The Watchdog's Skinny on the Canon

DVinfoNet by Chris Hurd In brief... these two new Canon XH series HDV camcorders are the latest additions to Canon's expanding line of High Definition video cameras. The XH series twins are smaller, lighter and less expensive than Canon's flagship XL H1 camcorder; each delivers about the same performance as the XL H1 and they are nearly identical to each other with only one very important difference. Both XH series camcorders share a lot of Canon technology in common with the older, larger XL H1. All three camcorders (XL H1, XH G1 and XH A1) utilize the same 1/3rd-inch 16:9 CCD block, as well as the same DIGIC DV II digital signal processor and 30F and 24F Frame modes in addition to standard 60i recording. All three cameras provide dual XLR audio inputs with manual level controls, still photo recording to SD memory card, and video image adjustments spanning 23 custom preset parameters. All three cameras include a 20x HD zoom lens with Optical Image Stabilisation, although the XH G1 and A1 lenses are built in and are not removeable like the XL H1 lens. All use the same Canon BP-9xx series camcorder batteries up to the BP-970G. All three cameras record 1080i HDV onboard to tape. read more...