Canon XH A1S Camcorder Review

Handling & Use Summary
• Using the camcorder can be a bit tricky due to its cluttered button design. • The LCD is small and it has a low resolution (same with the electronic viewfinder). • Battery life with the provided battery pack is obscenely good—it lasted for over 5 hours of record time. • The menu system is simple, but some controls are scattered and confusingly organized. • Since the camcorder has a hand-held design it can put quite a burden on your wrist after a long day of shooting.
	Still Features	(Page 10 of 18)	Playback & Connectivity

Ease of Use (7.25)

With an Easy Recording mode and a separate Auto mode, Canon does a pretty good job at making the XH A1S accessible to newbies. If you're already an accomplished videographer, the XH A1S can be a bit annoying due to its cluttered button design, but it should be pretty easy to figure everything out. Another big plus is the quality of Canon's instruction manual, which is top-notch.

We found the Canon XL H1A to be a bit easier to use than the XH A1S, even though it is larger and looks more daunting. The XL H1A was more spacious and had easier to reach dials and knobs for quick adjustment. It also felt more comfortable and was easier to carry around due to its shoulder-mount design—something we'll go into in more detail in the next section of our review.

Handling (7.0)

The XH A1S is a hand-held camcorder, which sets it apart from the shoulder-mounted XL H1A. Determining what camcorder is a better handler is mostly a matter of personal preference. If you're used to lugging around large camcorders on your shoulder, the XL H1A will probably feel better. If you have shot mostly with consumer camcorders, however, the hand-held design of the XH A1S will probably match your shooting needs better. Still, if we had to choose one over the other, we'd say the shoulder-mounted XL H1A offers a more comfortable shooting experience.

Even though it has a hand-held design, the XH A1S is fairly heavy.

The XH A1S has many of the same problems we found on the Sony HDR-FX1000. Since it has a relatively small body there isn't enough surface area to house the endless amount of buttons, knobs, switches, and dials. The left side of the camcorder feels especially cluttered, with controls packed in tight like sardines. While shooting with the XH A1S, we yearned for the spacious body and easy-to-reach dials featured on the XL H1A.

There are a ton of controls located on the left side of the camcorder.

Of course, the XH A1S does have three lovely lens rings that each work splendidly for adjusting focus, zoom, and aperture. We are a bit disappointed that the third ring cannot be set to control other features (like shutter speed or exposure), but they work well nonetheless. We also found the camcorder's hand strap to be quite comfortable, strong, and easily adjustable to your hand size. The camcorder is heavy for a hand-held device, though, and you'll definitely want to invest in some sort of brace or mount if you plan on doing lots of mobile shooting. The Sony HDR-FX1000 definitely feels lighter in your hand than the XH A1S, as it weighs roughly 300g less.

The camcorder can be held by its handlebar quite comfortably.

The XH A1S felt very durable and strong for the most part, but the port covers on the back of the camcorder are terribly designed. In our experience with the camcorder, the port covers fell off numerous times—mainly because they are barely attached to the camcorder. The covers connect via a small plastic hinge that can just pop out when you tug on the covers. It is almost a certainty that these port covers will fall off and get lost during your travels with the XH A1S.

An extra zoom rocker and record button are located on the handlebar.

If you don't like using the camcorder in the traditional hand-held manner, you can always use the XH A1S holding it by the handlebar. This method is definitely less taxing on your wrist, but it also makes it much more difficult to frame your image, set controls, and use the electronic viewfinder. Holding the camcorder by its handlebar, however, did feel sturdy and it offers an excellent grip. There's also a zoom rocker and start/stop record button up there that can easily be accessed with your thumb.

Stabilization (4.94)

The Canon XH A1S didn't do very well in our stabilization test, which comes as a surprise considering the XL H1A was a star performer in this category. The XH A1S managed to reduce 48% of the shake in our low shake test, but when we cranked things up to high shake the camcorder's image stabilization system couldn't do anything to reduce the shakiness of the image. The camcorder is equipped with an Optical Image Stabilization system (OIS). (More on how we test stabilization.)

Canon XH A1S Stabilization Effectiveness

48% correction at low shake (above) 0% correction at high shake (below)

The XH A1S does have a different stabilization mechanism than the Canon XL H1A, which might explain some of the disparity between the scores from the two camcorders. The XH A1S is also significantly lighter than the XL H1A (by over three pound), which definitely plays a part in stabilization. Still, the similarly-sized Sony HDR-FX1000 did far better in this test. It offers three stabilization settings—Hard, Standard, and Soft—so you can manually set how much stabilization control you want the camcorder to provide. Strangely, the Sony did the best in our testing when using the Soft setting, although all three options did a adequate job.

The above clip shows the camcorder's stabilization system in use. In our real-world experience with the camcorder, we found the stabilization didn't work all that well, particularly when we were zoomed in quite far. For the video above we shot the image using low shake.

Stabilization Score Comparisons

Portability (7.25)

When choosing between pro camcorders, one of the most significant decisions is whether to go with a hand held or shoulder-mounted model. The XH A1S is, of course, a hand held model, and its design offers a number of benefits. It is portable, easy to take with you one limited-space shoots, and it doesn't put any strain on your shoulder while you record. Still, the camcorder weighs 2400g (5.3 lbs.) fully loaded, and that is a lot of weight to hold up with your wrist alone. Shoulder-mounted camcorders offer the benefit of more even weight distribution and spacious bodies that allow for better button layout and control.

The XH A1S is a little more than half a pound heavier than the Sony HDR-FX1000 (also a hand held camcorder). This extra half pound can be significant, especially if you're not used to lugging around large, professional equipment. There are numerous shoulder braces, mounts, and attachments available for the XH A1S, however, so you can tweak the camcorder to fit your needs. The Canon XL H1A, which uses a shoulder-mount design, is much heavier than the XH A1S. It weighs 3935g (8.7 lbs), roughly 1500g more than the XH A1S.

LCD Battery Life (16.0)

The Canon XH A1S offered exceptionally good battery life with its provided BP-950G battery pack. In our LCD battery life test, the battery lasted for 5 hours and 20 minutes (320 minutes). This isn't just exceptionally good, it is incredibly good. The XH A1S battery lasted roughly an hour and twenty minutes longer than the Canon XL H1A (236 minutes), and it went for more than double the battery life on the Sony HDR-FX1000 (152 minutes). With a battery life like this, you really don't need to upgrade to a larger, longer-lasting battery pack—although it is definitely still an option. (More on how we test battery life.)

Battery Life (LCD) Comparisons

The battery compartment can house larger batteries than the provided pack seen above.

Viewfinder Battery Life (16.1)

Using only the viewfinder instead of the LCD on the XH A1S won't get you any extra battery life. The camcorder lasted 322 minutes (5 hours, 22 minutes) in our viewfinder battery life test—a mere two minutes longer than our LCD battery test. This is really a moot point, however, as the camcorder's battery life is impeccably good no matter how you shoot. If you're looking for ways to conserve battery life you can always lower the screen brightness or decrease the backlight on the LCD or viewfinder.

Interestingly, the Sony HDR-FX1000 also didn't offer much of a battery life boost when we recorded only using its viewfinder. It appears that LCDs are becoming just as power-saving as viewfinders these days.

Battery Life (Viewfinder) Comparisons

LCD & Viewfinder (4.6)

The Canon XH A1S includes both an LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder (EVF). Unfortunately, the LCD is only 2.8 inches in size, which is a bit smaller than we'd like to see on a pro camcorder. Often, there is so much information being shown on the screen that the 2.8-inches just doesn't cut it. To top it all off, the LCD has a low resolution of only 207,000 pixels. This resolution is lower than what you'll find on many consumer camcorders, and it makes using the LCD to focus, set sharpness, or finely-tune your image far more difficult. In comparison, the Sony HDR-FX1000 has a 3.2-inch LCD with 921,000 pixels—far better specs than the Canon XH A1S.

The 2.8-inch LCD doesn't have a great resolution.

The viewfinder on the XH A1S doesn't offer the most comfortable or useful shooting experience. The EVF is 0.57 inches in size, and has a resolution of only 269,000 pixels. Again, as with the camcorder's LCD, we would have much preferred a higher resolution EVF as that would make focusing and adjusting the image much easier. The EVF's arm can pivot to about 70-degrees, but it cannot rotate or extend. The EVF probably would feel more comfortable if it extended away from the camcorder just a little bit more. The provided eyecup isn't anything special, but you can always purchase a larger or differently-shaped cup to fit your viewfinder needs. A small diopter adjustment slider is conveniently located beneath the viewfinder.

The viewfinder can pivot, but does not extend.

Since both the viewfinder and LCD have such dismal resolutions on the XH A1S, you may be better off connecting the camcorder to an external viewing monitor. One of the Component-out ports on the back of the camcorder is designed for use with an external viewfinder. So, if you have another EVF or monitor you prefer using with your equipment, we recommend doing so with the XH A1S.

We must say, after using the LCD on the XH A1S, we appreciate the large panel and high-resolution screen offered on the Sony HDR-FX1000. Like the XH A1S, the FX1000 also has a poorly-designed EVF, but its resolution is a whopping 1,227,000 pixels. The Canon XL H1A, which uses a 2-in-1 LCD/EVF combo, has a far more comfortable viewfinder setup. The position of the EVF can also be adjusted and repositioned in a variety of different ways on the XL H1A.

Menus (7.5)

The menu setup on the XH A1S is rather simple, but it has a few features that are oddly placed. Everything is organized under one menu screen—the Camera Menu—that is accessed by pressing the tiny Menu button near the back of the camcorder. Inside the Camera Menu are 7 submenus: Signal Setup, Camera Setup, Recording Setup, Audio Setup, Display Setup, System Setup, and Customize.

The Camera Menu has seven submenus.

The Customize menu is the most important and the most interesting. Here you can create Custom Presets, Custom Functions, and Custom Displays, each of which can be saved and stored on the camcorder (or via SD/SDHC memory cards). The three Custom options allow you to precisely fine-tune the way the XH A1S functions. We've talked about Custom Presets in some detail, as it houses most of the camcorder's color and image controls. Custom Function allows you to specify how the mechanisms on the camcorder work (like zoom speed, AE response, ring control, and button operation). Custom Display lets you control what information is shown on the LCD screen.

The Customize menus		The Custom Preset menu has most of the camcorder's color and image controls.

The rest of the submenus are fairly normal and don't offer anything special. Recording Setup is a bit confusing—and strangely named—as it mostly deals with still photo options (why not name it Photo Setup?). Camera Setup is probably densest submenu, as it houses controls and features that are to be used during shooting (like image stabilization, Skin Detail, Gain Setting, etc.). Since the camcorder has so many places for features to live it can get very confusing as to where a certain setting is located. Is LCD brightness control located in the Custom Display or the Display Setup Menu? Is noise reduction part of the Camera Setup Menu or is it part of the Custom Presets? To answer these questions you need to get to know the XH A1S intimately, so make sure you learn the camcorder well before you take it into the field.

The Custom Function menu		The Custom Display Menu

During playback, the menu options change slightly on the XH A1S. This is mainly noticed in the Signal Setup menu, as it has various conversion options during playback. There are also different options in the Audio Setup menu that deal with audio output. For the most part, however, the VCR menu is the same as the Camera Menu only with fewer options.