Quick Hvra1 question

[tc25]

Just a quickie, does the a1 have an exposure lock function. I have looked all over the internet but nothing gives me the answer, even a guy who owns one does not know the answer, hmmm worrying.

[tom hardwick]

The A1 does indeed have an exposure lock facility, as does the HC1 and HC3 to name but two. Have you opened the ionstruction book my lad? As you say, ''hmmm worrying''.

[rbarry]

Tom, it may be that tc25 doesn't own one but is looking into buying one. Or he may have a stolen one without a manual ! Only nice people post here, so lets give him the benefit of the doubt. This took about 7 minutes to find on Google:

North America & Canada owners manual, but the spec should be the same:
http://www.vasst.com/sonyonly/SonyHVR-A1U.pdf

[tc25]

Tom, it may be that tc25 doesn't own one but is looking into buying one. Or he may have a stolen one without a manual ! Only nice people post here, so lets give him the benefit of the doubt. This took about 7 minutes to find on Google:

North America & Canada owners manual, but the spec should be the same:
http://www.vasst.com/sonyonly/SonyHVR-A1U.pdf

You are indeed correct, I am looking to buy one, (or xh-a1) I have just sold my xm2 and I cannot live without an exposure lock which of course the canon has. Thanks for the link.

[tom hardwick]

Good man. You cannot live without exposure lock, and noboody should be asked to. It's all very well to film with locked exposure but what happens when (and in real life this is a very real requirement) you want to make small adjustments to the locked exposure?

The VX2100 puts nasty half-stop 'bumps' into your film if you try this. The FX1 - with its beautifully damped and knurled aluminium exposure drum - allows invisible exposure changes at any time.

The A1? I suck air in through clenched teeth. If any of you out there have found a way of doing this with on-screen invisibility, you let me know, ok?

tom.

[tc25]

This is the exact reason im leaning towards the xh-a1 which has the ultimate, an iris ring. The only reason I am considering the sony is becuase of it's size, the canon clearly excels in every other way, I would have kept the xm2 if I could have got a decent 16:9 result.

[tom hardwick]

Ah - we're talking at crossed purposes here as there's two A1 camcorders in current production, the Sony and the Canon, and my words relate to the former and not the latter.

What gets into the heads of these marketing guys, huh? Canon had an SLR called the A1 and now they have an HDV camcorder with the same name. And between the two came Sony's A1. All we need is for JVC and Panasonic to join in and look what a fine mess they'll get us into.

The Canon A1 is a different breed and a different class and a different size and a different pice to Sony's single CMOS chipped A1.

tom.