Canon Removes "Film Grain" from XL2

[Chris Hurd]

Hooray! See the full story here.

[Richard Alvarez]

Ahh, interesting explanaition. "Can no longer get the software"??? Who would refuse to sell their software to Canon? My guess is they just realized what a dumb feature it was. Will the switch still be labled? (I am guessing all they are doing is a software update).

I think a handy button would be a "tone" generator button. I know its hidden in the menu, but a button would be nice, just like the bars.

[Bill Pryor]

Stationary film grain looks crappy anyway. Maybe with this new button that's now left over, they can figure out a way to make it switch from mic to line on the XLRs.

[Charles Papert]

This inspired a thought process about onboard tone generators, but for once (Chris! I restrained myself!) I'll post it as a new thread in the appropriate forum rather than digress here.

[Pete Bauer]

I don't care, but from another very long thread...maybe they'll put a mic level / line switch for the XLR inputs! HA! ;-)

Anyway, even as an amateur I immediately thought that the film grain thing was a cheesy idea. Actually, if they are going to do anything at all with that button, Richard's Color Bars & Tone idea is a good one.

[Travis Maynard]

Im not sure about you guys, but I would be rather offended if they added something useful to it after I paid 5,000$. It leaves us with the pretty much "useless" feature and (If they add something) everyone else with a new and possible useful addition.

[Bill Pryor]

Well...that's the breaks for being out on the bleeding edge of technology, being the first kid on the block with the newest toy, etc.
Seriously, though, just because they change something doesn't mean the camera you have is any worse. It's still going to produce the same quality image. I read about people who rushed out and dumped their XL1's when the XL1s came out, even though it had only minor improvements. It doesn't matter what you buy or when you buy it, there will always be a new and improved model out.

[Charles Papert]

I never looked back from switching out the XL1 to the XL1s (and not just because I ended up only paying about $300 for the switch!) Having the ability to keep the camera from going into standby every 5 minutes coupled with the 16:9 framelines in the viewfinder were both massively useful, irregardless of the improvements in picture quality, sensistivity etc. It made that camera platform work for me instead of against me.

[Pete Bauer]

Hey, I don't know Travis. I think my XL2 will be a rare collector's item now...maybe I can sell it for an HDV cam! (Oooh, did I say that OUT LOUD!?????) ;-)

[Travis Maynard]

Haha Nice. Yeah, maybe this will turn into one of those oddball rarities and then we will be instant millionaires. No more filmmaking for me. Consider me retired.

[Bill Pryor]

Going from XL1 to the s model for 300 bucks was a good deal. I'd have done that too. But selling an old one cheap and then buying a new one would not have been a good thing, in my opinion.

[Chris Hurd]

<< I would be rather offended if they added something useful to it after I paid 5,000$. >>

Relax. They're not about to add anything. The best case scenario, and even this is a bit of a long shot, is that they might map some existing feature to that extraneous button. But add something new? No way will that happen.

[Yi Fong Yu]

eeexcellent-Mr. Burns. *rubs hands*. i'm glad i waited... =).

[Kevin Wild]

What's interesting to me is they even publicized this. They must have something they're planning to do with that button. I've never heard of a company bragging about taking away a feature, even if it's a totally cheesy and useless feature.

[Chris Hurd]

Well, in all fairness, Canon USA is not bragging about it -- I am.