Finding A Small Camera – The Canon Legria HFS11
Posted by admin in Video Production on May 27th, 2010
Back when we were shooting SD, if we needed a small second camera on location then the Sony PDX-10 was ideal. Given enough light it would happily intercut with PD170 or even SD Z1 footage.
However with the move to HD and shooting primarily on the Sony EX1, our trusty PDX-10 hasn’t found much use. But the need for a small second camera hasn’t gone away. In fact our requirements have made it necessary to seek a camera that is much smaller than the PDX10, the ideal being something so small it could slip into the same bag as the EX1. It also needed to be inexpensive enough to put it into situations where a larger camera might be at risk, or for discreet shooting.
Sure there are plenty of consumer cameras around, but lets face it most of them put out a fairly grotty image. Cheap lenses and build quality that wouldn’t stand up to the vigours of a professional environment.
I’d been hearing good things about some of the Canon Legria cameras (Vixia in the USA) and finally settled on the HFS11 after reading the opinions of some fellow professionals. I duly ordered up a unit for a shade over £900. Even at that price I wasn’t expecting much.
The first thing that strikes you is the size. The unit is tiny and weighs less than one of the batteries from our EX1. This means that even when placed in its own case it will slip in a camerabag with a larger camera with ease.
Size comparison of the Canon against a Sony EX1
The camera does have a fairly full compliment of manual controls, however only one of them can be controlled at a time via a custom wheel. So if you want to flip from exposure (which I’m pretty sure is actually gain rather than a proper iris) to focus then you find yourself using the joystick to a select the option before you can access it. In practice for run and gun work the best results seem to be achieved by leaving the focus on auto and having manual exposure control. For situations where the camera is on a tripod you can select manual focus and spend a few seconds setting it as it’s not as instinctive as a proper focus ring and can be on the fiddly side.
This shot has been downconverted to 720p in Final Cut Pro and then a minor amount of colour correction has been added. A polarizer was used on the camera. Click on the image for the full 720p shot.
Speaking of exposure there is a zebra of sorts. Only for 100% and it cannot be customised but this is still a godsend on a domestic unit. Combined with the manual exposure this grants you a great deal of control over your image.
There are other nice touches such as a 3 second pre-record, an automatic lens cap, a built in video light and a comprehensive menu system. You can also control the amount of gain the camera will automatically apply in darker locations or even turn the automatic gain off completely.
However one professional feature that is missing is the ability to swap between 50i and 60i. Your camera will be locked to the region it originated in. So you can’t “go native” if shooting in NTSC countries, but also means you will need to be wary of grey imports when buying the camera. I did speak to one supplier who was selling cameras that were significantly cheaper than other companies. When pushed his response was “but TV’s these days can play 60i so what’s the issue?”, which was astonishing frankly. So do check before purchasing.
The camera shoots onto SDHC media although it does come with 64gb of built in memory. Professionals will probably be more comfortable shooting onto their own SDHC media as you can simply plug it straight into your computer instead of messing around with USB cables. However the camera does have a facility that allows you to copy your footage from the internal memory onto SDHC which could be convenient for creating backups on location.
A section of image of a train passing the camera while in 1080p mode. Faint interlacing lines can be seen on the trains edges which betray the fact that something odd is going on. The image has not been resized.
One of the attractions of the camera was that it claimed to be able to shoot 1080p. The good news is that this is indeed the case, the bad news is that on closer inspection faint interlacing artefacts are visible on some edges. Investigation reveals that although the camera is indeed shooting progressive, it then inexplicably encodes it as an interlaced image. This in turn appears to be creating artefacts on the image. Why on earth Canon have designed the camera like this is anyones guess, but in effect it means you would be better off shooting 1080i and then doing a conversion in Compressor or your editing package. While the progressive output may impress the consumer, it is worse than useless for professionals.
The camera has a 3.5mm jack for a mic input. However be warned that the hotshoe is a non standard Canon type. Adaptors can be purchased from the splendid B Hague who will sell you a custom made adaptor that converts the Canon into something standard:
http://www.cameragrip.co.uk/acatalog/info_430.html
So what does the output look like? Well it’s surprisingly good given enough light. The camera is so small I’ve been able to take it on cycle rides and have been able to use it in a variety of situations. Yes the domestic lens lets it down and don’t expect to be able to use the zoom during shots, but in general it’s good. The AVCHD codec copes with challenging material such as a field of crops swaying in the wind without breaking up. The biggest giveaway on the footage is the fact the camera is so small it’s very hard to keep it steady when it is handheld. The image stabilisation is good at times and over enthusiastic at others but for the professional it can be counterintuitive and certainly needs to be fully turned off when on a tripod or you start to get some very odd looking results.
Shallow depth of field shots can be achieved with the camera. - Click on image for full HD grab (has not been deinterlaced!)
Shallow depth of field shots can also be achieved which surprised me for such a small sensor. However the lack of an iris means that in practice you have little control over such shots.
In terms of mixing the output with other cameras although the camera shoots 1080i, it seems to look better when downconverted onto a 720p timeline. You can of course include it on 1080i or 1080p timelines but I feel the cameras shortcomings will be more evident. That said it depends on what kind of shot you have planned.
The AVCHD codec retains detail well, although as with all 4:2:0 codecs, blocking is evident on reds. Click image for full 1080p image (not de-interlaced so there are artefacts on the tractor)
This is not a camera to shoot an entire production on, but rather one that you will obtain one or two shots on that will be dropped into the timeline. As such it gives you the size of a discreet domestic camera, but with a picture quality that looks respectable. For the size it really is a marvel and I have to say I’ve found the camera extremely liberating. It opens up a number of shooting possibilities and with the addition of a wide angle adaptor this really is a useful little tool that we intend to put to good use here at Media2u.
Advantages:
- Tiny size
- Decent image quality
- Manual controls
- Zebra
- Removable SDHC media and generous internal memory
Disadvantages:
- Manual Controls can be fiddly
- Interlacing artefacts render the progressive shooting mode pointless.
- Narrow camcorder feel to lens
- Non standard hot shoe
- Need to make sure you can handle AVCHD
- Locked to either 50i or 60i regions. No option to swap.
Further Adventures with SDHC and the EX1
Posted by admin in Video Production on December 6th, 2009
I’ve had quite alot of correspondence about my previous article about the ATP Pro SDHC cards. This has mainly been people asking me how to get hold of ATP cards now that Amazon have hiked their prices and which adaptor is best.
I had been using MxR adaptors, originally with the Transcend 16gb cards, but had migrated to the ATP cards when problems started to surface. But MxR’s rivals over at MxM now bundle their adaptors with ATP cards. I simply couldn’t resist, I ordered up a MxM lockable adaptor and 16gb ATP card.
Now MxM being in Australia and me being in the UK I was prepared for a wait. However I ordered on a Saturday and the following Wednesday these arrived:
An ATP 16gb SDHC card bundled with a MxM lockable adaptor
Top marks for delivery there. I know UK retailers who would have struggled to get me a package that quickly let alone fly it half way around the world.
The idea of a lockable adaptor has long appealed to me. The problem with the existing adaptors was the SDHC card had a tendency to pop out if you were not careful. With this solution you seal the card inside the adaptor and forget about it. You can get the card out again though with careful prising.
The SDHC card being inserted into the adaptor. Note the small piece of plastic to the left which fits over the top of the card when the SDHC is fully inserted. When inserted the card sits fully within the adaptor and the piece of plastic is flush.
It’s always been thought that the overcranking limit is determined by the USB bus inside the EX1, not by the adaptor or the SDHC card. Personally I’d found it hard to sustain 42-44 fps for no longer than a couple of minutes before the dreaded “media restore”. So basically I wouldn’t dare try using it for anything in the real world but it was a good test to see how well a card and adaptor combo functioned. After all, the higher the overcrank speed the more “headroom” you have for general recording. I had assumed it was a pipe dream to be able record continuously without error at above 40fps without using SxS as it was the camera causing the problems not the adaptors.
I inserted the ATP card into the MxM adaptor and overcranked to 50fps on a 25fps timebase. I didn’t think this would work for more than a few seconds, but hey it was worth a shot! I was surprised to see I managed to achieve nearly 3 minutes of overcranked footage with this combination before I hit a problem. That’s 90 seconds of realtime. Intrigued I then inserted the same card into an MxM adaptor.
The same ATP card being inserted into a standard MxR adaptor
Using the same card in the MxR (and with the same view in the viewfinder) the camera quit at 22 seconds (12 seconds real time).
To test this further I then tried a test at 48fps. I placed a moving image in the viewfinder and started recording with the MxM combo.
MxM and ATP combo overcranked at 48fps
As you can see from my blurry photo, at the 12 minute mark the recording was still fine. At 20 minutes the recording was fine. I would have left it for longer but I had other tests to do.
Then I placed the ATP card back in the MxR.
Overcrank the MxR to 48fps and not long before you hit problems.
Again apologies for the blurry cameraphone image but you can just see that the MxR/ATP combo has produced an error after 29 seconds.
Therefore the conclusion must be that the MxM lockable adaptors are faster than the standard MxR’s. I must point out that MxR produce their own lockable adaptor and MxM produce a “standard” adaptor. However I do not have these available to me.
Intrigued by all of this I dug out one of my “dodgy” slow Transcend cards. This was one of the cards that took 10 seconds to clear the red light and wouldn’t overcrank beyond 35fps. I can report however that there is no difference in performence between either adaptor. Both still took 10 seconds to clear, both wouldn’t overcrank beyond 35fps. A dodgy card is still a dodgy card it seems.
In conclusion the ATP and MxM bundle is worth a look. The fact is that these adaptors have more “headroom” than previous cards I’ve used. Not only do they offer better overcranking facilities, but critically you get the peace of mind that you have that extra headroom there.
MxM also offer the ability to order up their adaptors and the ATP cards together which relieves the problem of trying to source the ATP cards in the UK or other countries where they are hard to find. However UK readers be warned, you will be stung for import duty and VAT. I ordered two adaptors and a SDHC card and had to pay the courier £24 when it was delivered.
The MxM and ATP combos can be ordered from here: http://mxmexpress.com/
The disclaimer from my previous blog entry still applies. SDHC cards are an unofficial solution. Please test your cards thoroughly before using them for a shoot. If in any doubt use SxS and despite the MxM cards overcranking to 48fps I still recommend you stick to SxS for overcranking work. Overcranking is great for testing an SDHC card/adaptor combo but there is precious little room for error or variations in datarate at 48fps when we know the card will fail at 50fps.
Media2u is a corporate video production company based on the Surrey and Hampshire border in the UK.
SDHC Shooting on the Sony EX1
Posted by admin in Video Production on November 3rd, 2009
I’ve had a couple of people contact me regarding selecting a SDHC card to use with their Sony EX1 cameras and SDHC adaptors. While SDHC is not a replacement for SxS cards in critical applications they do have their uses where SxS may be impractical (e.g for handing over to a client at the end of a shoot).
Up until a few months ago the SDHC card of choice was produced by Transcend. Their cards seemed to be both fast enough and reliable enough to be able to cope with the 35 meg per second + overheads that the EX1 requires to reliably record.
However from mid summer onwards I began to notice that some of the Transcend SDHC 16 meg cards we were purchasing seemed to be slower than our older cards. Some cards were taking as long as 10 seconds to finish writing. I wasn’t the only one to notice this either as some of the users at DVinfo.net began to complain of slower performance and even failed recordings.
In short if you buy a Transcend card today although it may be within the Class 6 specification, it may well not be reliable in your EX1. For whatever reason the performance of the cards has changed for the EX1.
All is not lost however. After some research I found that ATP ProMax SDHC cards seemed to be a potential replacement. I’ve now purchased four of these cards and although more expensive than the Transcend cards they seem to be up to the job. I’ve run the cards through tests in the office and in the field and as far as I can see they appear to be the best match available in the UK at the moment.
The ATP ProMax SDHC card seems to be a good match for the Sony EX1
However these is some bad news….. Whereas everyone and their dog will sell you a Transcend card at knock down prices the ATP cards are somewhat harder to locate in the UK. After clearing out Amazon of the only 2 cards they had, I had to order 2 more cards from the USA. The good news is that after a few weeks of being out of stock, Amazon UK seem to have some more cards in….(deep breath) a steep £44.85 each, nearly twice what we’ve been paying for the equivalent Transcend.
ATP Pro 16gb SHDC card on Amazon
I’m yet to find any other UK supplier. One other company did list them on their website but don’t have any stock. If anyone reading this finds another UK supplier then please let me know and I’ll post it here.
There are arguements raging on the various forums about the merits of SxS v SDHC. SDHC has its uses but you should always throughly test cards before you use them in a live video production situation with your EX1. There is an inherent risk with any recording media be it film being accidentally exposed or tape jamming up. Contrary to popular belief solid state media is not infallible. Have confidence in your media before you set out on a shoot.
Critically you must not press record before the red light above the card has cleared. I always have the song “Red Light Spells Danger” by Billy Ocean in my head during those 5 or so seconds it takes to clear. When the light goes green I then always count to three before pressing record again. That way you can be sure of avoiding “media restore” errors.
SDHC adaptors are another tool in your video production arsenal. However it remains to be seen what the impact of Sony introducing their own adaptors will be and what impact any of the rumoured firmware updates will have on the existing SDHC solutions.
This blog entry is provided for informational purposes for the EX1 user community only. Users purchasing and using SDHC do so entirely at their own risk.
Going Tapeless
Posted by admin in What we've been up to on October 29th, 2009
One of the things people outside the video production industry have often said to me over the past few years is “oh, you’re still shooting on tape”. Fact is that professional tape was and is cheap and reliable. Tapeless production was only available on very high end cameras. Consumer cameras moved away from tape in the main long ago, but quality, capacity and reliability weren’t critical. However, for the professional all of those things are vital requirements. Indeed tapeless cameras are now just starting to make serious inroads into our industry.
In July we acquired a new Sony EX1 camera to add to our arsenal of equipment. Having been shooting with it for 3 months now we’re now really enjoying the benefits. Not is the camera tapeless but it also shoots in a variety of web friendly HD formats such as 720p which looks great on computer screens and gives excellent results when downscaled to SD or played back on an HD screen
One video production shot on the EX1 using the 720p format was for the ETC International College which we delivered a few weeks ago. The video can be seen on Youtube (ensure you click on the HD button if you have a fast enough connection).
The EX1 offers many exciting production possibilities and we have a number of other videos that have been shot on it that have already been delivered or are nearing completion. Having the control to be able to shoot and edit in a progressive format is a bigger pleasure than I ever thought it would be. No more de-interlacing. No more waiting for tapes to transfer in real time. Joy!
Strictly Media2u
Posted by admin in What we've been up to on June 17th, 2009
An exciting project that we’ve been working on for the last couple of months has finally come to fruition and we can now tell you about it.
Last Summer we were contacted by Vincent and Flavia, two dancers well known to viewers of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing with a view to producing some sell through dance training DVD’s. Sadly at the time work commitments meant that the project was put on a back burner as among other things Vincent was called up to represent the UK in the Eurovision Dance Contest.
But in March Vincent and Flavia managed to find some time in their amazingly busy schedule to spend two days recording two volumes of Argentine Tango training DVD’s.
These have been produced as retail DVD’s that will be sold by Vincent and Flavia via their website (vincentandflavia.com) and at the many events they attend.
Media2u on Vimeo
Posted by admin in What we've been up to on May 26th, 2009
We’re now uploading some of our videos to the Vimeo video service. The first of these is part of our series for the East Sussex Safer Communities Partnership and deals with substance abuse across East Sussex.
More videos will follow (we’re limited to one HD upload per week) so keep checking back.
What A Difference HD Makes
Posted by admin in What we've been up to on April 23rd, 2009
We first started shooting in High Definition exactly three years ago. Back then it was very much an experiment to see how we could use the format and how it would impact our day to day working.
Today we shoot the majority of our footage in HD, but it has to be said that it is not the customer that is driving us to do this. Instead it is our desire to achieve the best results possible on-screen. Clients rarely specifically request HD perhaps because they believe it might be complex or expensive. For the majority of cases neither is true, and indeed an HD shoot might not cost any more money than a SD shoot.
A finished production shot in HD has a number of advantages even if the client will only be viewing it in Standard Definition on DVD But what are these advantages? It’s certainly more than just looking good on your shiny new TV….
Here’s a little history lesson. If you are old enough to remember the children’s show Camberwick Green, may be surprised to learn that the BBC only paid for the series to be shot in black and white as they were yet to begin a colour service. However the series creator, Gordon Murray, was far sighted enough to shoot the series in colour, funding this from his own pocket. When the BBC started a colour service he was not only able to sell the colour version to the BBC, but he also ensured that the series would have a long repeat life. Indeed it was aired on the BBC right into the 1980’s.
This story proves the point that it is worth future proofing material. If there is any chance the production may have a long shelf life, or if you want to reuse footage in the future, then HD is an important consideration. Just as Murray was on the cusp of a leap in technology in 1966, we’re on the cusp now. If you are shooting anything that will have a shelf life, HD makes sense.
Another consideration are PC displays. The fact is that many PC displays are considerably higher resolution than broadcast SD TV. Standard SD television pictures are only 720 pixels by 576 pixels. So when expanded to full screen on a PC display, your video may look less than ideal.
With HD formats we’re commonly finding ourselves delivering in 1920×1080 interlaced or 1280×720 progressive. The advantage is that these resolutions look great when played back on large plasma screens or LCD’s at trade shows. We’ve also found that screen capture from PC’s can integrate well with video footage, something that was always difficult when using SD (even an 800×600 screen will flicker and look blurred in SD).
With these advantages, HD has become an important part of how we shoot at Media2u. If you are looking for a video that will be displayed on a large screen or perhaps you require that your material has a long shelf life, then a High Definition production may be for you.
If you are interested in High Definition production, visit the Media2u website to request some examples of our work.
How To Distribute Your Video
Posted by admin in What we've been up to on March 16th, 2009
Although putting a video on DVD is still a popular way to distribute a corporate video production, more and more of our clients are taking advantage of placing their video online. Flash and Windows Media are two great video codecs for use on a website, but not everyone has the bandwidth or space to host such video.
Videos can be uploaded to Youtube for free, and with the added bonus that Youtube have recently added an “HD” option. This HD option doesn’t play by default, instead you have to click a button marked “HD” beneath the main video. If you want to see some of our videos in Youtube HD, visit www.youtube.com/media2u. Be warned that the HD service is still in its infancy and you will need a fast connection and a modern PC to view the videos at the maximum quality.
For the most professional look, it is far better to host the video on your own site or via a paid for streaming service because the embedded Youtube logo can look cheap, not withstanding the relatively low quality of their default non “HD” video streams.
Aside from online publishing, DVD’s are still a very popular way to distribute a video production. People can watch them on their TV’s, and the videos nearly always look better on a proper TV screen rather than a PC monitor. Unlike many companies, Media2u can duplicate DVD’s in small quantities and at a low price which delights our clients some of whom don’t want to have to order 500 DVD’s in one go.
We can of course provide larger quantities of discs and can now offer silver DVD’s (as you see on commercial DVD’s in the shops) for quantities of 500 of more. For smaller amounts, the most economic option are DVD-R’s (these have a purple underside).
With our ability to place videos online or onto DVD/CD Media2u is able to offer a full corporate video solution from initial scripting through to final distribution.
To learn more about corporate video production solutions from Media2u and how we help companies across Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Sussex and right across the South, please visit www.media2u.co.uk
Welcome To The Media2u Blog
Posted by admin in What we've been up to on March 13th, 2009
Welcome to the Media2u Blog. We’re a corporate video production company based on the Surrey and Hampshire border in the UK. Our clients range from small start-up companies through to multi-national corporations. So we’d like to think we know a thing or two about video production and the best ways to make use of a video in order to promote your business and above all, help sell your products or services.