Canon XA10 Camera Checklist
Don’t leave the Media Center until you make sure the camera works and the battery is charged. Check that there’s an SD card.
Insert battery. Clear SD card. Hit PLAY button on the side of the camera (There’s a picture of a camera with an arrow on it.) If there’s material on the SD, clear it by hitting DEL…then Delete All.
Hit Camera play button. MENU–hit the wrench. Hit initialize. Choose wherever you’ve inserted media card (A or B) Hit A. Then initialize.
Now your memory card is clear and set to record on your SD card.
SET THE RECORDING MODE
Find function on the top left of the recording screen. The menu will appear. Hit the FILM icon. Go to recording mode. SET it on LP mode. The frame rate option is right below recording mode. Set frame rate at PF 30.
The camera gives you the option of recording in Manual (M), and Automatic (A) It’s on the top right of the camera.
You can record in Automatic and the camera does the work.
But if you want more control over the settings, check out ‘manual mode.’
Hit the function button on the record screen. Hit the Rec. Programs button on top left. Hit portrait. Hit portrait again. Then hit X on top right.
Make sure to White Balance in this mode: Click Function…then White Balance. Hit Set 1. Then focus on a white piece of paper. Hit Set White Balance. Wait for the White Balance icon to stop pulsing. Hit X (top right) to get back to the menu.
AUDIO
MENU–CAMERA–XLR Record. Set to “Channel 1 & Channel 2.”MENU – WRENCH-AV HEADPHONES-SELECT HEADPHONES. ((The headphone jack is behind a sliding door that says “component out/AV out. Slide it up and the headphone jack is on the right with a picture of the headphones on it. ))
AUDIO SETTING
ATT – OFF
Mic 1 plus 48 V Mic 2 plus 48V
Make sure you’re on EXTERNAL (Internal and it won’t record.)
Set volume halfway between max and min.
Here’s the helpful checklist offered by the Media Center.
Check your switches.
- Channel 1&2 should be on “Mic”
- INT/EXT set to “EXT”
- Att (Attenuator) set to OFF if there’s no wind or heavy background noise, ON if there is.
- AUTO/M/CINEMA switch set to “M” for Manual.
- Your mic has a switch on it, make sure that’s on.
Check your menu settings.
-Press Menu, and go to the Wrench icon
- AV/Headphones should be set to Headphones
- Scroll down to Initialize, and initialize the internal memory, as well as the SD cards.
-Go to the Film Strip icon
- Go to Rec. Media for Movies (If you’re recording a little (under 45 minutes), set Double Slot Recording for card A & B, that way you’ll have an extra backup. If you’re recording more than that, set Relay Recording A>B, so once card A fills up, it’ll switch automatically to card B.)
- Go to Recording Mode
-Set Recording Mode to MXP, which is the highest quality.
-If you need more than an 1hr. 27m of time, set Recording Mode to FXP, which is a step down in quality but takes up less space.
NOTE: The other options are available, and can give you up to 6h of recording time, but are less than Full HD resolution, and use data rates that can make your footage look pretty bad.
- Go to Frame Rate
- Set Frame Rate to PF30. This is 30 frames per second, Progressive, which is what will work best for web and HDTV applications.
-Go to the Camera icon
- Go to XLR Rec Channel, and make sure CH1 is selected. This is a bit counterintuitive, because as what you’re actually setting is that Input 1 is recorded to CH1 and Input 2 is recorded
Audio
- Use your headphones. Your sound meter should peak around -10. Don’t let it go over 0.
Tripod
- Use a tripod, unless there’s a good reason not to…