Lens use with x6 and x20 HD lenses - Techwatch: Satellite TV forums, FTA, Cable, Hardware, & Tech forums

wuzabeeb · 10-03-07, 08:45 PM

Hi All,
After a year of using the supplied XL H1 20x HD lens .. the last couple of weeks working with the 6x HD lens has opened up a whole new experience.
First of all, the 6x Zoom lens suffers a lot less from the green/red shift at edge of picture that affects the small ccd HDV camcorders. My Sony HVR Z1U suffered nastily, albeit that the effect was 'soft' due to the lower resolution of the CCD setup in that camera. The XL H1 20x lens showed aberration on certain iris settings and on all axes at the edge when it showed. However, the 6x zoom lens shows a lot less ..and you have to look hard to see it at the very edges of the picture.
One thing that I have learned...and this seems VERY important.... the IRIS settings range for good sharp video are limited ...never close to more than f5.6 ... the pictures go soft .... always use the ND to keep the iris open to greater than f5.6.

This applies to the 20x zoom as well as the 6x zoom. When I first had the XL H1 ... I couldn't understand why the pictures sometimes looked soft, and always when there was plenty of light. I played back the tapes that showed the soft video ... and looked at the iris settings on the screen display... softest video was with an f9 setting.

I'm going to do some experiments over the next couple of days to try and prove this point.

HOWEVER, let me point out that I'm a VERY fussy and critical person ..so don't think this is a bad reflection on the camcorder, quite the contrary.. I have been totally satisfied and continually amazed by how good this camcorder is, and the huge range of features for quality and picture control that Canon have built into it.

The results in HDV .. including post processing.. are still quite incredible for such a compact and reasonably economical piece of equipment.

I still enjoy shooting with it due to the immense quality that I know I'll get from the finished video.

wuzabeeb · 11-03-07, 01:46 PM

Yes.. just uploaded a 60i section..shot at f4.4 .. nice and sharp .. the f9 version is not worth looking at.

FB adjustment was done prior to videoing ...just to make sure.

10-03-07, 08:45 PM	#1 (permalink)
wuzabeeb Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bideford Devon UK Posts: 26 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Lens use with x6 and x20 HD lenses Hi All, After a year of using the supplied XL H1 20x HD lens .. the last couple of weeks working with the 6x HD lens has opened up a whole new experience. First of all, the 6x Zoom lens suffers a lot less from the green/red shift at edge of picture that affects the small ccd HDV camcorders. My Sony HVR Z1U suffered nastily, albeit that the effect was 'soft' due to the lower resolution of the CCD setup in that camera. The XL H1 20x lens showed aberration on certain iris settings and on all axes at the edge when it showed. However, the 6x zoom lens shows a lot less ..and you have to look hard to see it at the very edges of the picture. One thing that I have learned...and this seems VERY important.... the IRIS settings range for good sharp video are limited ...never close to more than f5.6 ... the pictures go soft .... always use the ND to keep the iris open to greater than f5.6. This applies to the 20x zoom as well as the 6x zoom. When I first had the XL H1 ... I couldn't understand why the pictures sometimes looked soft, and always when there was plenty of light. I played back the tapes that showed the soft video ... and looked at the iris settings on the screen display... softest video was with an f9 setting. I'm going to do some experiments over the next couple of days to try and prove this point. HOWEVER, let me point out that I'm a VERY fussy and critical person ..so don't think this is a bad reflection on the camcorder, quite the contrary.. I have been totally satisfied and continually amazed by how good this camcorder is, and the huge range of features for quality and picture control that Canon have built into it. The results in HDV .. including post processing.. are still quite incredible for such a compact and reasonably economical piece of equipment. I still enjoy shooting with it due to the immense quality that I know I'll get from the finished video.

11-03-07, 01:46 PM	#2 (permalink)
wuzabeeb Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bideford Devon UK Posts: 26 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	further update Yes.. just uploaded a 60i section..shot at f4.4 .. nice and sharp .. the f9 version is not worth looking at. FB adjustment was done prior to videoing ...just to make sure.


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