[Rob Gutermuth]

Hi All,

ok, got my XL-H1 connected to the samurai – but Im not getting any output out of the RCA jacks from the camera – Im just using the front stereo mic…

the unit gets audio, as when I output the headphone output to the input, I can see it there, (as A or analog input) – but no dice when trying to use the RCA’s….

stupid question, but is there a switch or setting somewhere that Im missing to make the RCA’s OUTPUT and not INPUT or something else Im missing here? I tried both sets, and none work…

I’d rather not use the headphone output of the camera……

Thanks to all…

Cheers,

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

well, I can let you know – when I ever have time to play 🙂 – I do know that in some cases, you have to “force” the sammys to lock to the frame rate, pulldown, etc…

I remember years ago, when panny came out with the first “affordable” true 24P camera, and I think Canon then rushed it, since I always heard that 24F and 30F were “not quite” true blue 24 and 30P – so this would not surprise me…

but, I’d love to prove us both wrong, and see what 24F footage would look like from the sammy via SDI out… I bet the XF305 with SDI out does it well… but for $5K it should… 🙂

Cheers

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Well, I bit the bullet and found a used Samurai -came with everything plus an SSD drive for $500 – I did find a sandisk extreme II SSD as well, so Im thinking I will use that one to start with, and see how I like it…

I know I will need an RCA to 3.5 mini jack for the audio (any thoughts there?) – but now I can record to tape, Firestore and Samurai all at the same time if I wanted to 🙂

My biggest fear is dropping frames with this thing… prores right away will be great to have, esp since I shoot a lot of long events, and have 1-2 hour files… but if there are any dropped frames, it will be worthless to me… (well, ok that’s an extreme, but I just want it to work!)

That being said, do you find using prores is “safer” than Prores HQ? or maybe a better question is, will I even see a difference between prores and prores HQ? Im shooting 1080i 59.97…

I hope this is the sort of thing, where I say “man, how did I live without it for so long!” – 4:2:2 and Prores right off the drive is very appealing to me, and would give me a couple more years out of this camera for sure, until clients “demand” 4K+ by then, 10K Panels will be $1500 at bestbuy lol

Thanks

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Hi Don,

This is something I’m struggling with myself – but how do you like the XF300? – I have the older XL-H1’s, and wanted to see if going to a XF300 or 305 would be an upgrade, or downgrade 🙂

I think that Canon is following the market, with good reason… their biggest share is DSLR… so why spend the $$ to roll out another camcorder? I think we, meaning us that ask this very same question, are only about 20% of their market now…

But, Sony on the other hand, still has some good choices, as does Panny, but I never liked Panny cameras for some reason… of the big 3, they are the Chrysler! lol You don’t see many Ram pick ups with a snow plow on the front…. Plenty of Ford F250’s though 🙂

Anyways, love to hear back from you Don on this – I’ve owned the XL line all the way through, and wondered what you miss from, say, the XL2 (not taking image quality, just layout of the camera)

Thanks

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

So, it seems like capturing uncompressed is the way to go, but now Im a bit concerned with the added noise introduced, esp if Im in low light, and need to go to something like +6 or +12

I rarely need to go to +12, but I have read now that noise is noticeable at +3 even… and I guess the HDV codec masks this, as part of the compression.

So, my new question is… how best to fix this in post? – so I have my Prores 422 files, and I’m assuming I can just open them in FCP 7, etc – and now what? is there a good filter choice to bring down the noise? or am I worrying about nothing here?

One thing that I think will be of benefit, is it would seem that I would loose many of the motion artifacts? – Sometimes when I shoot something like a sports game, if I follow the ball when panning, things are not quite as crisp as when I stop panning… zooming not so much, but it would be nice to have a clearer image with motion (either me doing it, or them doing it :-)) – Is that a true statement?

Can I assume that going uncompressed with allow me to go head to head with something like a XF300 that is natively 4:2:2 but uses the new MXF codec, and CF cards…

I just don’t want to waste time or money – I guess that’s what these forums are for!

thanks all!

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Thanks -all good info – let me ask you this – so, it captures to Prores… is that Prores 422 HQ? Just wanted to know the specific codec for sure…

how much time can you record with, say, a pair of 1tbHDD’s? or better than that, how much storage will I need per min? – is there a limit as to the size of the drives? Say, doing it like you do, with analog audio input being recorded as PCM audio with the SDI datastream?

THanks

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Being that Im also a photographer, I do own many canon primes and zooms, so some are very fast.

I guess I’ve been of the mindset that the cameras are still separate in my head – I own a 6D and love it, but would never use it to film something like a long form video (wedding, recital, play, etc) – but for a 60 second commercial? or head shot interviews, etc? sure!

so, yes, good glass is good glass, and my guess is that 20 years from now, these lenses will be a fortune to buy new, if they even make good glass still… and yes, I have seen that myself – certain builds fetch higher prices than others… not just the speed of the lens, but other factors as well… and of course, the L lenses are a whole other story…. you get what you pay for in lenses.

how well does the C300 work in something like iAF, if the lens is set at something like f/4 or f/5.6 – if you are zooming, will it keep focus on a moving object? (sports games come to mind here)

$6500 is a bargin for that camera for sure… but even that, knowing it will be 1/2 that in 2 years, like all this stuff, it keeps diving in value.

still hoping for someone to chime in about the XF300 – it’s been out for a couple of years now, and I would love to hear about controls, etc… people say it’s a better camera than the xl-h1… but “better” how? just image quality?

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Hi Todd,

It’s really not that I dislike the H1 – I wish Canon would have made the XL-H2 with Card media replacing tape, etc… but everyone can dream.

So your upgrade path was to the C300 – sure, but it’s $15K with lenses, correct?….

Im looking more in the $3-4K market – was hoping that the XF300 would be close to the H1 for buttons and overrides – yes, I love that you can adjust the gain settings by turning a knob, etc… color temp, etc…

I just sold my original XL1 – I think I kept it for sentimental reasons since it was my very first Digital Camera… I started with an L1, so I’ve always been a fan of this line…

I own a few XH-A1s’s as well, and those are like the H1’s little brother – the footage matches very very well… but HDV is getting long in the tooth, and I’m looking to make a leap, but need multi cams…

does anyone out there have both experience with the H1 and the XF300 or 305?

BTW the reason Canon didn’t include audio was that because of the licensing required, it would have added a Grand to the camera – but they DID do it with the H1s of course… Im considering those as well as another way to go…. again, all about price.

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Yeah, I just checked that out – nice box – you are talking about the Blade 5?

The thing is though, isn’t the resolution still 1440×1080? I get that the color space is better, and uncompressed, but 1920×1080 is still a bigger frame? Am I missing something here?

does the 4:2:2 footage “blow away” the compressed footage from tape? or is it only a little bit better? I hate to drop a grand on something that wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but I like the whole hot swap drive thing… if SSD drives were a little cheaper, that would be a no brainer!

have you had any issues with these dropping any frames at all? do you use HDD or SDD drives? Apple Pro-res I take it? what if I want to use the footage in Premiere Pro? I see there is a choice for Avid, but how about Premiere?

Thanks

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations

[Rob Gutermuth]

Yes, I wonder how much better the SDI capture would be at 4:2:2 most likely a dumb question, but I do know that the camera will only output video and not audio in that stream, unlike the S version…. so, I’d still need something else to capture the audio… correct?

I actually also love the camera – but it’s a lot to deal with, having ext fw drive, adapters, etc etc – I was hoping someone could comment too about the XF300 vs the XL-H1… all things being equal…

I guess what I really want to know, if I usually just use the 20x lens on the XL-H1, (so apples to apples) – what would I love/hate about shooting with an XF300 vs the XL-H1?

Thanks much!

Rob Gutermuth
Media Creations