While you were out

Some interesting bits of video news from the last few days:


Canon has announced updates to it’s XL H1 camcorder

Building on the success of its acclaimed XL H1 High Definition (HD) camcorder, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging technology, has introduced the new shoulder mount XL H1S and XL H1A HD camcorders, which include new advanced features requested by professional users for improved operation and image control.

Canon's new XL H1S and XL H1A camcorders feature an updated Canon 20x HD Video Lens with three independent manual adjustment rings (focus, zoom and iris), as well as enhanced manual focus and zoom control.


Wicked cool looking, and wicked expensive. Expect the XL H1S HD in early June for $8,999, and the XL H1A will be out in mid-July for $5,999.


Firewire news(“I’m not dead yet!”)

I love Firewire; it’s how I connect all my video cameras to my Macs. When it first appeared it was amazing because of one thing: it just worked. Suddenly I could get video into a computer without any problems (unlike the old days of trying to use capture cards!) It was great - it is great - but let’s face it, it never became a household name. Only Macs came standard with Firewire ports (and now even that isn’t true) and USB remains dominant in device connectivity.

Still the 1394 Trade association soldiers on:

The 1394 Trade Association today announced that more than one billion FireWire ports have now shipped since the introduction of the first 1394-equipped products in 1995.

And there are some other developments: Symwave is demonstrating S1600, a 1.6Gbps system that's backwards-compatible with FireWire 800 and 400.


Sony HDR-SR12 Review

Camcorderinfo.com has a review of the Sony HDR-SR12 camcorder. If you like Sony cams and have been thinking of jumping into hard drive based recording and AVCHD compression (why?!) then this camera might be what you have been waiting for. Certainly it’s rated higher than past efforts.


And while I’m thinking about it, what is up with Camcorderinfo.com? It seems they are displaying a full-page add every time you go to a new page…it’s really annoying.


Sony HDR-TG1

Sony has also announced what they are calling “the worlds smallest full HD camcorder” (a title it probably will hold for a week…) This camera weighs in at only ten ounces and measures 1.3-inches wide by 4.7-inches tall by 2.5-inches deep and can record 1920 x 1080 HD. Of course, it uses Memory Sticks. $900 in May.

It's in the pistol-grip format loved by Sanyo for their Xacti line. I'm curious to see how Sony's camera performs in terms of sound capture, and how the zoom function works. The video capture mode on still digital cameras keeps getting better and better, but where they usually fall down is in zoom controls and other functions you expect on a regular video camera.

Hmmm....turns out David Pogue at the New York Times doesn't care for it.


HD for Indies

Finally, I’ve enjoyed the HD for Indies blog by Mike Curtis for some time. He’s an indie film maker who has blogged a lot about production issues, software and equipment. It definitely goes in directions he’s interested in (it almost became a Red One promo site this past year) but I’ve enjoyed it and am sad to see that he is devoting less time to the site now that’s he’s decided he needs to make money rather than just blog. Oh well :(


UPDATE: Added link to David Pogue article

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