Canon XH A1 vs. RED Scarlet; which one's better?

Question

I'm planning to purchase a camera for making short films etc., and was going to get a Canon XH A1, but then I read an article on the RED Scarlet, and now I'm stuck. The image resolution on the RED Scarlet it obviously much better, and it might even be cheaper than the XH A1, but the issue is that I'm not sure if my Windows-based NLE stuff will handle or even be compatible with the RED Scarlet. Also, in terms of manual control, the XH A1 seems like it has more.

Is resolution really such a big deal (because some I know lots of people who still love Standard Definition)? Should I really wait for the Scarlet? Also, I heard that you need a lot of accessories to get RED cameras to work, which cost a lot of money, is this true?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You hit on one of the keys to deciding a camera for a project: your editing capabilities, but you must go even further than that in order to decide which of these two camera you actually need.  The question you need to answer is:  "How do you intend to distribute your short films?" .

If you intend to distribute your stories by standard DVD or the internet, then you will need to provide most of your distribution in SD.  Most of the US market still watches and buys Standard Definition.  Most households with a High Definition TV at home can't afford a Blueray DVD player or don't want to pay for HD cable.  The rest still have an SD TV, watch SD programming, purchase SD titles, and have moderate to slow internet connections limiting video to SD quaity.  There is not a dire need to distribute in HD or Bu-Ray at this time, but you can, if you are willing to pay the higher price for not a lot of return.  This is the current situation for most small format professional filmmakers.  If this is also your situation, then the Canon XH A1 1.67MP 3CCD High-Definition Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H7G... will be perfect, and it is available now.

If you want the ability to distribute your film on celluloid for movie theaters, and you want to distribute only in HD on the internet or on BR DVDs, then the Red Scarlet camera should be your choice.  You must wait until next year before you can get your hands on the 3k camera, so you can spend the next few months developing your scripts, planning your schedule of locations, casting for your roles, training your film crews, and building your budget.

The next question would be: "What Windows NLE editors do you plan to use?" .  If you get the Canon XH A1, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OGS... , Adobe Creative Suite 3.3 Master Collection http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018QY... , Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum Edition http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RLQ... , or Sony Vegas Pro 8 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VVC... will be fine to use for editing - with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 being your best choice.  If you choose the Red Scarlet, you will definitely need to use Avid Media Composer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017V8... .  If you are a student or work with a school, it is available for a fraction of the cost http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019L7... .

Answer 2

Well before I tackle your question, what about this one: Canon HV20 vs. XH-A1, which one's better? Resolution-wise, the HV20 actually has *more* resolution when shooting 24p than the XH-A1 because it has a progressive sensor as opposed to the XH-A1 which uses an interlaced sensor and interpolates to 24f. Plus, if you use HDMI recording, you get a full HD image. Many people have made decent short films with the HV20, usually causing people to think that they were shot on a very expensive camera. And the HV20 is a consumer camera!

What I'm trying to say is that better is relative to what you're looking for. Is the final result more important than how you get there? If you're looking for shallow depth of field, more flexibility in post and/or planning to print to film, Scarlet is the best camera you can get for the price. And yes, the RED One and the yet-to-be-released Epic need a lot of accessories since they're sold as body only, but since the Scarlet has a fixed lens, the only things you'll really need to use it out of the box are a couple of CF cards. However, just by looking at the Scarlet, I think we're safe to say that it doesn't have as much manual control as the XH-A1. But then again, the RED One isn't exactly loaded with buttons and it's hailed as the digital cinema revolution.

There are some good arguments for the XH-A1 as well. It has a larger zoom, more manual control, and a larger aperture than the Scarlet. Also, HDV is a fairly easy format to work with. But even more so than that, the XH-A1 is already here, and they're pretty plentiful as well. When the Scarlet is scheduled to come out, no one knows, and since RED isn't taking reservations as of now, who knows how long supplies will last and how much longer you'll have to wait if you miss the first wave?

Here's what I think. Remember when I mentioned the HV20 earlier? Get one of those. If you're lucky, you can find one for not much more than $400 or even cheaper. While it doesn't have a plethora of manual controls, it's possible to control the aperture, shutter and, to a certain degree, gain independently, but more importantly, it gets you to a great looking final result. And then when the Scarlet finally comes out, get one. Even though it's not perfect, I think Scarlet really is the way to go, and at the very least, it'll save you money by tiding you over once the HD revolution is over and the 3K revolution comes. And as for editing, RED offers software that converts the RAW files into RGB files as well as allowing you to generate proxy files for editing. The extra resolution lets you do pan-and-scan or zoom in on a shot if needed without losing quality and being able to down-rezzing to 1080p doesn't hurt as well. And one thing the XH-A1 will never be able to do is shoot true slow-motion. The Scarlet can shoot up to 120fps.

All in all, the Scarlet is probably the best thing that will have ever happened to the indie-filmmaking community. Don't miss it.