• Blogs
• Forums
• Tradeshows
• Partners
• White Papers
• Events

 

Shoot Review — Canon XL H1

Nov 1, 2005 5:00 PM, By D. W. Leitner

HDV camcorder is keen on optics and 24fps.

Of the first crop of professionalized HDV camcorders with 1/3in. sensors, only the latest, Canon's XL H1, can claim to have been created by a lens manufacturer.

This is a meaningful distinction. With fixed-lens HDV camcorders retailing for less than $5,000 — 2/3in. HD lenses are typically $20,000 alone — HDV camcorder design has necessitated compromise and trade-off, optics included. Depending on how you look at it, a $5,000 HD camcorder is either a modern-day miracle or a collection of technical concessions to the mass marketing of affordable HD. (It's both, of course.)

With no disrespect to Sony and Zeiss — I've used Z1s and A1s extensively in the past year and sing their praises — stubby 2in.- or 3in.-long optical assemblies combining lens, prism, and sensor(s) are no match, optically speaking, for longer, wider, full-bodied lenses. (Despite the fact that tiny digital still cameras produce remarkable results these days.)

While Sony has achieved unprecedented Handycam compactness in its HDV designs, Canon has instead opted to retain the bulkier “chainsaw” profile of its XL1 and XL2 series, which permits the use of larger interchangeable lenses, mostly of Canon design.

The XL H1 features a new Canon 20X (5.4-108mm) HD zoom with a microprocessor-actuated vari-angle prism for optical image stabilization — Canon invented OIS, incidentally — as well as a new algorithm that examines, on the fly, low-frequency shake in captured images to fine-tune the vari-angle prism's responsiveness.

This comes at a price, naturally: $9,000 for both camcorder and 20X lens.

Ouch, you say. But compare this to the cost of other HD camcorders with 20X zooms. Hint: You'll no longer find yourself in budget-friendly HDV land. Nor will you find 2/3in. HD zooms with optical image stabilization.

Canon knows that an image can be no better than the lens that formed it in the first place, no matter how much bit depth or digital signal processing you throw at it upon capture. So Canon has gambled that video professionals new to HDV will pay more for better optical performance. After all, we're talking high definition here.

Results I have seen from this camcorder bear out the superiority of Canon's 20X lens: corner resolution that appears to match center resolution, no visible chromatic aberration, minimal barrel distortion at 5.4mm. If I didn't know differently, I'd say Canon built an HD zoom for 1/3in. CCDs, then designed an HDV camera to go with it.

One comment: 5.4mm isn't particularly wide. In 35mm still photography terms, Canon equates it to 38.9mm. (I find this comparison bizarre, by the way. Why doesn't Canon instead match focal lengths to 2/3in. video, 16mm film, or 35mm film? To whom is Canon trying to sell this $9,000 camcorder, anyway?)

In fact all extant HDV camcorders, and also Panasonic's DVCPRO HD HVX200, are similarly challenged on the wide-angle end: 4.5mm for Sony's Z1 (better!), 5.1mm for Sony's A1, 5.5mm for the 16X Fujinon with JVC's HD100, and 4.2mm for Panasonic's HVX200 (best!). Inadequate wide angle is one of those things that make you wonder if the people who design these things actually use them in the real world.

Ah, yes, the new black camera. If you're familiar with the layout of the XL1 and XL2, you'll easily adapt to the controls of the XL H1, including new ones like a switch to select interlace or “frame” modes (see next page). You won't bother looking for the flip-out screen, since you'll know to flip up the viewfinder eyepiece for a direct view of the 2.4in. 16:9 color LCD that lies beneath.

What you won't be familiar with is a row of four BNC connectors in the short shoulder rest on the blind side of the camcorder, opposite the operator. They are labeled TC IN, TC OUT, GENLOCK, and HDSDI/SDI. This is virgin territory for any prosumer camcorder and virtually screams, “professional only!” Which is why Canon calls this feature Professional Jackpack.

TC IN and TC OUT can match an XL H1's timecode to those of other XL H1s and professional camcorders. GENLOCK can align video timing signals of various cameras for switcher control of multi-camera shoots. SDI (serial digital interface) or HD-SDI (the HD version of SDI) can output full SD or HD baseband signals via a single coaxial cable. That's right, no compression!

If you were to imply that these professional capabilities were meant to seduce broadcasters, particularly small-market stations, already turned on by the allure of HD newsgathering and EFP at bargain rates, you would be right. To them, $9,000 for a full HD camcorder/lens package is change. Remember what standard-def Betacams with broadcast lenses used to cost?

However, a few caveats: Recording uncompressed HD requires an expensive upscale solution, perhaps a D-5, HDCAM SR, or DVCPRO HD deck, which mocks the very economical appeal of the XL H1. Which is, after all, a prosumerish 1/3in. HDV camcorder.

And the HD-SDI output of the XL H1 is video-only. No embedded audio or timecode. For those, you'll need to run additional cables from the TC OUT terminal and two audio XLR connectors — and pray all three signals synch up. (Because of various processing paths, they likely don't, but any offset among them would be consistent and easily rectified during or after NLE capture.)

What I particularly like about the XL H1's inclusion of an HD-SDI output — what will make it useful in my low-budget world — is that it encourages the use of HD monitors with HD-SDI inputs. Nothing is simpler than hooking up a single coax cable from an HD camera to an HD monitor. (XL H1 also makes available an uncompressed analog HD component signal for monitoring, which requires three connectors at the monitor end.)

Compared to conventional digital monitor connections like HDMI (which the upcoming Grass Valley Infinity camcorder features) or DVI, HD-SDI may seem like overkill. As in the case of pro HD decks, HD monitors with HD-SDI inputs tend to cost a lot more than the XL H1 itself. But this is changing too, with arrival of cheaper LCD HD monitors with HD-SDI input. The XL H1 may spur this welcome trend.

Last, but certainly not least, exactly what sort of uncompressed HD does the XL H1 send down its HD-SDI pipe? Put another way, what sort of HD does the XL H1 capture and compress to HDV?

The XL H1 uses three 1/3in. 1080-line (1080×1440 pixels) CCDs to capture interlaced fields. As did Sony, Canon chose HDV-2 for recording, which is 8-bit, 4:2:0 MPEG-2 intraframe compression at 25Mbps using a 15-frame GOP (group of pictures). (JVC uses HDV-1, with a six-frame GOP; 1280×720 chips that capture progressive-scan 720p; and 19.7Mbps, 17:1 compression.)

Like other HDV camcorders, XL H1 also offers 480i DV recording by means of internal downconversion. Unique among HDV camcorders, however, it provides uncompressed 480i SDI output, as described above. (It cannot, as can Sony's Z1 and A1, record HDV and simultaneously output a downconverted DV signal.) For audio, I'm afraid HDV-2 spells lossy MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (MP2) compression.

Available 1080-line capture rates are 60i, 24F, and 30F. An optional $500 upgrade permits additional switching to 50i and 25F, which provides for downconverting to PAL-compatible 576i. (60i/50i comes standard in Sony's Z1, the only other HDV camcorder with this capability.)

Dear editor: that “F” is no typo! Remember that new switch for selecting among interlace or “frame” modes? Let me explain, first by listing what “F” isn't.

It isn't progressive capture. We already established that the XL H1's CCDs are interlace. It also isn't the same as Sony's “F” introduced as CineFrame, a complex (and unconvincing) simulation of progressive-frame recording for consumers, not professionals — chiefly because CineFrame's “24F” is a quirky frame-rate interpolation from 60i, in contrast to Canon's frame-rate-appropriate 48i scan.

Canon has chosen not to divulge how the camcorder captures 24F and 30F. What follows is my analysis of how this is achieved.

We do know that in the XL H1, Canon has unleashed its latest Digic DV II image processor, a descendant of the Digic DSP that introduced parallel image processing to several generations of Canon digital still cameras. Did I mention that the XL H1 also functions as a still camera, recording JPEGs to an SD flash memory card at resolutions of 1920×1080, 1440×1080, 840×480, and 640×480? (Though I can't quite imagine turning the XL H1 on its side for a vertically framed snapshot.)

Here's what Canon's “F” is: a synthesized progressive 1080-line frame fused from two consecutive interlaced fields, with any sign of temporal image displacement between fields digitally erased by Canon signal processing. For 24F, the XL H1's CCDs are re-clocked to 48Hz, which creates 48i.

At any rate, what comes out of the HD-SDI spigot is always uncompressed 1080/60i. Newly minted synthetic progressive frames must therefore be segmented into halves in order to fit the 60i cadence. For instance in 30PsF (progressive segmented frames/second), a progressive frame's odd lines are first output, then even lines, amounting to 60 half-frames per second, all of which are reassembled into intact progressive scans upon playback. This introduces the unique irony that 30F, which began life interlaced at 60i, is output as 30PsF at 60i.

24F comes out the HD-SDI spigot as 24PsF, with 2:3 pulldown added to pad 48 half-frames into a total of 60 segments. Downstream devices like NLEs that recognize segmented progressive frames and 24p repeat flags will readily ingest Canon's PsF stream and restore either 30F or 24F “progressive” frames upon playback.

And what of HDV recorded to MiniDV tape? In like manner, HD sent to XL H1's HDV codec must also be 60i compatible, utilizing either 30F or 24F cadence. (Twenty-four frames are actually written to tape.) Which the HDV codec then proceeds to compress by a ratio of 22.5:1, if you're curious.

Like any complex video imaging system, there's much, much more to Canon's XL H1 than this brief review can detail. Twenty-three image adjustments, for instance, including dial-able color temperatures from 2800K to 12,000K in 100-degree increments… You'll just have to troll the Internet for a PDF of Canon's XL H1 manual.

But one last XL H1 innovation deserves to be highlighted in bright yellow phosphorescent dayglo — as much for what it heralds as for what it is, at this early stage. For the XL H1, Canon has announced a $600 software program called Console. Console runs on a PC laptop and connects to the XL H1 through FireWire. It provides remote control of camera, lens, and recorder functions — virtually all of them, we're told — as well as complete image control. (Twenty-three image adjustments, etc.) Remote record control is said to include direct capture of HDV or DV to the computer's hard drive, as desired. And as icing on the cake, Console provides active waveform and vectorscope displays.

Now, this is spectacular innovation. So what's not to like? Well, at the moment, Console runs on PC only. Canon promises a Mac version by NAB, and I'm holding them to it.

Or else they'll have Steve Jobs to answer to.

---

BOTTOM LINE

Company: Canon
Lake Success, N.Y.; (516) 328-5000

Website: www.usa.canon.com

Product: XL H1

Assets: 20X Canon zoom lens with optical image stabilization, laptop control of camera via Console software ($600), Professional Jackpack for timecode, genlock, and HD-SDI output.

Caveats: No embedded audio or timecode with HD-SDI output.

Demographic: Small news stations that need an HD ENG solution, any pros moving toward HD production.
Price: $9,000

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.