Canon XL H1A Camcorder Review

Still Features Summary
• Still images saved to SD/SDHC cards • 32MB SD card provided • Save Custom Preset data on still images for reference
	Manual Controls	(Page 8 of 12)	Handling & Use

Still Features (9.15)

Being a pro camcorder, the Canon XL H1A isn't designed as a hybrid still/video device. There are, however,  a few unique and interesting still image features on the camcorder designed to assist the professional videographer. You can capture still images while recording video, and, in the menu, you can setup the camcorder to embed custom preset data within the still image. This means you can use the still image as a reference when you want to look at the settings of your custom presets. This simple feature can be a very useful tool when testing out different color modes and image controls.

Also featured is a continuous shooting mode that will capture a quick burst of images when you hold down the shutter button, or an auto exposure bracketing set of three images.

There is no flash on the Canon XL H1A, but a compatible Canon Speedlite flash can be mounted on the accessory shoe. The camcorder doesn't capture very large still images (the max resolution is 1920 x 1080), but the image quality isn't bad. The camcorder doesn't have a true "dedicated still mode," but there's a switch above the right-side record button that goes between tape and memory card capture mode. Only still images can be captured to the memory card and it cannot be used to record or playback video.

The XL H1A captures still images onto SD/SDHC cards in the JPEG format. The card slot is located near the front of the camcorder, on the opposite side as the hand strap. The camcorder ships with a 32MB memory card, which won't store many still images. It will, however, store plenty of custom presets, which can also be saved to memory card for easy transfer between multiple camcorders.

Still Playback
To review still images on the XL H1A, you have to turn the mode dial to VCR/PLAY just as you would to playback videos. Then you must switch over to card mode on the switch above the record button. Using the playback controls on the camcorder's handle, you can sift through the still images contained on the inserted memory card. There's also a slideshow option that can be started by pressing the play button. Pressing the zoom toggle back will display a series of photos as small thumbnails.

When playing back the still images, the camcorder displays a good deal of information about each photo. A histogram is located in the upper right corner, followed by info about image size, file size, white balance setting, focus, AE shift, shutter speed, aperture, mode, date, and time. Saving and displaying all this information on playback is another nice way to save and check your settings.

Still image playback in thumbnail view	A lot of info is displayed on the playback screen

Still Color (10.57)

At best, the Canon XL H1A produced an approximate color error of 3.28 when we shot in still mode. This is only a slight bit better than its color error score for video, which is due to the fact that we shot the still image using a variety of exposure settings. This means the camcorder faithfully reproduces colors in still mode in a mostly identical fashion to video mode, which makes the still images on the XL H1A very good for reference and comparison. (More on how we test still color.)

The color error map from our still color test with the XL H1A

The camcorder showed us its most accurate colors when we shot still images with a slight negative AE shift. Brighter and overexposed images had far worse color scores than the slightly darkened images. Overall, the most accurate colors came when we shot the XRite chart with a -0.5 AE shift.

Canon XL H1A Still Color Comparisons
Canon XL H1A	Sony HDR-FX1000

Strangely, the Sony HDR-FX1000 showed us the opposite of the Canon when it came to still color. The Sony also put up a very solid still color score—2.99—but this score came on the brightest image we captured (with +0.75 AE shift). Even though both camcorders produced very accurate colors, they worked best with completely different exposure conditions—the Canon had accurate colors in underexposed light, while the Sony worked best with overexposed images.

Still Noise (7.69)

At best, the Canon XL H1A produced an average of 0.615% noise in still photos taken with the camcorder. This is a very low amount of noise and it is better than even the best consumer camcorders are able to produce (the Samsung SC-HMX20, last years best still image camcorder when it came to noise, measured an average of 0.685%). The three large CCD sensors under the hood of the XL H1A don't just provide excellent video quality—they produce crisp, color-accurate still images as well. As with color error, the Canon showed the cleanest images when we bumped the AE shift up a little bit. (More on how we test still noise.)

The XL H1A trounced the Sony HDR-FX1000 in this category. The HDR-FX1000 measured, at best, 1.6025% noise in our still image testing. This is more than double the percentage on the XL H1A.

Still Resolution (3.25)

The XL H1A also showed us admirable still image resolution, although definitely not the best we've seen from a camcorder. Its horizontal resolution measured at 1168 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) with 7.9% oversharpening and its vertical resolution was 1126 lw/ph with 3.8% undersharpening. These are good scores for a camcorder that takes stills at a maximum size of 1920 x 1080. (More on how we test still resolution.)