I found a petition to add 720p HD video option to the Canon SX1 IS. Please sign it here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/canonsx1/petition.html

I did a training video for a multinational company that was shot on my XH-A1 in 60i and from a Sony HDV in Europe in 50i. I put the footage in both formats on the Edius timeline and edited it, then output a 1080 30p master AVI, as well as a mastered NTSC DVD and PAL DVD. The only problem came when the PAL DVD region code on certain players in the UK, so I sent them a WD 80 gig hard drive with a 50i AVI on it that they mastered locally to get around the region code restrictions.

So NTSC and PAL have not been the problem in HD for me, but the region code issue.

Region codes are the real problem. Just ask Queen Elizabeth why she couldn’t watch the DVD Obama gave her. All this complaining about 50i vs. 60i, 25p vs. 30p is a joke.

Pro camcorders need: -

* a high resolution EVF that is tiltable for lower and higher than eye level.

* XLR audio inputs, with AGC and manual override, with 48Khz PCM audio.

*Timecode in/out

*genlock

*remote CCU interface

*ergonomic access to White Balance, AF/MF, iris, gain, manual and electronic zoom rocker switch

*it needs to feel balanced for steady and comfortable long operation, for tilt,pan,zoom with the ability to pull-focus at the same time as needed. This is even more critical with larger image sensors.

*long record times (FAT 32 will not do) – hey that rhymes!

*If we are going to the cinematic camera route, then we need 4K output, not just 1080p, which is a TV/video format, not digital cinema.

As for the 20 fps on the Rebel, 24 fps is as slow as you want to go for smooth video, and even with that you don’t want to be shooting action/sports as it will just blur like a too slow shutter speed. For action 30p works decent, 60p is great. Canon knows all this. They must have tested the Rebel 20fps feature as well and knew it was jerky looking before they released it. They could squeeze good 720p out of the 50D chip they smacked into the Rebel, but obviously not decent 1080p. The only reason I can think of is marketing purposes so they could put the 1080p logo on it to stave some buyers from jumping to the micro 4/3 format in which Canon has no product and once you’re buying Panasonic/Olympus lenses for your 1080p GH1 you are probably not buying new Canon lenses. But will this come back and haunt Canon? Will people feel Canon sucks when they start looking at the 1080p footage off their Rebel? Or, maybe Canon has profiled the Rebel buyer enough to know they wont notice jerky video anyway?

Hope your fixes work out, Ted.

Jeez, I do spout a whole load of unsubstantiated, fairy-tale BS on this site, don’t I? It’s amazing what I can make sound plausible (to me) just by making a few, unwarranted assumptions.

At least I can’t be accused of wasting everyone’s time when I should be out taking photographs like a *normal* person. I don’t have a camera. All my gear is back with Canon for a third round of fixes for focusing problems. It’s been a six month marathon, but I’m hoping that this time it will all work for sure.

If you could all cross your fingers for me, I’d appreciate it.

I *agreed* that a firmware update would not require much effort. However, what if spending a few bucks on releasing a firmware update costs them millions of bucks in lost sales on a whole new line of cameras? Cameras that would be much better for shooting vide than a 5DII could even if the 5DII had 24fps, or whatever else firmware can give it.

I’d like AF microadjustment on my 40D (I had to send it back to Canon *again* yesterday), I’d like video, I’d like proper zoom on playback so I can chimp and check the focus. These could all be provided by a free firmware update. However, I knew the camera had none of these features when I bought it and I knew that Canon were highly unlikely to provide them in any future firmware update. I got what I paid for and, much as I would appreciate some freebies, I cannot hold it against Canon if they do not give them to me.

Canon can take a firm line: you, the customer, knew what you were buying, you paid your money and you got what you paid for. Are you really *entitled* to get more than that? Did you make it a condition of your contract with Canon when you purchased their camera? Sure, it would be nice to receive a new feature for nothing, but what right have you to expect that? From Canon? With their track record?

Canon exist to serve their shareholders first and their customers second. It’s a fine line to tread: you can’t ignore one side completely in favour of the other. Canon may hurt a few feelings by leaving video on the 5DII in a “crippled” state and instead develop new cameras that make them more money in the long term, even allowing for lost customers and lost sales of the 5DII. Forget what you think they *should* do for you, their customer; what do you think they *will* do for their shareholders?

The bottom line is this: if you need to buy the next new Canon camera to get a feature that you want instead of getting it for free in a firmware update, then Canon make more money that they can spend on making the next camera even better. This is not a secret. That is how Canon operate. That is why their EOS system is so good. Nikon seem to have chosen a different route of late and only time will tell whose strategy proves the most viable in the long term.