 years in business. Could it be the tapes you are using? I haven't had to recapture for any reason either...but there are tapeless solutions for the A1 though I have no experience there.

I plan on keeping my A1. I take it to every shoot along with my T2i. I may be picking up a second DSLR as well, but still keeping all of them in the arsenol.

JS


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