XH-A1 vs. DSLR

[Bif]

If I had one, I'd send it to you.

I just don't have anything that uses that kind of component cable in my inventory.

If there's any chance you pick up a used XH A1 down the road you might as well order the cable you need.

Or maybe the camera owner would buy it from you for about $30 or so. That way it wouldn't cost you that much. Or you could "ebay" it when done.

Bruce Foreman

[BarteS]

Thanks!!!!

Yeah I just spent 50+ bucks on that stupid converter and cable. I found someone selling a pro Sony field monitor for that much!!! If I knew the wire was unavailable I would've just used BNC to a new monitor...

Please!!! The shoot will only be 2 or 3 days, and I might do a test shoot to make sure everything works so I'll only need it for about a week. I'll pay for shipping, it should only be a dollar or two

Sorry, Seo said he has the same situation, he left the cable (and something else) in China... Good luck.

[Almohada]

Damn.

Well the eBay thing is not a bad idea, never thought of that.

Hopefully someone on here could help.

[Almohada]

OK I think the one on B&H is the cheapest one on the web...

Not sure what to do anymore. I can't even shoot this thing anymore

[Almohada]

I'm sure there are at least 100 XH-A1 users on here.... please. Credit in "special thanks" section + reimbursement for rental/shipping costs of the wire.

[Almohada]

Alright I'm going to have to buy it tomorrow if nobody has one..........

[Almohada]

Alright, we're shooting in exactly one week. Nobody posted here so I guess B&H is the only way to go. I hope they accept paypal. And it better be on my doorstep by Tuesday.

Edit: Great, I don't even have enough for that wire. Need 7 cents. Oh well, I'm going to call off the whole thing

[Bif]

Make a go of it with what you have. Many have managed to work a project without an HD monitor, you should be able to also. Doesn't the XH-A1 have focus peaking or some focus assist feature like that?

It's just going to take more attention on the camera operator's part to insure framing and focus is what you need those to be, there's no sense in calling off a project because of one wire. Get out there and do some testing, more than one test session, find out what you can really do and what results you can expect. If results of tests aren't what you need, analyze as best you can what you need to do to change it and get out there and test that change.

Focus will sometimes be easier on closeups and you need to make sure you have enough working light on the actors to be able to see that well enough. If you continue to have problems have someone shine a bright flashlight on faces or clothing detail WHILE YOU FOCUS ONLY prior to filming a "take".

There are workarounds.

I don't know anything about the XH-A1 but night stuff I've tested with the Canon HF100s actually looked pretty good and the autofocus on that cam functioned very well at night (manual focus on that camera is a stupid joystick function and difficult to work with).

But don't shut it down over lack of one cable. Warn your crew you are working under less than ideal conditions and there may be some reshoots necessary. Go for it!

Bruce Foreman

[Veteran]

What you are saying is simply not rue. there might be a photog here and there shooting with DSLR, but for 99% of programming in HD such footage will be rejected just on technical issues. what is required by vast majority of networks and broadcast is i-frame (like DVCPRO HD, IVC-Intara) @100 Mb/s minimum or mpeg2 50Mb/s 422. DSLR have too low of a bite rate of mpeg 4, with 420 color. if you are established and the network is interested in the material you might try to pitch it, for 99.9% of others i say good luck shooting with dslr and the trying to sell it.

I work in broadcast and you'd be surprised what is accepted. I'm currently cutting a show on MuchMusic (Canada) called #Trending...its basically alot of stuff submitted from peoples..*gasp*...YOUTUBE channels!. Quite a bit is def shot on a dslr and makes it to air with no worries. At the end of the day if the content is there almost every broadcaster will overlook that sort of thing. As long as the final render going to broadcast of all the materials is mpeg2 50mb/s...

Although I will admit the BBC is probably (from what I hear from others in the biz) the most stringent about those standards...

- V

[Almohada]

Hey everyone, Shigeta let me borrow the XH-A1 wire. Thanks Shigeta!!!!!!!!!!!

Now... how the heck do I mount this converter box on or near the XH-A1?????

Picture 1.jpg

By the way the converter is not very good. I don't care so much about the resolution... but the color. Ohhh myyyy. The colors are AWFUL. I was testing it with my HV20... I used my HDMI to DVI... then I plugged this converter in using component out from the HV and it was horrible. I tweaked the settings for 20 minutes and finally got the colors almost right. The HV20 LCD/ HDMI out is a little bit brighter and colorful. Anyways there's nothing I can do about that now. Gotta work with what I have, right?

[mark84j]

Are you saying the color/video from the XH-A1 is awful? Cuz if you are.....

[Almohada]

Hell no!!! I have barely tried that camera yet. It's the CONVERTER that's a problem. Awful colors...

[Almohada]

Hey guys anyone know if you can capture a tape shot on the XH-A1 using an HV20?

[antman]

Hey guys anyone know if you can capture a tape shot on the XH-A1 using an HV20?

sure can, I used my daughters hv30 as a deck today as a matter of fact. works great, and you ont have to worry about pulldown removal as the A1 takes care of it in 24f. hows the shoot going?

[Almohada]

sure can, I used my daughters hv30 as a deck today as a matter of fact. works great, and you ont have to worry about pulldown removal as the A1 takes care of it in 24f. hows the shoot going?

Cool, thanks!! Shoot starts in a few days, just going to test out the camera some more tonight. From what I learned, I just need to make sure it's on -3 gain, AGC off, and shutter speed no less than 1/48

[Almohada]

Guys what, my shoot went well... you know why? Cause I said screw the converter and I bought a new monitor. It worked fine when I set it to standard color and not user preset, but then I didn't want to deal with the million wires going everywhere to the converter and back to the monitor.

[mark84j]

Guys what, my shoot went well... you know why? Cause I said screw the converter and I bought a new monitor. It worked fine when I set it to standard color and not user preset, but then I didn't want to deal with the million wires going everywhere to the converter and back to the monitor.

Can't wait to see some footage my friend!

[Almohada]

Can't wait to see some footage my friend!

I don't know why but in camera LCD and external monitor when shooting, footage was beautiful... but when I captured everything was much darker. Don't know if it's just my computer monitors but maybe I should calibrate them so I can do accurate color correction. Also in some of the shots there were a few dead pixels... then they went away. It was weird.

[Bif]

Quick inexpensive monitor calibration:

mpix.com has a calibration kit for $3.00 + $5.95 shipping (their standard shipping fee for all orders), you create an account online, find the calibration kit and order it using a credit card.

The kit consists of a CD with some images on it, and prints they have made from those images. You display the images from the CD onscreen (on your monitor using either PhotoShop or something like the free image viewer from faststone.org), hold the prints up in good light by the monitor and adjust the monitor until you are as close as you can get to the prints.

mpix.com used to be a pro color lab serving select studios and were known as Miller's Professional Color Service. They turned me down because my studio with only $60,000 annual lab volume did not meet their volume standards. When digital took over and pro color labs started going under, Miller's had to come down off their "high" horse. Now it doesn't matter how small you are, they'll serve you.

Beauty is...They have not dropped their standards so if you can get your monitor to match their images you've just calibrated your monitor to one of the best color labs in the country.

Should be accurate enough for video.

I just got my kit but haven't done the calibration yet. I'm fairly close anyway since I've been getting excellent color prints from them.

Bruce Foreman

[mark84j]

I don't know why but in camera LCD and external monitor when shooting, footage was beautiful... but when I captured everything was much darker. Don't know if it's just my computer monitors but maybe I should calibrate them so I can do accurate color correction. Also in some of the shots there were a few dead pixels... then they went away. It was weird.

Damn you either have the worst luck with this project, or you bought this camera from a toilet store haha!

[Almohada]

Damn you either have the worst luck with this project, or you bought this camera from a toilet store haha!

Yeah after I captured the footage is very very dark. Ridiculously dark. Dead pixels show up in one or two scenes then they're gone... very bright white hot pixel very noticeable. There are 4 on the screen but only 2 or 3 stand out