Yeah, it's the left angle camera is the A-1, and I could spend more time correcting...if there weren't so much show here! Correction is a function of how much time I can put into this, versus doing my real work...

I think the main problem in comparison is the light sensitivity, whereas the 2 bigger cameras read a color on the back screen for example, the A-1 didn't always read as much of it and you get a fairly different look and value. But in a we-don't-know-what's-coming-next situation where you have no idea what the light (let alone action) is going to be, I think it did admirably.

i think it looks great. for a better fit with the other cams, i would only suggest a few more notches of overall saturation on the a1 stuff.

Canon A1 Motocross Footage 60I
 

Here is a short clip from a motocross race in Michigan. Shot in 60I and exported h.264 its about 13mb. Should give people an idea of motion with this camera. Looks good to me :) The 20 optical is great! Ohh and the website was put up in 3 min. Its a work in progress.

http://brentgoodale.com/brentstanley48.mov

Very nice! Was that handheld?

Nice work, but your killing me...my A1 doesn't get here until Monday. Damn weekends (don't often say that).

Yeah all hand held with a rain coat on for the dust. First time using it hand held. As you can see from the gate drop I'm still getting used to the speed of the variable zoom button. The rain coat made me feel limited because it was hard to change options with the coat on. Nothing that a little practice cant fix.

Rock Video xh a1 (1 Camera Shoot)
 

Hey everybody here is a promo piece of a rock band that I shoot using my xha1.

Comments Please.

http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=1144883984

Cool! Another 16:9 image in a 4:3 display.... tall and skinny people.

Not sure what to say, Kevin. There was no rhythm at all to the editing. It just seemed random, without thought or planning, having nothing at all to do with the music, which was out of sync with what was going on. As a viewer, I felt disconnected.

Sorry but have to agree with Brian.
Not very structured and random cutting.
I would re-edit, cutting to the beat.
Leave the footage at 16:9.

I'd try and bring in some more extreme closeups (hands feet etc) to help reinforce the beat

someone had posted a video up here a few months back that had a really great energy going on - even though I believe he cut from various songs over the course of the night - it still looked perfectly matched to the tune

It was a high energy song to begin with and the band really moved on stage - which helped obviously, but I thought the cutting was superb

couple of questions
did you shoot all with one camera and cut in from various songs?
did you use a canned cd track from their album or was the live performance recorded?

Trish

Lunar Eclipse 8-28-07 with XH-A1
 

Here is a short timelapse of the lunar eclipse through the lens of the XH-A1
We had a great view of the eclipse here in California
enjoy


http://ekmedia.blip.tv/file/356640/

This is cool! Did you use ND on those shots?

No I didnt.
I stuck with adjusting the aperture and went all natural with the shooting

marlon, your work is AWESOME!
can you please tell me the custom preset you used for your film.. because even the uncorrected shots look very nice. =)

Pups
 

Some footage of Jack Russel Terrier pups harassing my father in his garden. There's some focus problems in these shots, I use manual focus most of the time but on the odd occasion I resort to auto I keep forgetting to switch back to manual, so after making my adjustments the camera takes over again :)

http://www.olikai.com/pups

I was really pleased with a couple of the closeup images, especially the ones attached, I'd be happy with these from my stills camera.

Paul.

I think you captured the dogs really well - these are not easy subjects to get with so much energy going on. And getting right down on the ground was perfect for it.

I loved the shots under the green bench. The coloring on some of the garden items were rich, especially the metal green legs of the bench.

Just noticed here and there the whites of the dog coats got somewhat overexposed. I'm not sure how you'd avoid that though without dulling down the normal color of everything else.

And one far away shot with them under the tree fighting over the bark was a bit bright in comparison to the lusher shots throughout. Sometimes I find I have to underexpose just a touch gets richer results. Not sure if that's proper etiquette or not though.

Trish

Thanks Trish, it certainly was a bit of a challenge the dogs hardly ever stop moving so it was generally a case of finding a spot and waiting for them to stop on it :)

Yes, the shot under the tree was overexposed, I was very dark under there so I flicked off the ND 1/16 which I'd been using for the rest of the shots and didn't really re-adjust properly, I should have left it darker as it would have resembled the reality of the shot better - I'll know next time.

regards

Paul.

I don't know about leaving it dark under the tree but I guess if you know they are going to come running out into the sun you have to set the shot based on where they'll be going to. Hard to guess when shooting unpredictable subjects.

I'm finding with the ND filters the difference between settings OFF, 1/16 and 1/32 is not very subtle. And in full sun sometimes not enough if you want the lens open somewhat.

I'm thinking of getting a polarizer or even an glass ND filter to compensate. I had to shoot in full noon day sun on the weekend with the mini horses and all the subtleties were lost under the brightness.

I should have followed the approach you did for the mini horses - get in a position and wait for them to come into the frame - I spent too much time trying to chase the shot.

trish

nice video and music :) and really cute pups

Shoot your own timelapsed clouds and shoot, if possible, your own timelapsed stars. Then edit them together.

Here's some fast motion clouds I did in our back yard with a little Panasonic GS250. I sped them up by 2500 in Premiere Pro. (My daughter bumped the tripod halfway through. That's what happens sometimes.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJuIbOayZPQ

Nesquik video entry
 

Here is my video entry (shot with the XH-A1) for the Nesquik competition.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GYQJqCbfmrA

Just thought I'd share.


Stacy

Nice! I like it.

Man I wish I would have known about this contest. I would have made something for it. =(

Here are a couple sites that keep me up to date with video contests:

http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/onl...vidcontest.htm

http://www.onlinevideocontests.com/

The way I see it, even if I don't win anything I am still ahead of the game because the contests force me to think outside of things I would normally do. It's cool because you have guidelines and restrictions yet all the feedom to do whatever it is you want to do! I've entered 3 video contests since I got my XH-A1 (including the last DV Challenge) and I really feel I'm getting better with each pass.

I only do this stuff for fun and if there is some off chance I can win something then great. If not, no worries. I am having fun doing what I want to do and learning something new all the time.

Stacy

Ah thanks. That's exactly what I need. Yeah that's why I like video contests too. It's really good practice. And yeah, the money wouldn't hurt either. =)

OOPS! I meant freedom. :)


Stacy

PS> Good luck with the contests

Test footage of Softbox using CFL
 

This file is 77MB.

http://download37.mediafire.com/dxdl...ghtTesting.wmv

It's just a simple test for my new softboxes that employ CFL bulbs. So a 900W light uses only 252W and produces very little heat so the talent is not uncomfortable.

No color correct has been done on this footage.

The color temperature of these lights is 5100K. The camera was white balanced for these lights before shooting. In the clip when I zoom out you see a window in the background. The light coming through that window is sunlight at about 4pm in the afternoon. The light shining onto the painting at the back and part of the wall behind the painting (from an over head recessed light) is a 5500K CFL. The color of the walls is white.

At some point when I zoom out you also see the front face of the light. This will give you a idea about the distance of the light from the talents.

This is my first softbox so I have no experience using any other and would be interested in knowing from other what they think of the lights (if that's even possible to do by looking at a clip.

If there are certain kinds of things I could do when shooting that will help any of you (or me) better gauge the "quality" of the light, please do let me know.

Thanks.

Shiv.

I clicked on it but Getright said it was removed from the list.

I'm currently D/Ling it. You may want to try again.

XHA1 Footage Test
 

Just messing around with presets and lens control, DOF. The bee was a great subject for this. The file is large at 224 mb.

http://www.digitalvideoworks.net/Nature_In_Motion.html

What was your shutter speed...? It seems a bit 'ghosty'...

Doug,

I was using 1/60 (30f mode). Is it just some parts that appear ghosty or all of it?

Chan, you might want to try once again.

Thanks.

Won't Play
 

I can't get this file to play (even downloading Bees 1440.mov to hard drive). The latest version of Quicktime says it can't find an appropriate codec to play it, and Divix or VLC players provide the audio only.

It plays fine on my Mac. I'll upload another version to my website.

mine wont play either. not even vlc

Probably needs the mpeg 2 for QT.

Another fragment from Yellowstone doc
 

These are going to be little transitions between larger subject matter

http://www.pinelakefilms.com/XHA1/ye...ne_sunset2.wmv

Same specs as the last piece....mixture of XLH1/XHA1/Letus

No color correction done yet....and sound will be mixed, narration re-recorded, etc.

Narration recorded with a Zoom H4

Enjoy....

Hi Steven,

Spectacular shots as always. Were the 'in car' shots handheld? or did you use the Merlin?

Been thinking about trying out my Merlin in the car, but haven't gotten around to it yet... was curious about the results...

Outstanding man , what lenses 28mm !!!
Very sharp ....

How many weights on each side, etc?