Canon Xapshot==>Amiga
13 messages in this thread
The RC250 is the cat number for the XAPSHOT. Also available is the RC470, a
frame recorder instead of a field recorder they both have a 1/2 inch chip .
the RC470 is 722 x 494 . the XAPSHOT's specs only say horizontal resolution
of 786 , nothing on vertical. XAPSHOT puts 50 fields on a disk
the RC470 puts 25 frames on a disk. CANON literature also shows a RC760
that looks like a 35mm camera with interchangable lenses. it had a 600000
pixel resolution. Canon has quit making that one. The chip is not available
. Rumor has it that a new top end unit is coming with a 1,000,000 pixel
resolution to replace the RC760. hmmm. I just noticed that the code numbers
for these sure look alot like an approximation of vertical resolution.
Jack
– via Whap!
Jack,
What is the going price for the RC470?
On Saturday I got to play with an XAPSHOT for a few minutes. Nice little
camera. Never noticed the interlace switch on the bottom, so it must have
been under the mount/zoom adaptor.
The camera works great with DigiView Gold / SunRize color splitter and with
the Mimetics FrameBuffer. Too bad the camera didn't have frame mode for
the price!
73, Kelly
Kelly:
Just last weekend I went and bought the RC250. The interlace switch is on
the bottom of the camera, under a small rubber plug. I've tried digitizing
from the RC250 to DCTV with NO sucess, but the VD-1 seems to be OK, only
problem is that I can't seem to get the ntsc files (from the VD-1) to go to
the firecracker using Impulses VDZ program, I get errors due to either no
sync, or only 115 good sync pulses, etc. I too would be interested in the
price of the RC470, as I paid $350.00 for the RC250, and unless the price
is MUCH more than that, I might return this one and get the RC470, as it
might have less problems with sync as it's a whole frame rather than just a
field. What is the mount/zoom adapter you're refering to? I don't seem to
have that on my XapShot (RC250).
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
Mike,
$350 for the Xapshot – that's by far the lowest price I have heard for the
camera!
The mount/zoom adapter I was refering to are the "Action Grip AG-C25" which
is a "larger, firmer grip for action photography and using the
teleconverter – has tripod socket", and the "Teleconverter TC-C2513 –
Extends standard fixed-focus 11mm lens by 1.3X – attaches to Action Grip
AG-C25".
If you do decide to keep the RC-250, you should get the "System Bag
SB-C25". It makes it easy to keep a number of the accessaries together in
one case in a very well organized manner.
I can't help you with your problems with the DCTV or VD-1 -> firecracker.
If you can get the pictures to grab alright in VD-1, could you save the
picture in 24 bit IFF, then go to firecracker?
Be sure to let me know what kind of price yo can find for the RC470!
73, Kelly
Kelly:
I will probably keep the RC250. Now all I got to do is find a place that
would have the accessories for it! Do you know if the RC470 looks similiar
to the 250 or if it's a whole different case etc?
Unfortunately the VD-1 doesn't save in 24bit IFF, and so the only way to
get something grabbed with the VD-1 to 24bit IFF is by using a Firecracker
and a program that they wrote for it called VDZ that will decode the format
that the VD-1 uses (a strange digital format that NOTHING other than the
VD-1 can use) and sends the info to the FC24 then using Light24 to save it
as either 24bit IFF or RGB8.
I just got a TBC for use with my system, and I think it'll solve my
problems with the Xapshot as well. I'll let you know how I make out with
it.
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
Mike,
I am not sure what the RC470 looks like. In Canon's Still Video ad in Byte
magazine (pages 272, 273 in July issue), they show the RC250, a "copying
stand" (you gotta see this, camera, lights, and probably a disk mechanism
all in one), a box with a disk mechanism hooked up to a macintosh, and
another camera that looks like a low cost 35mm camera, with a non
changeable lens, which I would guess is the RC470. It is a pretty small
picture of the cameras.
Hope the TBC does the job for the VD-1.
73, Kelly
Kelly:
Well, the TBC did more than fix my problem with the RC250! I've used the
FrameBuffer, and the VD-1 for digitizing from video, and both of these
always had some garbage along the left boarder that I'd assumed was normal
with NTSC. Well, now that the TBC is hooked up, when I grab video, I get a
clean signal, with nothing extra in the background! (no to mention nice VHS
copies now).
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
Mike, great the TBC did the job for you!
Do you ever try to grab frames from copy protected VHS tapes? The mimetics
framebuffer will not, but wonder if a TBC would make a difference.
73, Kelly
Kelly:
The VD-1 will grab frames from copy protected video on it's own (of course
the TBC makes it much better), and I know that when I tried to grab off of
a copy protected tape I have that the FB wouldn't do it, but with a TBC in
the line it should, as by the very nature of TBC's they eliminate copy
protection (although they are a little expensive if the goal is the
circumvent copy protection only!) I've been trying to grab with my DCTV,
and I find that even with a TBC that the quality of the grabs is horible, I
wonder if my DCTV unit could be bad? I'm going to hookup my Digi-view and
try and digitize some pics with that (although only in B&W as I just sold
my color splitter/auto cable) and see if they come out as bad as the DCTV
ones do (they used to, and I assumed it was due to a non-still source), but
output from the TBC (in it's freeze mode) *should* be stable enough for
either DigiView or DCTV to grab with no problems.
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
What is a TBC??
Cheers, Paul (WA1OMM)
Paul…
TBC stands for Time Based Corrector. The TBC is a unit that stabilizes a
video signal from a device with moving video heads. In professional video
work, almost all professional gear (including NewTek's video toaster)
requires that all of the video inputs into it be of rock solid video
stability.
VCR's have moving heads which cause time base 'errors' in the video signal
itself. It's not something you can see with the human eye, but if you tried
to feed two such signals into a video toaster, they would be scrambled.
The TBC stabilizes and syncronizes the video signals to one another, so
that they both share the same 'sync'.
Jim
– Whap! wuz here
I see there is already a reply to your question that does a better job than
I could in trying to explain video hardware. In the July issue of
AmigaWorld there is a short article that explains some of the video
terminology.
Also in this issue is an article comparing a number of basic
interpreters/compilers for the Amiga. I think you might find this article
interesting.
What is a TBC and can you upload one of those shots?
Cheers, Paul (WA1OMM)