XL1 / XL1S various posts

Jerry Stanfield · December 30th, 2003, 01:32 PM

BINGO!!! Rob,

Thanks much.

Jerry

John Mejia · December 31st, 2003, 03:48 PM

Hey Guys

I just wanted to say that I am now a proud member of the xl1s club. I picked it up monday and I couldn't be more happier.

Any tips or tricks you guys might have would greatly appreciated.

Rob Lohman · January 1st, 2004, 03:07 PM

Welcome aboard. Read a lot here and get the most expierence
with the camera as you can. The more the better.

Aaron Koolen · January 1st, 2004, 04:07 PM

Take off that cover on the front of the lens, hit that red button on the side and move your arms around ;)

Seriously though, congratulations John! What are you going to be doing with your new camera? Shorts? Home stuff? News?

If I were you, one thing I'd recommend playing with is frame mode. It was something that I didn't really do when I first got my XM2 and when I actually came to having a project that might have benefitted (In hindsight it would have) I didn't know enough about it to risk shooting in it. In the end I deinterlaced. I would have preferred frame mode fooage to save the render times.

Cheers
Aaron

Mark A. Foley · January 4th, 2004, 03:03 AM

For all you “old hands” this probably isn’t anything you have already discovered. However, I thought I would pass this on to others, like myself, that are gaining experience with the XL1s.

There are times when a zoom in to a subject is needed or appropriate. The shot I required was a “zoom in” to a set of church doors and when the zoom was complete, have the door open (with no one opening the door). Typically, there are two possible ways to do this with the stock lens. Put the camera in auto focus and pray it doesn’t start hunting for focus on the zoom (then have an assistant open the door out of shot) or put it manual and adjust or follow through focus on the zoom…problematic at best with the stock lens.

I discovered a third and successful way (by accident). Instead of shooting the shot with a zoom in, start the shot with the door open and just release it to close on its own and then zoom out. Then in post simply reverse the clip in your NLE program. It works fantastic and…importantly…the camera stays focused on the zoom “in” shot.

Mark

Rob Lohman · January 4th, 2004, 03:58 PM

The actual tip behind this is to zoom in to your subject (doors
in this case), focus on that and then zoom out again. The subject
should be in clear focus (and you should be able to do a zoom
in, if you need/want to). This way you will better set your focus
than when you do it zoomed out.

Ofcourse doing this typical shot the way you did is an excellent
way of doing it indeed. A lot of punching shots etc. are shot in
such ways as well.

Bob Maple · January 5th, 2004, 10:34 PM

I think I already know the answer to this question ("No") but is there a way to make the XL1s act as a transcoder, taking S-Video in the back and spitting it out DV so I can record directly into the computer?

I have some external video I'd like to dig but don't want to spend the time and headwear dumping it to a tape and then playing it back off the camera into the computer. I'd ideally like to pipe the vid into the XL1s via S-Video and then free-digitize it into the computer over firewire.. but it doesn't appear this is possible, even if you record to a tape at the same time, as having the DV cable plugged in makes the XL think it's supposed to be getting it's input from there.

Adam Burtle · January 6th, 2004, 12:43 AM

i was playing around tonight and shot some test footage with a kindof ghetto wideangle i made.

works nicely for fixed shots or zooming through the first 50% of the zoom range on the stock canon lens. not the greatest thing in the world.. but hey i made it for free. also, i didn't center it properly in the mount i made so you can see some shadowing at the top versus the bottom.. this falls into the overscan area i suspect though so not much of a problem, but i'll still recenter it :D

not sure if image tags are enabled on this board..

(copy and paste the image address if it doesnt appear)

http://www.adamgeek.com/wide1.jpg

Rich Lee · January 6th, 2004, 02:19 AM

I think you can with the av insert button on the top handle. havnt tried it myself, but thats what the canon site says.

http://www.canondv.com/xl1s/f_av_inputs.html

I have a dazzle, so i just use that for bringing footage from other sources into my cpu. but if the av insert works then u should be set.

Rich

Rich Lee · January 6th, 2004, 02:33 AM

hehehe....thats cool man. How did u do it? how about a home made anamorphic next?

Adam Burtle · January 6th, 2004, 03:08 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Rich Lee : hehehe....thats cool man. How did u do it? how about a home made anamorphic next? -->>>

i took apart an old lens i had (for photography) and mounted one of the elements on the canon lens.

i have been thinking a lot lately about trying to build an anamorphic adapter.. there are a lot of older 16mm lenses for sale on ebay for very cheap (bolex, etc) and i am pretty sure i could rig one of these up pretty easily.. but i am thinking maybe i will just buy a mini35 and get it over with haha.

Adam Burtle · January 6th, 2004, 03:11 AM

Rob is right.

also, another useful technique is if you are doing a dolly shot on an object for instance, where you want it to go from very out of focus, to a perfectly crisp focus as the dolly approaches a certain mark/point.. you can shoot the scene backwards (from the mark, prefect focus, roll dolly backwards, and lbur the focus) and then play it back in reverse in your NLE, and voila, you will neverhave to mess with many many takes of trying to pull the exact right focus as the dolly stops on the mark.

Jed Stone · January 6th, 2004, 07:18 AM

Hmmm bit of a problem with the noise made by the zoom, I have isolated the senheiser mic by using O rings, but still a discernable amount of noise is picked up when zooming. I have soundsoap, peak 4.0 Pro and would like to know if anyone knows roughly what the frequency is of the zoom noise? Then hopefully I will be able to remove it. Have ordered the hotshoe adapter for the mic so it hopefully wont happen again, but the Christening footage I am working on is blighted by the noise

Thanks in advance

Jed

Rob Lohman · January 6th, 2004, 09:08 AM

That's possible only if you go through tape. So you can record
the SVHS source on tape and then capture that to your computer.
This only works on the newer S model!

J. Clayton Stansberry · January 6th, 2004, 11:32 AM

I had the same problem. Fixed it with a filter in FCP, I think it was the high pass filter. I wasn't able to find the exact frequency because I don't have sound soap. If you are using FCP, try the different filters, or try the different filters with whatever NLE you are using. Soundsoap should be able to locate the frequency now that I think about it....however, that may be a problem because as I remember the sound starts low and then gets a little higher as you zoom in or out? So, a general filter in your NLE should help. The hotshoe adapater will also help! Good Luck!

edit: you might also do a search if you haven't already as I know this topic has been covered before.

December 31st, 2003, 03:48 PM	#1067
John Mejia Tourist Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3	New Guy Hey Guys I just wanted to say that I am now a proud member of the xl1s club. I picked it up monday and I couldn't be more happier. Any tips or tricks you guys might have would greatly appreciated.

January 1st, 2004, 03:07 PM	#1068
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Welcome aboard. Read a lot here and get the most expierence with the camera as you can. The more the better. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 1st, 2004, 04:07 PM	#1069
Aaron Koolen Trustee Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 1,727	Take off that cover on the front of the lens, hit that red button on the side and move your arms around ;) Seriously though, congratulations John! What are you going to be doing with your new camera? Shorts? Home stuff? News? If I were you, one thing I'd recommend playing with is frame mode. It was something that I didn't really do when I first got my XM2 and when I actually came to having a project that might have benefitted (In hindsight it would have) I didn't know enough about it to risk shooting in it. In the end I deinterlaced. I would have preferred frame mode fooage to save the render times. Cheers Aaron __________________ My Website Meat Free Media

January 4th, 2004, 03:03 AM	#1070
Mark A. Foley Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Bonaire, Ga. Posts: 356	Discovered technique For all you “old hands” this probably isn’t anything you have already discovered. However, I thought I would pass this on to others, like myself, that are gaining experience with the XL1s. There are times when a zoom in to a subject is needed or appropriate. The shot I required was a “zoom in” to a set of church doors and when the zoom was complete, have the door open (with no one opening the door). Typically, there are two possible ways to do this with the stock lens. Put the camera in auto focus and pray it doesn’t start hunting for focus on the zoom (then have an assistant open the door out of shot) or put it manual and adjust or follow through focus on the zoom…problematic at best with the stock lens. I discovered a third and successful way (by accident). Instead of shooting the shot with a zoom in, start the shot with the door open and just release it to close on its own and then zoom out. Then in post simply reverse the clip in your NLE program. It works fantastic and…importantly…the camera stays focused on the zoom “in” shot. Mark

January 4th, 2004, 03:58 PM	#1071
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	The actual tip behind this is to zoom in to your subject (doors in this case), focus on that and then zoom out again. The subject should be in clear focus (and you should be able to do a zoom in, if you need/want to). This way you will better set your focus than when you do it zoomed out. Ofcourse doing this typical shot the way you did is an excellent way of doing it indeed. A lot of punching shots etc. are shot in such ways as well. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

December 30th, 2003, 01:32 PM	#1066
Jerry Stanfield New Boot Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 11	BINGO!!! Rob, Thanks much. Jerry

January 5th, 2004, 10:34 PM	#1072
Bob Maple New Boot Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Lakewood, CO Posts: 11	XL1s as a transcoder? I think I already know the answer to this question ("No") but is there a way to make the XL1s act as a transcoder, taking S-Video in the back and spitting it out DV so I can record directly into the computer? I have some external video I'd like to dig but don't want to spend the time and headwear dumping it to a tape and then playing it back off the camera into the computer. I'd ideally like to pipe the vid into the XL1s via S-Video and then free-digitize it into the computer over firewire.. but it doesn't appear this is possible, even if you record to a tape at the same time, as having the DV cable plugged in makes the XL think it's supposed to be getting it's input from there.

January 6th, 2004, 12:43 AM	#1073
Adam Burtle Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 173	home-made XL1S wideangle.. i was playing around tonight and shot some test footage with a kindof ghetto wideangle i made. works nicely for fixed shots or zooming through the first 50% of the zoom range on the stock canon lens. not the greatest thing in the world.. but hey i made it for free. also, i didn't center it properly in the mount i made so you can see some shadowing at the top versus the bottom.. this falls into the overscan area i suspect though so not much of a problem, but i'll still recenter it :D not sure if image tags are enabled on this board.. (copy and paste the image address if it doesnt appear) http://www.adamgeek.com/wide1.jpg

January 6th, 2004, 02:19 AM	#1074
Rich Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Los Angeles Ca Posts: 126	I think you can with the av insert button on the top handle. havnt tried it myself, but thats what the canon site says. http://www.canondv.com/xl1s/f_av_inputs.html I have a dazzle, so i just use that for bringing footage from other sources into my cpu. but if the av insert works then u should be set. Rich

January 6th, 2004, 02:33 AM	#1075
Rich Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Los Angeles Ca Posts: 126	hehehe....thats cool man. How did u do it? how about a home made anamorphic next?

January 6th, 2004, 03:08 AM	#1076
Adam Burtle Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 173	<<<-- Originally posted by Rich Lee : hehehe....thats cool man. How did u do it? how about a home made anamorphic next? -->>> i took apart an old lens i had (for photography) and mounted one of the elements on the canon lens. i have been thinking a lot lately about trying to build an anamorphic adapter.. there are a lot of older 16mm lenses for sale on ebay for very cheap (bolex, etc) and i am pretty sure i could rig one of these up pretty easily.. but i am thinking maybe i will just buy a mini35 and get it over with haha.

January 6th, 2004, 03:11 AM	#1077
Adam Burtle Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 173	Rob is right. also, another useful technique is if you are doing a dolly shot on an object for instance, where you want it to go from very out of focus, to a perfectly crisp focus as the dolly approaches a certain mark/point.. you can shoot the scene backwards (from the mark, prefect focus, roll dolly backwards, and lbur the focus) and then play it back in reverse in your NLE, and voila, you will neverhave to mess with many many takes of trying to pull the exact right focus as the dolly stops on the mark.

January 6th, 2004, 07:18 AM	#1078
Jed Stone New Boot Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 13	Zoom noise Hmmm bit of a problem with the noise made by the zoom, I have isolated the senheiser mic by using O rings, but still a discernable amount of noise is picked up when zooming. I have soundsoap, peak 4.0 Pro and would like to know if anyone knows roughly what the frequency is of the zoom noise? Then hopefully I will be able to remove it. Have ordered the hotshoe adapter for the mic so it hopefully wont happen again, but the Christening footage I am working on is blighted by the noise Thanks in advance Jed

January 6th, 2004, 09:08 AM	#1079
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	That's possible only if you go through tape. So you can record the SVHS source on tape and then capture that to your computer. This only works on the newer S model! __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 6th, 2004, 11:32 AM	#1080
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	I had the same problem. Fixed it with a filter in FCP, I think it was the high pass filter. I wasn't able to find the exact frequency because I don't have sound soap. If you are using FCP, try the different filters, or try the different filters with whatever NLE you are using. Soundsoap should be able to locate the frequency now that I think about it....however, that may be a problem because as I remember the sound starts low and then gets a little higher as you zoom in or out? So, a general filter in your NLE should help. The hotshoe adapater will also help! Good Luck! edit: you might also do a search if you haven't already as I know this topic has been covered before. __________________ I understand everything about nothing.