Test of XL-1 vs. XL-1s. at DVinfo.net

Bob Safay · February 9th, 2003, 04:19 PM

Okay, I own both the XL-1 and the XL-1s. I live in Atlanta. I have been on this site for about a year. I travel and I video. For the past several weekends I have done many tests using both of these wonderful camcorders. My XL-1 has been with me all over the place including the Amazon, the mountains, rain, snow, and in all sorts of places in the field. I love it. It is a tough piece of equipment. I used to use Sony. Don't get me wrong, Sony images are incredible but, they cannot take the field use of a Canon XL-1. As I have said before, These are strong, tough pieces of equipment. Now, I have tested both camcorders, the XL-1 and the XL-1s. By the grace of God neither one had or ever had a focusing problem. The only time I had problems were when my settings were off, like not pre-focusing the eyepiece after taking it out of the bag, not watching my exposures, etc. Also, I have read a lot of complaints about focusing while zooming. Well, a little biology here, the human eye can focus, it can pan, it can tilt, it can roll, it can adjust depth of field, BUT IT CANNOT ZOOM!! So don't get mad when your camcorder can't. Now, I shot side by side camcorders (always on Fuji tapes), I shot both camcorders off the same tripod, I shot off the same tripod but swiching camcorders and KEEPING THE SAME TAPE. I did landscape, color bar charts, buildings, even the botanical gardens. Both camcorders are fantastic. I found that on the S, I have to stop down 2 full f stops from the XL-1, so I popped on a polarizing filter and man is it great. Now, I also ran a bunch of tests using different presettings on the XL-1s. Like, 1 up on color and 1 up on sharpnes and -3 Gain vs. 2 clicks up on color and 2 up on sharpness, that sort of stuff. Well, the XL-1s is sharper. The color is also better. I found that for me the best preset is 1 click up in color, 1 click up in sharpness, a polarizing filtar, manual focus, white balance preset, and -3 gain. Please folks, spend some time learning your camcorder. As I said, I spent several weekends just trying different settings. hopes this is of interest to someone.

Chris Hurd · February 9th, 2003, 09:58 PM

Very interesting! Thanks for the input Bob,

Bob Safay · February 10th, 2003, 11:41 AM

Chris, Thanks for the reply. I will probably be posting my old XL-1 for sale as I do not need 2 Camcorders. If you know of anyone looking for an XL-1 package have them contact me. Bob

Dylan Couper · February 10th, 2003, 12:19 PM

Bob, post it for sale in the Classified section. There were recently several people here looking for a used XL1.

February 9th, 2003, 04:19 PM	#1
Bob Safay Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,557	Test of XL-1 vs. XL-1s. Okay, I own both the XL-1 and the XL-1s. I live in Atlanta. I have been on this site for about a year. I travel and I video. For the past several weekends I have done many tests using both of these wonderful camcorders. My XL-1 has been with me all over the place including the Amazon, the mountains, rain, snow, and in all sorts of places in the field. I love it. It is a tough piece of equipment. I used to use Sony. Don't get me wrong, Sony images are incredible but, they cannot take the field use of a Canon XL-1. As I have said before, These are strong, tough pieces of equipment. Now, I have tested both camcorders, the XL-1 and the XL-1s. By the grace of God neither one had or ever had a focusing problem. The only time I had problems were when my settings were off, like not pre-focusing the eyepiece after taking it out of the bag, not watching my exposures, etc. Also, I have read a lot of complaints about focusing while zooming. Well, a little biology here, the human eye can focus, it can pan, it can tilt, it can roll, it can adjust depth of field, BUT IT CANNOT ZOOM!! So don't get mad when your camcorder can't. Now, I shot side by side camcorders (always on Fuji tapes), I shot both camcorders off the same tripod, I shot off the same tripod but swiching camcorders and KEEPING THE SAME TAPE. I did landscape, color bar charts, buildings, even the botanical gardens. Both camcorders are fantastic. I found that on the S, I have to stop down 2 full f stops from the XL-1, so I popped on a polarizing filter and man is it great. Now, I also ran a bunch of tests using different presettings on the XL-1s. Like, 1 up on color and 1 up on sharpnes and -3 Gain vs. 2 clicks up on color and 2 up on sharpness, that sort of stuff. Well, the XL-1s is sharper. The color is also better. I found that for me the best preset is 1 click up in color, 1 click up in sharpness, a polarizing filtar, manual focus, white balance preset, and -3 gain. Please folks, spend some time learning your camcorder. As I said, I spent several weekends just trying different settings. hopes this is of interest to someone.

February 9th, 2003, 09:58 PM	#2
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	Very interesting! Thanks for the input Bob, __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

February 10th, 2003, 11:41 AM	#3
Bob Safay Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,557	Chris, Thanks for the reply. I will probably be posting my old XL-1 for sale as I do not need 2 Camcorders. If you know of anyone looking for an XL-1 package have them contact me. Bob

February 10th, 2003, 12:19 PM	#4
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	Bob, post it for sale in the Classified section. There were recently several people here looking for a used XL1.