Canon releases A1 footage
 

Canon has released footage filmed using the A1. One can say that this is the best one can get from the camera as it is from the actual manufacturers of the camera. It is clearly evident that the colours are vibrant and realistic.

http://usa.canon.com/app/html/See_Th.../hd_3ccd.shtml

Thanks for the link David, I have waited for that XLH1 footage a while and now it's ready for download!

They both looks fantastic!

Good to look at. I have to say I wasn't blown away with the Watchmaker footage. I guess I had heard a lot of the hype surrounding it. The interior lit scenes were nice as were the camera movements but I wasn't at all impressed with the exterior shots.

The XHA1 footage was very flat in color but I guess they were showing off the camera in a relatively default state. The best shots for me were towards the end of the piece because they were a little more saturated. The encoding was peculiar, I was getting a lot of interlaced lines in the movement, particularly with the running horses.

The XLH1 stuff gave a good sense of what can be done with the right crew. The XHA1 stuff was mediocre and boring.

Just my opinion.

Boy, the A1 part sucked. The actress was way too self conscient, some of the footage looked over exposed, some of the footage looked like the white balance was poorly done, the slow motion was horrendous. This was probably shot by some canon executive on vacation with his young mistress.

agreed. the A1 footage looked like a giant GL1 segment.
i guess they are trying to upsell the XLH1 with these videos.

I actually contacted Canon a few months ago offering to work with them on a demo piece but, after one initial response promising to get back to me, they completely blew me off. I sent them samples and multiple e-mails. Then I just gave up because their non-response was nothing short of rude.

steven, if they used your stuff nobody would buy the XLH1.

if i didn't already own the A1 and know better, I probably would have went for the H1 too.

I agree with Rafael on the A1 footage. The exposure and white balance doesn't look right to me. I am downloading the XLH1 clip now to see if it is better. Steven, its ashame Canon would not work with you. I believe you could have done the cam justice. From what I have seen in the right hands both cams can be outstanding.

Wow... Am I the only one who thinks the A1/G1 footage is quite good?

Admitted it's not as precisely executed as the watchmaker footage (and it's certainly not as artistic as the footage that Steven's been sharing with us), but it doesn't look bad...

You're probably right about the markets they're aiming at. An A1 might well be better suited to a travel assignment than an H1. And (as they obviously didn't have the support kit and crew that the watchmaker producers have) in a way it provides a realistic comparison. After all we know the cameras have the potential to look pretty much identical!

I like Steven Dempsey's footage better. Steve, Canon is stupid! They should have brought you on board!

While I appreciate the support, guys. Let's not make this thread all about me :) I was just venting earlier.

the hv10 footage from sometime ago was way better than the A1/G1 footage. Guess, nobody is biting on those H1 eh canon ?

I'm glad it isn't just me. Not only is the HV10 footage better than the A1/G1 footage. But, I have produced better footage out of my HC1. The clip should of contained 24f,30f and 60i shots. Also, it would of been nice to see some low lux shots for the H1,G1 and A1, like the did with the XL2 sample footage.

I guess I ask for to much.

Very interesting! The footage looks quite nice for the most part for the A1. I agree with some of what's been said about the exposure on some shots. Mabey a little to blown out on a few highlights. WB looked good, and colours in general was nice...not too saturated but not bland either.

The biggest thing that stands out to me is some of the artifacting going on. The horses, the girl when dressed in red and generally anywhere where there are large blocks of similar colour particularly with movement things get some bars across them. I'm starting to suspect that this is very much the downside to HDV format. In many ways that's a little scary to contemplate as I do a large amount of extreme sports and I think this camera is going to choke at times. I have to take a look at the XLH1 footage still but I have the feeling already that I am going to see less/no artifacts because they would likely record it SDI out.

I must say, I'm rather underwhelmed seeing that official canon-footage. It's sooo much below par compared to what I've seen here and over at DVXuser (is naming that forum allowed?). And no shallow DOF-shots or smooth moving shots. The idea that I got from those images was that I probably shouldn't be moving and filming at the same time, even when I have a tripod. I didn't expect to see so many living stills. To be honest it's a bit boring.

The footage they have used shows off the excellent resolution with the default flat color response. I think for demo purposes it's fine. I am impressed with the size of the file for it's quality and length in 720p. Any ideas what they may have used for settings (speculation of course.)

-Jonathan

I have to join the underwelmed group . I think both of the segments had some horrendous clipping and strange colorrendition. I don't know if the guys that made the watchmaker are part of this forum but I would really like to know how what their priorities were?
There were so many scenes that were overexposed(Is this the coding or was it that badly overexposed).
I would rather underexpose and deal with the noise than overexpose that much. Another thing I'm wondering was if the material from the movie was CC:d (I really hope it wasn't)(I think most of the material had an overemphasis on red). If not I would like to see the end result to see what they have salvaged maybe many of my questions are unfounded.

The questions are meant for disscussion and not for critisizing the makers of the movie. I just think they have done it differently than I would have done and I'm wondering why?

Oh, I liked the Watchmaker thingy (that's H1-footage), but I didn't like the Provence holiday video (A1-G1 footage) at all. I made a Spain holiday-video with a digital8 camera back in 2000 and it looks better than that.

I have to join the underwelmed group . I think both of the segments had some horrendous clipping and strange colorrendition. I don't know if the guys that made the watchmaker are part of this forum but I would really like to know how what their priorities were?
There were so many scenes that were overexposed(Is this the coding or was it that badly overexposed).
I would rather underexpose and deal with the noise than overexpose that much. Another thing I'm wondering was if the material from the movie was CC:d (I really hope it wasn't)(I think most of the material had an overemphasis on red). If not I would like to see the end result to see what they have salvaged maybe many of my questions are unfounded.

The questions are meant for disscussion and not for critisizing the makers of the movie. I just think they have done it differently than I would have done and I'm wondering why?

Only thing that really really bothers me is that stutter feeling at the movement parts, what exaclty is that? Is it normal in all HDV's? I don't remember seeing it before in other clips. Really annoying, somebody tell me thats not normal.

Alexis

It's not normal :)

I believe it is an encoding issue but for fast pans in 24fps, there is going to be stuttering. This will also happen when you use a film camera.

Except that Steven shot with the H1 for 9 months and produced material that was amazing too. It's not the camera, it's the shooter. For Stephens style of work, the size and ergonomics are better with the A1. The H1 is not necessarily a better camera but a better tool for some people who need the interchangable lens and the SDI outputs.

The fact that Stephen is using the A1 now (at 50% price decrease) and saw no significant depreciation in quality from the H1 is huge. The only reason to buy an H1 is because you like it's unique features and form factor.

Canon knew they were going to cut into the sales of the H1. I was told by someone in the know with Canon that as long as people were buying another Canon camera, they didn't care. And that is what is happening. For every one person that was going to buy an H1 but opted for the A1 instead to sace money, there are probably 20+ people who would have bought a Panasonic or a JVC instead. The tradeoff is well worth it. The difference in profit is made up for in volume.

Peace!

Looking now at the H1 footage as well the bars across some of the video seem to be more from their compression/encoding. I've shot with the A1 for three months now and haven't had the artifacts come up like I've seen in either Canon video. I still have lots more paces to put the A1 through but until I see problems with my video, I will remain very pleased with the camera and HDV in general.

Canon fell a tad short in these vids though to really offer a big WOW factor.

I agree with all those unimpressed by the footage. I saw it first a few weeks ago at a camera/video trade show and was underwhelmed. I'm just a newbie with a camera, but the footage looked bland and seemed to emphasize the video, not the film look.

But I bought the XHA1 anyway. Because of the work I saw here by Steven Dempsey and Scharky (that Water clip.)

If I can achieve half the quality of their results, I'll be happy.