Everyone still happy with their A1?
 

I am about to take the A1 plunge and was wondering if all the A1 owners out there are still not regretting their purchase...

In other words, I am looking for for someone to say "yes you should definitely buy the A1"

Buy it. you'll love it - not a breeze to learn to use though. be prepared to spend a lot of time reading and experimenting

I love it, but alot of people don't, my thinking is this, buy it if you have experience with video camera and know how to use them or willing to learn, don't buy it if you are the type that like the camera to do everything for you or have no idea what an iris is or don't care what it is. If you are of the later type, I suggest the Sony Z1, I use it before and it is a better auto camera than this one.

the A1 is just amazing. breathtaking, crisp and clean footage.
i'm overjoyed.

you'll need to be a savvy operator to get the best out of it though.
anything left on "auto" produces some really awful footage.

Lots to learn
 

Jack,
I am a real novice with video but have some 35MM SLR experience. I have had my A1 for about 3 weeks and have done a couple short (5 min or less) pieces for my church. The ability to get what you want will take some time. I plan on doing events and weddings in the future (I have my first try on Friday). Depending on your experience, there are three major areas to learn. Getting the shots, editing your shots (I use Vegas 7.0e) and presenting/selling your finished product. The A1 will get you the shots, but you will have to learn to make it sing for you. For $3000+, this is not a point and shoot. It is however a great camera for producing product that you have a good chance of selling to someone with a SD or HD television or projector.

Flawless camera, I wouldn't say it's hard to learn. But just like any pro camera, experience with manual settings is what's required for good shots.

Awesome camera though.

I worried I wouldn't be able to capture the magic I was used to with my DVX but it easily surpassed that camera.

I've never hesitated with Canon. I wouldn't call this camera hard to learn, especially if you are a previous Canon shooter.

"yes you should definitely buy the A1".... There you go,I said it for you.

The first couple of days with my A1 were terrible - I was convinced I'd bought a dud. The picture was terrible and as far as I was concerned getting rid of my Sony PD-170 was a BIG mistake. But then I took a bit of time to read the manual,search this site for advice and play with the A1. Today I wouldn't consider buying anything else.
As a lot of people have said though you need to be in control of everything - turn anything auto OFF and learn to use the zebra stripes. The best tip I got though is to keep the iris a wide as possible - I think any footage shot with an aperture smaller than 5.6 is un-usable.

I love to hear people gasp when they see well shot HD footage,one friend said "my God! it's like looking through a window!...."

[QUOTE=Phil Kay;676327]I think any footage shot with an aperture smaller than 5.6 is un-usable.[QUOTE]
I second that.

Sorry, I completely disagree with this statement. Many of my favorite shots were taken way outside of this range and they are also beautiful.

i don't really understand what is meant by this...not my experience at all....maybe you could elaborate?

Wow, thanks everybody for all the responses. Seems like its still a hit and thats good to know. I'm convinced. Thanks again.

Shoot something at say 2.4 and you get sharp images,shoot the same thing at 9.5 and it's a much softer image.

Small apertures = poor picture.

Not quite as simple as that. There are many times when even a small aperture can be creative. I'm agreeing with you in terms of optimal quality but "un-useable", I think is quite inaccurate.

Ha! "Quite inaccurate"? I'll decide for myself what is un-usable thanks.

Not sure why the hostility. I'm just illustrating that there are many opinions about this. Your first post came across as quite definitive, not opinionated.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound hostile! (although after being up all night and only having 2 hours sleep me even saying "fancy a cup of tea...?" can sound hostile!)
I only really meant that smaller apertures are un-usable TO ME and I've seen plenty of footage shot on the larger numbers from other members,yourself included Steven,that is VERY pleasing on the eye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaAC48myZM4 - that's the kind of thing I shoot.

Sorry again Steven for the misunderstanding, Phil

if you're in the position of closing up the iris to 9.5, you're probably also in the position of applying the ND filters. at -3 gain, i have not yet been in a such a bright environment that i would ever shut down the iris. if i'm in that bright light, i'm usually using a polarizer anyway.

just to add to the discussion....

Phil, absolutely no problem. I'm just sensitive to the fact that there are many impressionable newbies on this board and we have a responsibility to ensure that we are putting everything we say in the proper context.

Anyway, I appreciate you putting the record straight.

Well I miss some information about the editing proces with this camera
Questions like:
How does it edit the HDV on the PC connected to the sucking procespower.
Does the editing going smooth like DV or more stiff with HDV.
Is it diffrence between editing in 24f or 50i connected to the above questions.
I know the pc has do some hard work with editing Mpeg2 compression but how hard ?? 2X 3X what.

I am happy with my A1. After the brief cultural shock caused by the wealth of settings control over the XH-A1 (I came from being a XL1-GL1 user with far less control to deal with). And my happiness level increasing as time goes by.

Accidental post...

I love my A1. Although I haven't had time to create my own presets, I downloaded and use the presets offered by the members of this forum, for which I thank- Right now I am using Steven D.'s preset which has given me some awesome results. Thanks Steven! I also used other forum-user presets to match the DVX100 with ease.

No other camera offers a lens like the A1 in the price range. I'll deal with boo boo's like no OIS button, in exchange for a nice iris ring and a killer image. Overall, I am very pleased with the XH-A1.

Same here.

...and here!
It's really giving me some stunning images. Now everyone at work wants to sell their cameras and go out and buy one. I think for the price you can't beat it.

sand in lens
 

I love this cam, I can make nice images with it, I can't lose the 20x lens BUT...Although I do have lenses aged 20+ that have no problems, my XHA1 makes crunching sounds when turning the focus or iris wheel on the lens.

There is sand inside, and I am always very carefull (believe me, it is like new) with it when I am outside or during transport. So, there is sand/dirt in the lens or servo after 1 month use. That's bad design.

Wanna buy mine?

Yes? .....come back in ten years ;-) (or more ?)

I LOVE MY A1 !

Raymond, that red ring around the lens signifies that the lens is a luxury lens. It is both dust and waterproof if my memory serves me correctly.

Don

I've had mine a whole week now and have used it every day.

Yes, I do have too much time on my hands.

Anyway, the more I play with it and learn about it the more I like it.

It'll probably take me another six months or so to be expert with this camera but I'm already 'competent' enough to use it 'on the fly' with quite acceptable results.

In run and gun situations- I have shot in full auto mode at +9db and footage still looks great.

Yeah right (-:, you can't shoot that camera with 9db.

The A1 has given me consistently stunning picture quality (thanks to the custom presets library here). I'm still delighted with it. My only regret is buying it about a month before the rebate kicked in, but then again, that's a month I had to practice with it before I needed it. Who can put a value on that? Oh, yeah: $350--the cost of the rebate I missed out on, LOL.

Seriously, buy the A1. There's no better deal in its price range.

I'm thinking about picking up the Canon HV20 as a B-roll/VCR.

You could have done worse and bought it last year for $4K, as I did. But I'm happy--I needed it then and knew the price would drop some after a few months, since that always happens. You buy whatcha need whenya need it.

A1 in hands
 

Well I did it. I got an A1 and its awesome. Great design, very solid construction and (after a few worried moments at the amount of grain in the pic remembered the auto gain is by default on, so once switched off) an amazing HD picture. Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words and thanks to this forum for all the great info. I think this is gonna be a fun camera.

sorry- I meant 12db...(which is even more insane)