Ed Video

The Canon XH-A1s is a reliable camera that records HD video to Mini-DV tape. The image it can capture is very good, and it allows the user a number of options to control their image quality.

The XH-A1s is especially recommended as a secondary camera, for live event recording, and for long shoots where you just can't stop to capture the footage, or won't be around a computer.

Despite recording at a resolution of 1440x1080 and packing less power than cameras such as the XF300, the image quality of the XH-A1s holds up surprisingly well, and is comparable to the quality of images captured on a DSLR camera (minus the benefits of DSLR lenses). The XH-A1s is a professional camera that records broadcast-quality images and sound.

Generally speaking, we recommend using the Canon XF300 over the XH-A1s for most projects, except when working with tape is essential to the production. The essential controls and image quality are much better on the XF300. That said, most users will be very happy with the results captured by the XH-A1s.