News from Canon
 

Something is up over at Canon with the XL-H1.
Look what there including with the purchace of a new camcorder.

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=50880

Darrell

Do you think this move is to lessen the blow to people who buy a H1 now, before Canon releases their solid state XL/XH HD series cameras in the spring?

Oh yea, something is coming from Canon.
I expected something sooner, since they usually launch their updates around this time of the year.
Their recent rebates must not of moved as many cameras as they had hoped.
I can't wait to see what is coming next.

Darrell
FIRST CINEMA PICTURES

Interesting.

Do tell more if there is more at this point.

Thanks

Jay

I don't know anything. Its just speculation on my part. But if a solid state HD camera is coming I would like to know before I shell out my hard earned for Sony's new EX ($7,000) I'm a fan of canon and have been since the Hi8 days, but Now that I have a FSC on my SD canons I don't want to buy another tape based camera when I move to HD. Right now based on specs, the EX has my money. I hope Canon announces their answer to the EX and I hope that answer isn't just a free Firestore with their HDV camera. While it's nice, it's not the same as being built in.

Here's another link.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/FrameWor...CANON_XLH1.pdf

Darrell

And here's the official Canon USA press release:

http://www.usa.canon.com/templatedat...seriesann.html

Solid state makes a lot of sense. Goodbye mr. tape.

Too bad there is small hope of the resolution reaching 2k or even 4k.

This is a nice promotion.

It is similar to the deal that purchasers of the XL H1 received, if they attended one of the XL H1 road shows.

This one is more open, in that anyone who purchases the XL H1 receives the FS-C Firestore.

Before you embrace solid-state video recording, consider how you'll store your valuable source video data (footage) after shooting.

A 60-minute MiniDV tape will hold approximately 13 Gigabytes of data (3.6 Megabytes per second)." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DV).

Here's why I won't abandon tape:

1) I have a 500GB hard drive. This drive wouldn't hold all my raw "footage" if I had to copy it all from MiniDV tape to disc. It's filling up now with edited scenes and compressed final projects.
2) MiniDV tapes are easy to organize on a shelf. They're cheap.
3) Loss due to fire/theft is the primary risk I see for MiniDV tapes, but this is equally true for a hard drive.
4) Hard drives eventually fail. Would you loose everything if this happened? I won't take this risk. I have a 2TB hard drive and I back up everything.

I will use MiniDV tape as an archive for all original footage, and the hard drive for working with copies and for non-linear editing.

The advantage of the FireStore recorder included with Canon's promotion is that you don't have to abandon tape. The ideal workflow here is to simultaneously record both to tape and to the FireStore. That way you've got the best of both worlds... an instant archive / backup on tape plus an edit-ready version on the FireStore that doesn't have to be captured. In other words, use the FireStore but keep on using tape as well.

I wouldn't read too much in this promotion from Canon. It may just be what it says it is. A very good deal for the buyers of the XL and a smart way to stir the pot and remind any potential buyer of the Sony Ex that Canon is also offering a tapeless option (with the advantage of tape back up as Chris mentiooned.)

As far as a only tapeless camera, my take is that canon will wait for the xpress card to be very inexpensive and then make a killing. My bet is not before 2009.

That is the ideal.....
many times having that tape copy has saved my hide. Having both is what you really want. This offer is very tempting.

Chris, thanks for the explanation. Simultaneous recording to both tape and FireStore sounds like a great solution. The FireStore would transfer data faster to the hard drive, and I'd never touch the tape again unless an archive was needed.

I like the idea of tape back-up and firestore for editing. But eventually, tape based solutions will disappear (except DLT perhaps). I'd like to see Canon, Sony, Panasonic, JVC and all camera manufacturer's start bundling their cameras with archive solutions.