Shoulder mount Canon HD cameras dissappearing from retailers
 

I must have been asleep at the switch, B & H and Newegg have both discontinued the XLH1S and A line of camcorders. What's up with that ? Funny thing the SD version XL2 always seems to be available, must have been a lot of leftovers from people waiting for HD cams.


xlh1s

xlh1a

Newegg.com - xlh1a

Hopefully this means they will release a shoulder mounted version of the XF305

It is hard to predict what Canon will do at times. They brought the XL-H1 out long before they did a fixed lens HDV camera, but in the case of the transition from HI-8 to mini-DV they dropped the L2 interchangeable lens camera several months before they brought out the XL-1. They did continue manufacturing a black body version, but I don't know for how long they did so. I can't recall the exact model--it was something like LX-2000.

I wrote to them stressing the importance of an interchangeable lens for the serious wildlife videographer, but of course they refused to say as to whether such a model was planned. Now it looks like we are in the same situation again, except it does seem almost certain that one or more interchangeable lens models will soon be announced, but I can't quite understand whey they discontinue the one model before the new one is available.

Yeah, I did notice the missing cameras on B&H's line-up. So, does this mean the end of HDV from Canon?

Sounds like it.

Whatever the next iteration of the XL series will be, it will most likely use their XF codec and be tapeless.

No doubt tapeless is the way of the future, but the XL cameras still show as current on the Canon web site.

I don't know why it shows as discontinued at B&H, although it has happened before (recently) that there was an erroneous "discontinued" entry on their web site (See: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...continued.html). I suppose it is possible, but I really doubt that the XL is being discontinued by Canon at this time.

There's ALWAYS something in the pipeline and Canon does not typically pre-announce more than a couple months. Even the XF 100/105 announcement was unusually long-lead for Canon.

We'll just have to wait and see.

The new 100 series announcement was definitely a long lead,
which is uncharacteristic for Canon USA. That happened only
because of the once-every-five-years Canon Expo. Without it,
the announcement would not have been made until November
or December at the earliest.

As long as the product pages for XL H series cameras appear
on the Canon USA web site -- which they do as of today -- then
they are most definitely *not* discontinued. Hope this helps,

...and the time has come.

All XL cameras have disappeared from the Canon Professional Camcorders page, including the XL2 while surprisingly the GL2 is still there. The 6X lens for the XL cameras is also still listed at $3k.

B & H de-listed them from there website a couple of days ago, I guessed something was up.

Well hopefully a shoulder-mount interchangeable lens HD camcorder is in the near future from Canon.

Still listed on the UK site Canon Professional Camcorders - Camcorders - Canon UK, but watch this space.

Seems like I timed it right...

I used 50% Canon XL camcorders and 50% Canon DSLRs for both of my latest two films in the GlobetrotterWorld series released during 2010, but have recently sold all the XL equipment and lenses, including my prized Canon AF 6X HD lens, and now gone 100% DSLR for 2011.

What is amazing about this whole thing is the lack of used units available. It seems plenty of XLH1 cameras are out there but a search of the southeast reveals no craigslist entries for the XLH1S. Even EBAY has only one listing for an XLH1S, that is amazing.

Don, Are you looking at buying one? I might have an XLH1A in like new condition for sale soon...

I am very satisfied with my XLH1S and don't plan to sell it. It could be that people are holding on to them...