The Canon XL H1 camcorder and Canon's 20x HD zoom lenses with optics provide broadcasters with a low-cost 1080i resolution option for TV, ENG, documentary or reality production. For their part, film producers will appreciate the extensive cinema controls and 24-frame speed option that the XL H1 camera offers them. Canon Professional Package features include digital HD-SDI outputs for easy integration with broadcast studios or for transferring high-quality images to non-linear editing systems. The Genlock feature allows studios to easily synchronize camera settings across multiple cameras, and the SMPTE input and output timecode allows for agile tape management and editing jobs.
The Canon XL H1 features three 1/3-inch 16:9 CCDs that capture images in 1080i resolution. It also offers different selectable frame rates of 60i, 30 frames and 24 frames, which allow the user to manually assign it and, if necessary, switch to SD again.
At a rate of 30 frames, broadcasters can capture high speed, for example at sporting events, with the confidence that each frame is captured individually and completely. Filmmakers can use the 24-frame speed to create the look and feel of a cinema movie. The speed of 60i offers exceptional resolution for shots in environments such as ENG or reality TV.
The XL H1 HD camcorder is the first model to include Canon's proprietary Digic DV II image processor. This image processor can process HD and SD video signals as well as still shots, while maintaining the correct color space for each mode.
The jackpack terminals of the XL H1 professional video recorder have three features designed to speed up production: HD-SDI output, Genlock and SMPTE timecode input and output.
To streamline production in the TV studio, the XL H1 offers HD-SDI and SD-SDI outputs. The HD-SDI output allows professionals to connect directly to a TV control room or a non-linear editing system. With this ease, users can connect their XL H1 camera to any professional system with HD-SDI inputs and deliver live unfiltered HD content in all its brilliant detail. The XL H1 VCR can record on MASTER HDV media or Mini-DV tapes.
Multi-camera shots with the XL H1 are hassle-free thanks to the Genlock sync feature. This allows many XL H1 cameras to be synchronized using the switcher. With SMPTE timecode inputs and outputs, multiple cameras that are part of a shot work on the same timecode.
Full film control
Every year, the number of filmmakers migrating to video-based acquisition solutions for film production is increasing. The filmmakers who make their shots make a very strong emphasis on them looking like 'movies'. Canon's new XL H1 camera gives filmmakers the ability to parameterize their recordings using variables including: three colour matrices for a wide colour correction range and two cinegammas for intricate dynamic range adjustments, parameterisable: knee, black depth, horizontal detail, coring, definition, noise reduction, color gain, hue and master color adjustments. Each of these settings can be modified independently, making it easy for the camera operator to precisely control the video to make it look like a 'movie'.
In addition to the extraordinary video capabilities, the Canon XL H1 HD can capture still shots in metadata at the highest HD resolution (1920 x 1080 dpi or 2.1 megapixels) on a standard Secure Digital (SD) memory card and MMC media. The 'Photo' button, located on the outside of the VCR, allows users to capture still images up to five frames per second. The VCR settings can be stored on the memory card or transferred to another VCR to replicate the parameterization.
The XL H1's still image option provides, in addition to metadata capture features, an integrated solution for cinematographers and directors to verify scene continuity and provides added support for all photographers on set.
Canon has launched a new multifunctional colour electronic viewfinder (EVF) and a 2.4" 16:9 LCD monitor with built-in safe area markings, black and white mode, zebra pattern (70-100 IRE), vertical and horizontal rotation and a distance reading (using the 20X HD video lenses).
As a menu option, users can choose the display aspect rate guides in the viewer. Canon provides the guide options of 4x3, 13x9, 14x9, 1.66:1, 1.75:1 1.85:1, 235:1. The XL H1 HD camcorder's viewfinder also includes a focusing aid. It creates an exaggerated line in the viewfinder, which disappears when the image is in focus. In a second setting – magnification – enlarges the image of the viewfinder, in order to help the cameraman verify that the image is properly in focus.
Canon lenses
Canon's new XL H1 HD camera offers the mount for XL interchangeable lenses. Canon brings its exceptional heritage and expertise in the design and manufacture of lenses for photography and TV broadcasting to create the new HD video lenses with 20x zoom in Canon's superior optics. These lightweight, high-performance lenses achieve fast, accurate focusing and a unique balance of focal length, angle of view and depth of field – quality attributes that set Canon apart from other brands.
Additionally, fluorite elements are incorporated for superior contrast, resolution and color fidelity by reducing chromatic aberration. 20x HD video lenses offer fast aperture from f/1.6 to f/3.5 for users shooting in the most demanding lighting conditions and at close-focus distances as low as 20mm away (in wide-angle mode). In the 16:9 aspect ratio, the 20x zoom range is impressive: from 38.9mm to 778mm (35mm equivalent). In the 4:3 aspect ratio, it's equally impressive: from 47.4mm to 954mm (35mm equivalent). The lenses are characterized by a 72mm filter, two independent ND filters (1/6, 1/32), focus and zoom presets, and optical image stabilization.
Canon's Super Range Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) system corrects camera vibrations instantly, so even pulse shots, maximum telephoto shots, and shots from moving vehicles are smooth and firm. Since it is optical, a higher degree of camera movement can be compensated by avoiding loss in image quality, unlike some electronic image stabilizers.
Other optical image stabilizers employ gyroscopic sensors to detect the vibration of the VCR (which provides the data with which a vari-angle prism is controlled that continuously corrects the path of the incoming light). Canon's OIS super range system goes a step further by examining the image before it is received by the CCD and detects any low-frequency vibration that the gyroscope let through. This data is fed in order to accelerate and refine the movement of the vari-angle prism. This greatly improves the performance of low-frequency vibrations, which is delivered by the optical image stabilization system available today.
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