I got the new XL H1S! :)
 

So I got the camera, and it actually feels to be a better upgrade than I thought. The lens certainly feels a lot better than I thought it was going to be.

I can post more about it later ... but nice camera :)

Dear Michael,

Congratulations!

In my opinion, it is a significant upgrade.

Great news, Michael, from H1 to Ex1 to H1s, wow!
BTW you've never posted comparable shots of H1 and Ex1, could you, if you still have EX1?
HOw would you compare two cameras?

Really exciting!

some quick observations:

The lens feels quite a bit better. It feels heftier, the rings have more weight and tactile grip to them as Canon changed the ring teeth. The lens also is larger in diameter overall, I noticed my follow focus doesn't just slide on the rails under it anymore, they collide with the lens, so I had to lower the rails a bit more. It is still a 72mm thread.

Love some of the new features like variable peaking ... can set 2 levels of peaking for focusing. You can also set the viewfinder to automatically turn B&W when using peaking and magnify, and back to color when you turn magnify or peaking off ... helps greatly with the focusing ... kind of like some hybrid version of the 2 viewfinders from Canon.

Automatic Gain Limiter is nice ... I can set it to ceiling at 6DB now, which is where I can tolerate gain the most.

Thank goodness for the embedded HD-SDI ... I have the IO HD and this is a nice thing for my uncompressed capturing now.

There's also quite a bit of change in the audio, although haven't really played that far yet.

I'll let you know more as I explore :)

Great, keep us updated, do you still have EX1?

I have been waiting for someone to post about the new cam. I will be watching this post. This is the cam I am looking into heavily.

Yeah, It's a friend/colleague that owns it ... I just get to use it whenever I want :)

Great work Michael, very nice stuff.

I've been considering this workflow. Isn't the HD-SDI format always over 60i? Wouldn't you still have to de-interlace your 1080 @ 60i Pro-Res to 1080 @ 23.98p Pro-Res (granted if you wanted to shoot 24p)?
-C

Thanks

:)

Yes, no matter what framerate you shoot, its always 60i out of the HD-SDI. So I always do my reverse telecine using Cinema Tools after I capture.

Unfortunately the IO HD doesn't do it on the fly.

I uploaded a clip from a film in which I used this workflow ... its "Killer Headline" on my website. There are pics too showing some of the setup.

Michael,
hate to sound like a lammo, but what is the process for you to transfer what you shot HD-SDI 60i using Cinema Tools to make it 24P. Love the look of your work on your site (KILLER HEADLINE) Also, i was looking at your rig on your site (Photo gallery), and how did you get the audio embedded? Analog? Whats the process? Thanks you.

SORRY!! YOU HAVE THE NEW XL H1S!! DUUHHHH, it embeds the audio!!

Michael, Have you done any HD-SDI capture with the EX1? I believe it's TRUE 10-bit, which would be pretty awsome and improvement over the H1's 8-bit color (I would think).

Thanks.

Dear Peter,

Yes, the Sony EX1 is 10-bit.

I was able to use a Canon XL H1s at the Canon booth, at NAB, for three days.

Behind us was a nice poster which had a very interesting and detailed color gradient.

I was expecting to see banding in the colors using the XL H1s.

In all of my tests, pointing the XL H1s at various areas of the poster, I could not see any banding on the screen. We were using an Apple Cinema display feed from the HD-SDI port through an adapter.

The results were great.

Dear Gregory,

One side benefit of using the Flash XDR is the external audio and timecode will be automatically embedded with the incoming HD-SDI signal on the fly.

The live HD-SDI output has the audio and timecode embedded. This is a perfect match for the original Canon XL H1.

Hey Gregory,

I actually used my older XL H1 for the Killer Headline Shoot as I didn't get the "S" version till a week later.

We shot double system sound, where we jam synced the XL H1 to an Edirol R4-Pro. I just matched the audio and video through timecode in Final Cut Pro.

That's the one thing I like a lot about the XL series ... the versatility.

The main reason behind the XL H1S purchase, is I will be DP'ing a full feature in late summer.early september. This movie has name talent, and a solid script, along with a very cool director. We were originally going to shoot Red, but they liked the look of the stuff I've done with the XL, and I won't be able to get the camera till right before the shoot, so I've decided to stick with the XL for this shoot (I'll outfit it for high-end shooting).

Michael,
love the look of this spot and i'm still curious to know how you did the transfer in Cinema Tools. I have the same setup with the AJA i/O HD, and the only way that I can possibly get audio embedded is if I use my Convergent Design (HD Connect SI) device. Your assistance is needed and I appreciate it. GREAT JOB!!

Thanks Gregory.

I simply just took the captures from Final Cut Pro, went into each file and saved them so they started on the first "P" frame and ended on the last "I" frame of the cadence, and did the reverse telecine with Cinema Tools.

If you are using the camera as the audio source, I would probably run the analog audio outs of the camera into the analog ins of the IOHD and combine that with the HD-SDI signal. Or if you are using a field mixer/recorder, run the outputs to the IOHD.

Does that help?

Michael,
thanks for the info
"went into each file and saved them so they started on the first "P" frame and ended on the last "I" frame of the cadence," Don't mean to sound ignorant so i will ask because i don't know and i'm confident enough to say i don't know, but where do i find the "p" frame and "I" frame? I have never been encountered with this so I apologize if you are saying "What!"LOL
Dan,
I also am looking at the FLASH XDR. I know that it supports 1080p, but will that work with the XL H1 seeing that it's 1080i? Will it do the conversion itself from 1080i to 1080p, or does the camera have to be 1080p?

Dear Gregory,

The Flash XDR fully supports 1080i60, such as the output from a Canon XL H1.

It also fully supports the 30p and 24p modes of the Canon XL H1.
(Canon calls their's 30f and 24f - these are supported.)

The Flash XDR also supports 720p but this does not apply to the Canon XL H1.

The Flash XDR does not convert 1080i to 1080p.

However, many 24p cameras put a 24p videostream into a 1080i videostream before putting it out the HD-SDI port.

This 24p videostream embedded in 1080i is properly and efficiently handled by the Flash XDR.

Only the necessary 24p frames are actually recorded, with the redundant frames being discarded.

So, in this sense, a 24p embedded in a 1080i is converted to 1080p24.

Thank you Dan! That's going to be a GREAT unit when it arrives!!