Canon XL H1S and H1A

Canon today preceded the NAB pro video expo with a pair of cameras it hopes will both upgrade its HDV line and extend it to buyers that normally might not consider HD cameras. Both the relatively budget-minded XL H1A and the updated XL H1S now have a new version of Canon's 20X lens that offers more control over the focus, iris, and zoom. The image processor also widens the scope of color changes, improves noise reduction, and supplies a larger range of gain and white balance settings.

The XL H1A reaches a comparatively inexpensive $6,000 price point by dropping features that are only sometimes used in pro shoots, such as SDI output for very high bandwidth, SMPTE timecode terminals, and Genlock output for multi-camera environments; the $9,000 H1S variant adds all these features back as a direct carryover from the original H1. Canon ships the higher-end camera first in June, and follows up with its budget equivalent in July.

By Electronista Staff