Can anyone tell me exactly how the Canon XL1 works in widescreen mode. A freind of mine said it was a fake way of doing it and wasn't true 16x9 widescreen mode, though he didn't know the technical side to this, can anyone explain.

Also, does the new XL1s have true widescreen mode or is that a compromised version to?

Thanks all, Beethoven

See article on The Watchdog, "The Myth of Mini-DV Widescreen" for complete answer to your question. This is a common question which is answered in the Watchdog FAQ on the website.

No camera under $10,000 has true widescreen. This is a feature found only in a few very expensive 2/3rd-inch CCD cameras. Hope this helps,

The direct link to "The Myth of Mini-DV Widescreen" article on XL1 Watchdog FAQ is linked to the "Standby Mode Explained" article. They both have the same article Nr.: 59.
I suppose this is an error. Where do i find the right article ?

Aaarrgghhh, that's a problem I'll have to fix as soon as I can.

To find the article I told you about, go to the XL1 Watchdog at http://www.dvinfo.net/xl1.htm -- choose Articles Menu > Camera Head > The Myth of Mini-DV Widescreen.

Hope this helps,

I just read the article and agree with it completely. When we shot something that was to be letterboxed in post we would put the XL1 into 16x9 mode but watch the output via firewire on another MiniDV camera that sensed that the video was in 16x9 mode and did the letterboxing. (The article explains it much better than I am). Then once I (being the cameraman) had the composition figured out in my head we'd put the XL1 back into 4x3 aspect ratio and shoot.

Even though it is somewhat combersome to do all this extra work on each shot, it really pays off on shots where composition is critical.