Canon XH-A1 Test Video

[OTTERMANN2]

I have the same camera,..when I upload my vid to IMovie I lose the quality...why?..

[realinohio]

Nice video! What were your major challenges in learning to use the XH A1?

[Bluej24]

Hi Man do you have problems with noise during indoor shots and how do you overcome these problems?

[pf008]

OK, I like the footage, but I have one major problem with all these camera tests. Some of you spend WAY too much time on one subject to the point where I'm "fast forwarding" alot on the videos. Any more than like 3 or 4 seconds on a subject and you're boring me and alot of other people. Just sayin.

[lichtempfindlich]

@pf008 you are right. that's why I wrote some time ago, that this was the very first video shot with the cam. All the other videos in my channel are shot with it, so if you want to get an impression of how it works, take a look at them, even if they are not named "test video"

I'm aware that this one here is way too long and you tend to skip to the end, sorry for that.

[pf008]

@lichtempfindlich Thanks, I checked some of them out. I just got this camera on Ebay, love it already :)

[GeorgeMaier]

I love the... I dunno how to describe it... softness? of footage taken on this camera!

[conewells]

I'm amazed this was shot w/o using the 35MM lens. It's so hard to keep focus on this cam.

[lichtempfindlich]

Well, have a Look at my Channel. There you'll See plenty of Videos Done with the Canon xh-A1. This One was the First Test Done with the Cam. So don't complain about the naming of it.

[honkamusic]

nice vid..but why does everybody only write TEST TEST TEST... have the balls to say "this is my movie"....

[yanfrom1987]

UAO AUUU

[gerodeo]

check out my channel all videos made with XHA1

[mooreentstudios]

Beautiful footage! Well done.

[illuminatioracle]

twin peaks opening footage

[FREDDYHEAD20092010]

haha yeah it does look like that

[bigblubox]

nice shots, I was hoping for more..

[torchidman]

Still, a pretty good looking video...

[menasart]

beautiful shots and great coloring,

[torchidman]

Nice vid, but too long on that one, skyline foreground shot....

[ned316]

toooooooooo long mate

[TheBeautyIsFake]

@ned316 useful for people like me who are looking to buy this particular camera. i need as much footage as possible!

[rcfilmspat]

Someone likes Antonioni ;)

[gary909]

This looks great! I better start saving...

[poklar]

What's the name of the song?

[lwhite108]

Very nice! i like the quality. i own this camera and have problems with shooting bands on stage and pixelation. And it gets worse when i color correct. Have to deepen the blacks to hide the pixelations and graininess. Have you had this problem. Shooting 24p or 30p, either way, the video still pixelates. 1/60th f 2.6

[ned316]

i dont know about pixels but i get grainy images

[troutbum86]

Don't use automatic gain. If gain is set above 6db, you will see noticable grain. Automatic gain frequently goes above 6db

[KillingDestiny]

whats the best: 60i, 25p, or 24p, or 24f

thanks

[conair360]

it all depends on what you're filming and what "look" you're trying to accomplish...

[cnguyen32]

25p is for european pal standards

24p / 24f are the same, panasonic calls it 24p, canon calls it 24f

60i is also known as 30 fps, the stuff you film will look LIVE.

24 fps will give you the film look.

[MichaelPattiVideo]

really like this, love the urban atmosphere. where is it

[fmyle]

does it do progresive or interlaced .from fmyle . movies. thank you

[zadizzzle]

interlaced

[alexgordonepic]

WOW

[iVert3]

i love my xh-a1 and love the challenge of shooting in low-light only environment lighting. 01:01 in this video is nice right side silhouette and rich sky...nice work.

[lightmydank]

whats the full resolution? 1920x1080?

[drexwlwlwlwlwlw]

1080 by 1440, or 1080i i think

[lightmydank]

took a long time lol...but thanx.

[JDHenneberry]

Cool! Whats the music!?

[ivondudley]

whitest boy alive - don't give up

[mistermajestyck]

i've been looking into getting this camera. it's one of the ones im considering. A big selling point is how well the low-light footage at the end is.

[creamofclapton68]

what were ur exact camera setting for this. Like with the slo and gamma.

[DJCnetwork]

o man this camera makes me jizz all over myself haha

[DDeDokter]

LOL indeed :q

[corbo628]

my god ur cam takes awesome footage. im very jealous

[tamura618]

Awsome quality with the 24p function and the gamma settings, i hope i´m geting one of those. Do you use final cut pro 6? Did you have trouble capturing HD video on this software?

[maqnchs]

Beatifull, was that at 24f, and is the A1's 24f really progresive as canon claims?

[macfreak21]

nice footage, like the after effects in the end. Whats the song you used in this? and where did u get that awsome footage in the begining, like what city?

[lichtempfindlich]

The song used is "Don't give up" performed by The Whitest Boy Alive.

Well, the footage, which I have to admit is a little bit short, is taken in the port of Magdeburg, Germany.

[macfreak21]

cool thanks!

[unusuallyquickloris]

drool why is this camera so good

[Krank0120]

expensive as hell.

[deathcab7]

how in the world do you upload your videos to youtube with such great quality.

i mean i have a shitty camera. but the videos always look worse on here. is there a trick?

[lichtempfindlich]

as written before: i'm using final cut to export the clips, with h.264 codec and then set the resolution manually to 1280x720. That's the best way you can get a good quality out of the video for youtube and the file isn't too large to upload.

[DramaKidStudioz]

No footage on the here looks as good as the footage does uncompressed on a dvd watching it on tv. my footage looks better on video than compressed on internet and it's 1-ccd : (, I know your 3-CCD HD looks REAL good on one of those 52'' HD 1080p TV's from Best Buy, was this shot 1080i or 1080p

[gotfinnegan]

quick question: I've got a canon xh a1 and like to shoot in low lighting situations, similar to the ones you've displayed in this video. the problem I encounter is that the footage often turns out a bit grainy - what kind of settings do you use to counter this? thanks a lot.

[fl350cz]

manual setting and turn off gain

[needapedia]

excellent video. bravo.

[DKucharski]

what music?

[levenup]

whitest boy alive - don't give up

[twsmpjlz]

nice vid

what music is that

hey so is it worth buying

i eather want this or the v1u

what do u think?

[AndrewReyna]

Get the XH, its way way better in low light due to it having 1/3" sensors, and the V1U having 1/4". Also leads to less DOF.

[aleks8825]

how about the xlh1? is it better than the xha1?

[Mattblam01]

the xl h1 has the same technical aspects as the Xh A1, but it also has interchangeable lenses and a shoulder rest. plus it looks better in my opinion.

but it is about $3000 more, and the XL H1 isn't as good in lowlight i think.

[mattmiller884]

the quality is good simply because there isnt camera movement.

[msgertrudefrommage]

..............EXCELLANT !!!!!

[ImpagliazzoBR]

How do you get such a good quality on Youtube?

How do you render your videos to upload?

About the camera, XH-A1 is great! I'll see your other videos.

[PrmanentVacat1on]

the vid is 2 long but these r the videos i hav been looking for for this camera + the XL2 bc I am trying to buy 1. The 1st thing I look for is of the camera shooting in low light levels to c how it performs. It was very how you went lower to lower light, but my only regret is you did not do more situations. the only problem i have with HDV is its compatibility with programs and its poor ability in low light, which is why I am very critical of it (esp bc its not TRUE HD) Did u try pan shots?

[lichtempfindlich]

If you want to see more footage from this camera, just try my other videos. There you have pan shots, nature stuff and concert low light situations. This video was one of my first with this camera, so it's not the best.

[crobs808]

not worth watching after 00:47

[phreekz]

Dont be irritated, that any video-footage looks like movie on pc, especially in that small size.. but note positivelly, the canon's got a "wide" contrast/stops range - lack of overlighted pieces with good draft in dark areas.

[bungfoon]

How do I get video to look like this otherwise then?

[CozmoFajita]

Could someone help me? I'm looking to buy a Canon camcorder, but I dont understand the diff. between the XH G1, and the XH A1 is there a significant difference?

[Asjaman]

They are identical, except for the three additional outputs of the G1: Genlock, Time Code, HD/SD-SDI. The additional costs for this are about 3000 $, so think about it ;-)

[CozmoFajita]

I will thanks. :)

[telecaribe]

im sorry hollywood now is time for regular people with this amazing cameras do nice pictures

[xixtretamil]

Hi, can I ask you something? How did you do the slow motion?

[zenmachinefilms]

There's actually no slow motion here. But if you look at the Rarevision website, there's a very good turorial on there on how to get great slow motion out of After Effects (I presume FCP too).

[tommygunfeth]

are you stupid?

the whole clip is slow mo.. there just isn't much movement in the shots..

[zenmachinefilms]

No need to be blunt. I meant that there was no indication that anything here was overcranked here in camera, or using the 60i field splitting post technique pointed out on Rarevision (faux overcranking).

The factory scenes - the steam, windmills, they often do move that slow anyway, so any post slowing isn't dramatically much. The very long, very boring static shot at sunset that takes up most of the clip has indeed been slowed down in post, if anyone can sit through it.

[lichtempfindlich]

zenmachine, you are absolutely right with the slow motion. the first shots are at real time speed. the long one, with the sunset is slow motion (it is very long indeed, but as written, it's a test). it went through a post-prodction with after effects so that it looks better. I've done some more tests with slow motion and some light set-up. I'll post it soon...

[racelsa]

question your xh a1 is made in japan?? o Thailand

if is made in japan let now whre you buy

[alphonseputhren]

Does Canon XH A1 have slow motion recording feature !!! If so how to do it !!!! please reply

[alphonseputhren]

What is maximum fps u can use ..is it 120 fps ????

[cozymonk]

the maximum fps is 60fps, which is the fps for 1080i HD recording. There is no slow motion feature, as those features are extremely expensive because of the hardware that it requires and usually reserved for separate "high-speed" cameras (never really built into a normal 3CCD camera.

[truddprod]

The XH A1 does not shoot 60 fps. It shoots 30 frames per second interlaced, therefore shooting 60 fields, but 2 fields make one frame. Therefore 60i = 30 frames per second.

[cozymonk]

yeah, i realized my mistake, but didn't feel like posting again. thanks for clarifying.

[rockyourd]

How do you import it into Final Cut in the first place? I have tried to, but it lags, even after changing the setting to HD.

[mouimen]

did u edited it with final cut pro? and wots that music called? nice video

[lichtempfindlich]

yop, i did it with final cut pro. it's pretty good with the compression. the music is by "the whitest boy alive", song: "don't give up"

[redjeans1979]

Thanks for creating this demo film.

I like your style and the music you used is great.

How much do these cameras retail for? I'm keen to graduate onto proper decent cameras like this and it looks as though it has the scope and quality I've been looking for.

Cheers again!!!

[lichtempfindlich]

Hey, thanks for the compliments!!!

Well, the price for this camera lies around 3200 €, I don't know how much it would be in $ but could be the same. You will definately be surprised by this cam, it has so much to offer. Satisfaction guaranteed!!!

[mrxxbrian]

Got my XH A1 today, and i was looking at the XH-A1 vids and your has the best quality so far. Most of the other vids have poor compression or settings that dont show the best of it

[MooseDG]

I am also currently shooting with a XH A1, your video compression has obviously made a difference. What sort of compression are you using? format, aspect ratio, frame rate etc. Cheers

[lichtempfindlich]

Well, I shot the video with the shutter set to 120 and the format set to 50i, then worked it all over in Final Cut and After Effects to make it 25p (because if you make the slow-mo with the cameras 25f, it's not as good)

The compression was a Quicktime format, H.264, aspect was manually set to 640x330 (this is not the right 16:9 resolution, but it looked best for me)

Frame Rate was set to the timeline properties, so I think it was 25 fps.

Hope that helps you a bit.

[FELIPEPALESTRINO]

It does seem to have a great video quality. No doubt about It. Does it have a firewire 400 or 800? Cause I bought a macbook pro and would need to capture the footage directly to a external HD. I'd probably have to buy an HD with a 800 exit, right?

[lichtempfindlich]

Nope, it has a normal firewire 400 connection. I think the G1 has a HDMI and a timecode in/out connection, but it would cost about 3000 € more than the A1.

So when you buy the A1, you will have no problem with capturing the footage to a normal harddrive.

[FELIPEPALESTRINO]

It looks really nice. Congratulations. Regarding the image quality, It doesn't seem that the A1 is so far away from the Panasonic HVX200. But the frame rate difference is very visible at slo-mo. I'm gonna buy a A1 cause the HVX plus the p1 cards make It a very expensive choice. But man, how I wish the Canon would do all those f/rates...

[lichtempfindlich]

I wanted to buy the HVX200 but it's way too expensive with all the P2 stuff. Well, what do ya wanna do about it.

But the A1 is a great choice. It has an amazing low light ability and the image quality is great. And all the changable presets: good price for a good cam.

And still, the slow-motion looks good, if you don't slow it down too much. It's not the same as with the HVX200, but you save money and can spend it on other equipment or even a second cam.

[caliphornia]

awesome footage.

how did you shoot at 50i? i thought the xh a1 only shoots at 24, 30 and 60i?

[lichtempfindlich]

I have the european version of the xh-a1, this one shoots at 50i or 25f

[throwflowers]

beautiful

[lichtempfindlich]

well, i shot the footage with 50i and the shutter set to 120, then exported it from final cut to after effects and de-interlaced it. takes pretty much rendering time if you have a 3 minute clip but it's worth it.

i've never tried it with the 25f mode.

[oliver821570]

What is the name and artist of this song, And this video is very well established. Bye,

[lichtempfindlich]

thanks, the artist is "The Whitest Boy Alive" and the track is named "Don't give up"!!! It's a great band and it's even greater to see them at a concert.

I didn't have enought footage to cover up the whole song, because it was quite cold that day, so i just shot the slow motion scene and some additional pics. When it's getting warmer outside, I'll do something new and better.... promise!!!

[gilesbuchanan]

Hey there, I recently got an A1 and was wondering how do you do your slo mo? Do you shoot at 50i then de-interlace and slow down or do you just slow down the 25f?

Nice vid too!

Giles