A few questions from a new Canon user
 

Hi,

I've shot a few features and dozens of shorts with the DVX100a. I got my A1 last week and have shot one short so far. I kept it simple ... two guys at a table talking - five point coverage - yada yada. The footage imported into FCP flawlessly, edited smoothly on my macbook - 24f looks great - and now it's on to the next thing.

My questions are these:

1. Is there another company that makes cheeper batteries for the Canons? The batteries seem a bit pricey.

2. The LCD is so small. Are there any suggestions for alternate - mountable LCD's?

3. Can anyone help me get a basic film look? Many of the terms in the menu are foreign to me - and thus I have no idea what they do. I'm after a 'reversal' look for this project, but a variety of "film looks" would serve me best. Any ideas?

Any advice at all would be helpful.

Thanks.

Impact
 

Impact BP-970 Lithium-Ion Battery, although I would always go with the same manufacture of the camera. Also for a larger LCD, yet very pricey check out the Marshall V-R70P-HDA.

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The Canon batteries are expensive for a reason... they last a very long time (five and seven hours for the BP-950G and 970G). Cheap knock-offs won't do that. Remember, you get what you pay for in this industry.

We have an entire forum dedicated to acheiving the film look. See http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=34

On the other hand I've used cheep knock offs for the past two years with excellent success! The manufacturer isn't even listed but it says "Cell by Panasonic" go figure.. they are bp-945 (knock-offs) that I got for $15 ea. and they last 7hrs.. on a wedding shoot all I have needed was just ONE all day with my XL2's; I shot a wedding this past Sat with the A1 and I used 1-1/2 (I used two batteries with the last one being half-full at time of ending shoot)

So I am totally happy I DIDn't spend big money for the Canon "branded" batteries!

I concur. I am generally the person that buys generic when I can to save money.

It is funny that a considerable amount of products that are generic actually come off of the same assembly line just rebranded as a different name.

Canon batteries obviously are not rebranded generic, however, I have always bought generic batteries for all of my camcorders saving well over a thousand dollars in the past few years and I have never ever had a problem with them. I notice the same power usuage and the same amount of hours. My panasonic generic actually was significant better than the stock one (both were rated the same).

I usually see past marketing hype and buy were I can save money. But some people like to buy straight from the source, like spending 2x to 3x more for ram for thier Mac, when they can buy it on ebay and install it themselves saving themselves the price of a kidney.

We have about 6 of the large 6000mAH knock-off batteries, shipped from HK.... used with XL2s for more than a year, they last forever. One fully charged battery will nearly always last all day (with the cam left on between shots, but not during breaks).

Thank you so much for your responses. I bought a few canon knock-off batteries. I went to the forum on making video "film like" ... but it's not specific to this camera. I'd love some help on the basics of the A1 that would get IT to look somewhat film like.

Thanks again

Hi Gabriel.
There is no simple solution. The camera comes with 24f which does help. Then there are imaging options such Cine gamma which helps. So from a camera stand point thats where to start.

Now for the bad news - the other factors in creating a film look (in no specific order): Lighting, composition (framing and blocking), camera movement ( I guess also a part of composition but I split it out to make it a clear point).

In case you havent already started out toward it these things are hard to learn but not impossible: first place to research? Watch more movies - man I hate the hard jobs.

re: batteries

Be glad the XHA1 isn't a pro camera that uses Anton Bauer batteries -- you'd need to spend thousands of dollars on batts and chargers.

The Canon 970G batteries' life improves after the first couple of charge cycles. They're worth the money.

And film look depends way more on the photographer than the camera.