XH Upgrade Wishlist Poll v1

[Holly Rognan]

What ever happened to the magnification during recording, as an option, in the firmware race? I thought that it was a very good idea.

[Chris Hurd]

It's the eighth one down the list: "F. Asst. Mag. on displays / analog out during Rec. "

[Holly Rognan]

Thanks, I would have voted for it, but it was more condensed than I realized. Thanks

[Stu Siegal]

Originally Posted by Bill Busby

I was never too hip with the XLR on/off suggestion for the poll. I mean, how long does it actually take to dig into the Audio Setup menu & make that change? 10 secs?

Bill

It doesn't take any longer to switch than the OIS on/off, but like OIS, it also often needs to be toggled back and forth in an instant, and 10 seconds becomes longer than it sounds (pun intended).

Got to get a plug in for one of my four!

[Andrew Ott]

Voted for:

-Peaking/zebras at same time
-OIS custom button
-Battery displayed in minutes
-Slower preset focus speed

Would have replaced battery displayed in minutes with an audio limiter had I spent more time reading it.

I really wish the A1 had a rack focus ability. The 1-way rack focus isn't nearly as helpful as a true rack focus would be.

[Barry Gribble]

I would like to see an option that zooming in or out turns off the Focus Assist feature.

I just got mine this week, and that has been the thing that is bugging me the most. I zoom in to get focus, choose the Focus Assist, and then I want to zoom back to get my shot. Right now I have to zoom out and press that ill-placed button.

Lol - or is this an option that I just haven't found yet?

[Chris Hurd]

It is indeed one of the poll options, Barry... third one up from the bottom: "Option: AF off during zoom (prevent focus pulsing)." Looks like it's been a popular choice too.

[Barry Gribble]

Hmmm, I think that is different. I don't mean in AF Mode. I mean when you press Focus Assist Mag. and it digitally zooms in to give you better resolution to focus. If you then zoom out manually, it stays in Focus Assist mode. I'd like to see any change in the zoom automatically turn off the Focus Assist Mag.

I can't imagine wanting to change the zoom with that option on. You need it off to frame a shot.

[Chris Hurd]

Oh man... I *completely* misunderstood you earlier, Barry! Focus Assist... duh! That's what I get for not waiting for my first cup of coffee. Looks like I mentally transposed "AF" (autofocus) for Focus Assist.

Anyhoo, I think you're dead on with that request. I sure wish it had been brought up back when we were seeking submissions to the poll. What we might wind up doing, is to run the poll one more time with a refined set of options. We'll drop the top-voted winning options, and the bottom options which got the least number of votes. And then we can throw in a couple of excellent idea submissions such as yours that weren't picked up the first time around.

We could call it "F. Asst. Mag. auto off when zooming." Maybe it could be a Custom Functions option.

So maybe we'll do that after this one reaches 100 voters or so.

[Ben Hayflick]

Hi all, 2 questions regarding the firmware updates:

1. Why aren't more people concerned with the lack of Peaking customization and colors? I don't own the A1 (yet) but I've messed around with it, and I do think the color peaking on the Sony V1U, for example, is vastly superior and makes focusing much easier than on the A1. Am I missing something? Is the A1's peaking function actually just fine as it is, even given its smallish LCD? Wouldn't peaking colors and customization be a huge, fundamental improvement to one of the most important functions of the A1 - to accurately focus an image?

2. When might a firmware update for the A1 actually happen? Did Canon put a firmware update out for the GL2, and if so, how long after that camera was introduced?

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Ben, I also find the peaking to be one of the weakest points of the A1 - even more annoying than its mutual exclusiveness with the zebra.

[Chris Hurd]

As far as I know, there has never been a firmware update issued for the GL2.

There's no guarantee that one will be issued for the XH series camcorders either.

[Ben Hayflick]

Hmm. Do you know whether there have ever been firmware updates for any of the Canon camcorders? This info could very well factor into people's decisions to buy now vs. to wait for improvements that may only arrive with the A2...

[Chris Hurd]

So far there have been a couple of firmware upgrades issued for the XL H1.

[Jamie Krutz]

Thanks for putting up the poll, Chris.

Lots of great suggestions. Tough to pick only four. I voted for switchable audio limiting, zebra with peaking, AGC gain limit option, and viewable preset names.

Two that didn't make the list:

1) A menu option for 2:3:3:2 advanced pulldown for the 60i analog outputs when shooting 24F HD.
This is primarily for recording without tape, such as directly into a computer (where you can choose a non-HDV codec that might be better for green screen work). Advanced pulldown is easier to remove cleanly to get back to 24 fps.

2) A menu option to make letterboxing active on composite outputs while shooting 16x9.
Currently letterboxing only works during playback. Composite monitoring during shooting is always vertically stretched to 4x3. Letterboxing to show the actual aspect would make it more useful for clients to see framing while shooting.

Cheers,
-Jamie
www.JamieKrutz.com/jvideo.html