Canon XL H1A Camcorder Review

Low Light Performance Summary
• Color and Sensitivity scores at 0dB gain were average for pro camcorders • Color accuracy improved greatly at 6dB and 12dB gain settings • Noise was definitely present in low light testing, but it wasn't terrible. • Overall, the XL H1A is a good low light performer with excellent gain control and numerous noise reduction settings to help keep the image clean.
	Performance	(Page 4 of 12)	Audio

Low Light Sensitivity (8.04)

In our low light sensitivity testing, the Canon XL H1A showed us some strong numbers. When running the test without any adjustment to gain levels (0db gain), the camcorder reached 50 IRE with 49 lux of light. Now, you must remember this was a result of shooting without any gain boost, which is why the number is so high. Shooting with auto gain control engaged, the XL H1A required only 5 lux of light to peak at 50 IRE. These two numbers give you a good idea of how much the gain control is actually doing for the camcorder. It also gives you a good idea of how much light you'll need if you want to limit or reduce noise. (More on how we test low light sensitivity.)

Required Illumination *

* the lower the lux required, the better the performance

The XL H1A's 0dB gain sensitivity of 49 lux is actually quite good, and it bested the Sony HDR-FX1000 by 8 lux. We've seen camcorders get better numbers than 5 lux using auto gain on the sensitivity test, but the score achieved by the XL H1A is, again, quite impressive. The table below gives you the exact illumination required to achieve 50 IRE for each setting on our low light sensitivity section:

Low Light Color (7.36)

The Canon XL H1A has three large CCD sensors, which means it should be able to record a strong image even at very low light levels. Boosting the gain levels will give you significant color improvement at low light levels, but it will come at the cost of increased noise. When we boosted gain levels just slightly, the XL H1A showed us strong, vibrant colors at 60 lux, although with 0dB gain, the image was too dark and its color error score wasn't very good. (More on how we test low light color.)

Color Accuracy Performance
Color Chart with Error Chart to the right
Above is the DSC labs Chroma DuMonde chart as taken by the Canon XL H1A at 60 lux with 0dB gain. To the right is a chart displaying the color error map as outputted by Imatest imaging software. According to Imatest, the Canon XL H1A produced a color error of 6.47 with these settings.

At 0db gain the XL H1A produced a color error score of 6.47. This is a sharp drop from its 3000 lux color error score, but it is quite average for a camcorder shooting in low light without any gain boost. The image looked very dark under these conditions and the colors appeared weak and under-saturated.

0dB Gain Comparison
Canon XL H1A	Sony HDR-FX1000

The Sony HDR-FX1000 scored a nearly identical 6.49 color error at 60 lux with 0dB gain, and both camcorders produced a very similar image with these settings. The Sony did have a bit more vibrancy in its colors, however, and it recorded a higher saturation level than the Canon.

Color Accuracy Performance
Color Chart with Error Chart to the right
Above is the DSC labs Chroma DuMonde chart as taken by the Canon XL H1A at 60 lux with 6dB gain. To the right is a chart displaying the color error map as outputted by Imatest imaging software. According to Imatest, the Canon XL H1A produced a color error of 4.14 with these settings. The color error improved even more when we shot with 12dB gain.

At 6dB gain the canon improved greatly and the colors looked bright and deep. 6dB was nearly enough gain to make the XL H1A's 60lux image look as good as its 3000 lux image. With 6dB gain, the camcorder earned a color error score of 4.14 and had a saturation level of 74.23%. Noise started becoming noticeable at 6dB gain, however, although it wasn't bad and the image was still very usable. Interestingly, when we tested the camcorder using 12dB gain, the noise percentage went down. This is likely due to the XL H1A's automatic noise reduction kicking in as the gain went higher. For more information about the noise levels in our low light testing, read the Low Light Noise section of this review.

6dB Gain Comparison
Canon XL H1A	Sony HDR-FX1000

Each time we raised the gain on the XL H1A the color score improved dramatically. At 12 gain its reported color error nearly matched that of its 3000 lux color error. With auto gain control engaged, the XL H1A had a better color error score at 60 lux than at 3000 lux. 

The Sony HDR-FX1000 couldn't keep up with the Canon on these tests, as it consistently reported less accurate colors in each gain setting we tested (with the exception of 0dB). The HDR-FX1000 didn't fair horribly in low light color, however, as the two camcorders actually produced similar scores in this category. 

Low Light Color Score Comparison

Low Light Noise (6.29)

As we saw in our low light color testing, images get brighter and colors tend to get more accurate when gain levels are increased. With the XL H1A, the video image was very dark and washed out when shooting with 0dB gain, but at 6dB gain and higher the picture became vibrant and rich. Along with this increase in color accuracy and picture quality comes noise. Noise is mainly a problem at low light levels, although some camcorders produce heavy amounts of noise even under bright light. The XL H1A showed us very low noise scores at bright light, and its multiple noise reduction features worked very well. Here we're simply looking at noise levels in low light conditions, without any noise reduction settings engaged. (More on how we test low light noise.)

0dB gain at 60 lux
Canon XL H1A 100% Crop	Sony HDR-FX1000 100% Crop

The XL H1A had an average noise percentage of 2.18% when we shot our 60 lux image using 6dB of gain. This is a decent noise score and there is barely any noticeable noise on our 100% crop images above. The Sony HDR-FX1000 had a slightly lower noise percentage here, but we could barely see a difference between how much noise showed up in each camcorder's image.

6dB gain at 60 lux
Canon XL H1A 100% Crop	Sony HDR-FX1000 100% Crop

The XL H1A had an average noise percentage of 2.18% when we shot our 60 lux image using 6dB of gain. This is a decent noise score and there is barely any noticeable noise on our 100% crop images above. The Sony HDR-FX1000 had a slightly lower noise percentage here, but we could barely see a difference between how much noise showed up in each camcorder's image.

12dB gain at 60 lux
Canon XL H1A 100% Crop	Sony HDR-FX1000 100% Crop

Turning things up to 12dB gain, the image appeared noisier on the Canon XL H1A, but our Imatest results said otherwise. According to Imatest, the XL H1A produced only 1.5775% noise when using 12dB gain, which is actually lower than the results with 6dB gain. The reason for this noise decrease is likely due to an automatic noise reduction system kicking in as the gain level increased. The image looks noisier above because everything is brighter and the imperfections to the image are easier to see.

The low light noise scores on the Canon XL H1A are roughly what we expected them to be (other than the irregularity between 6dB gain and 12db gain). The scores aren't incredibly low, but all this testing was done without using any manual noise reduction settings. Engaging those features can knock the noise levels down significantly and Canon gives you the ability to control the noise in your image. Check out the Noise section of our review (under the Performance tab) to get an idea of how well the XL H1A's noise reduction features worked.

Low Light Noise Score Comparisons