hooray for XL2 BP-945 alternate!
 

Just a little FYI for those wondering about realistic battery life. I shot a 15 minute commercial piece today on an XL2 and a DVX100 as B roll. We fired up the cameras at 9am and shot until 4:45pm. I only put the xl2 into standby for 30 minutes at lunch. At the end of the day I was still on the same battery that I started with! And it still had 1 square left on the battery meter. Thats like 7 hours on one battery! Granted I only shot 55 minutes of tape but to never have to dig into my case for the second battery was great! And I pretty much left it on all day.

In contradiction the DVX battery only lasted 2 hours before we had to go on AC power. It wasn't the largest battery they make or the stock battery but the one in between. Maybe the 5600mah would be better for the DVX.

The actual battery I used was a Power2000 6000maH battery that is a replacement for the bp-945. To boot this sucker will be 1 year old on October 5th! So those of you that think you "have" to have an Anton Bauer rig should also consider these batteries. Especially when I paid $59 bucks for it!

Just wanted to share some good news!

Oh yeah! Also Kudos to Canon Parts and the Canon service center. I had to have my viewfinder tightened a few months back because the darn thing kept sagging and pointing to the ground. After they sent it back the little plastic cap at the end of the 2 rods that the viewfinder slides forward and back on kept falling off. Last weekend I noticed it was missing and was gone for good!
Canon parts replaced it for free and sent it 2 day fedex also! Cool indeed! The fact that it probably only would have cost $2-3 bucks is beside the point.

So far my experience with Canon service is A1! (big improvement from when I had the vertical lines problem with the original XL1 back in early 98! But I'm willing to forgive and forget that!)

I agree...I've also had mine for about a year with no complaints.


Richard Stiehm