Film and Digital Times - March 2007 - (Page 14)

Canon XHA1 and XHG1 HD Camcorders What if you are a major manufacturer with three breathtaking new camcorders models to introduce. Do you wait for NAB? Not if you’re the Canon Team of Joe Bogacz, Mitchell Glick, Geoff Coalter, Kevin McCarthy and Wendy Klonsky. You invite 50 top industry journalists to New York in November for a pre-NAB major product launch. But first, you set the scene, and the table. The evening before, you wine and dine them at a midtown Italian restaurant approved by both Zagat and Fauer. Then, because many of the distinguished journalists are either from LA or have had a few Montalpulcianos too many, you charter a bus to take them four short blocks to a fine hotel for the night. Early next morning, the group meets at EUE Screen Gems on East 44th Street. This is not the old EUE where we churned out commercials in crammed studios. The place is spotlessly clean. There are flowers. No more stale bagels and sticky danish: breakfast is lavish and the coffee is strong. Joe Bogacz, Assistant Director of Technical Coordination, Video Division, introduces three new camcorders: Canon’s XHG1, XHA1, and HV10. It’s a well-produced program, with interesting Powerpoints, illustrative sample footage and a very well lit live demo featuring the making of a pasta commercial. Next, every journalist is lent an XHA1 and an HP laptop with Canon software. What better way to learn about the equipment than to actually use it? Tim Smith, Technical Marketing and Sales Training Manager takes us through the steps, followed by Mike Cutler, Senior Technical Representative, going over the Console software for remote camcorder operation. The main difference between the two cameras is this: The G1 has what they call a “professional jack pack” on back, consisting of three essential BNC connectors that provide three holy Grails of HD: HD/SDI output, Genlock and Time Code jam-sync input. The HD Serial Digital Interface provides a true 4:2:2 1920x1080 signal that can be recorded directly to computer, D5 or HDCAM tape deck, while simultaneously backing up to HDV tape. The G1 has a street price of around $6999, and the A1 is around $3999. The A1 has all the bells and whistles except the jackpack. To get started, turn the camcorder on by pushing the little button and turning the familiar Canon “steering wheel.” The “HDV for Dummies Auto Pilot” mode, which I happily admit to occasionally using, is indicated with the green rectangle. “HDV” lights up in blue to tell you you’re recording in HDV instead of standard DV. Of course, with its automatic on-demand HDV to DV downconvert, you probably would always want to shoot in HDV. The pictures are absolutely stunning. 14 Mar 2007 Two cameras, no waiting “G” as in “Gee, it’s got the Jack Pack” has HD/SDI out

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Film and Digital Times - March 2007

New from Transvideo
Wizards of Wireless Focus and Remote Control
Cooke /i dataLink, Pixel Farm and Avid
Sony F23
Tiffen Steadicam Merlin and DFX Filters
Kodak Digital Ice and Arriscan
16x9 Inc 1.5x Tele Converter for HDV Camcorders
JVC PL Mount Adapter
Canon XHA1 and XHG1 Camcorders
Kata Camcorder Guards
Formatt Grads
ARRI at NAB
Lighting with Paint

Film and Digital Times - March 2007

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/fdt0607
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/fdt0307
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com