Or, you can raid your piggy bank and buy the FU-1000 monochrome viewfinder. Hand's down one of the best purchases you can make.

Thanks, Jarrod.

I was able to open it with TextEdit.

Jonathan

I was filming a play the other night and all of the sudden my Viewfinder went black. I freaked out- I could not talk to the director and I had the shot. He was very angry, as was I. Now I tapped on the eyepiece and it would come back on, then turn off 5 seconds later and i kept repeating. Im not sure if it is the connection of an internal problem in the wiring. Has anyone had this happen? Any advice? Does Canon cover internal defects? Im pretty worried, and although I have a warranty from Mack... Im apprehensive about shipping the camera.

So the image captured to tape didn't 'black out' did it? It's just a viewfinder problem then?

Can you borrow/rent another viewfinder to confirm the problem lies in the viewfinder and not the camera? Can you get it to duplicate? IE: Wiggle the cord at the camera/viewfinder.

If you can isolate it to the viewfinder, then just send that in, and borrow/rent another while its getting repaired. IF you can't isolate, then send in both the cam and VF.

That's what warranties are for.

Everyone knows what a lousy viewfinder the XL camcorders have, but aside from the cheap LCD, the lenses are plastic, accumulate spots and pits (just from being out in dusty or salty, or wet conditions), and are impossible to clean. It would be so easy for Canon to retrofit these with glass lenses. This wouldn't make a good EVF out of a bad one, but at least with clean glass, focus would be a little easier. Has anyone tried this approach, either with Canon, or on your own? It sure would be cheaper than buying that expensive, heavy, electron-guzzling FU 1000. (Don't you love that name!)

Steve Siegel,
Seiurus Video, Miami FL

I have an XL2 and I am experiencing slight colour shifts and flickers on my viewfinder, more so when I an adjusting the position of the viewfinder. Its almost like my colour balance is shifting on me. Doesnt happen all the time. Its obviously a loose connection of some sort. Canon Service said theres nothing wrong with it. Now Im worried that it my go black one of these days!!

Regards....

Ok great, Ill try that. At the moment I am in another country for school and my camera is back in the states. Ill try to find a viewfinder. Does the XL1s fit the XL2 viewfinder? On the question about the tape capture- Im not sure. I have been filming live plays and had no tape in there. Ill try it out though. Thx.

I'm making a movie that i'm in and I'm always in front of the xl2 which as every owner knows doesn't have a viewfinder or lcd screen you can see from the front of the camera. (which has caused me to curse canon several times and made me in moments of weakness wish I'd bought a dvx100 despite that camera's setbacks (not native 16x9, less detailed image, and a white balance that seemed to have a mind of it's own even in manual mode.) but atleast you could stand in front of the camera and frame a shot! So my immediate solution has been to unscrew the viewfinder, slide it off its mount, twist it around and precariously balance it on the top of the lens, which i can't imagine is good for my lens mount. (Canon could have so easily just put a hot shoe foot on the bottom of the viewfinder and folks like me could have mounted the viewfinder in the hot shoe whenever we needed to be in front of the camera to frame a shot.) Does anyone know of a less precarious way to place the viewfinder when it's off its mount? Or a more elegant solution to my problem of not being able to frame a shot from in front of the xl2?

Currently, I'm planning on getting a vga interface (a little box that converts s-video/rca in to vga out) so I can use my computer screen to monitor the xl2's image. But wanted to know which signal out on the xl2 was the highest quality. It seems to be the s-video out but I can't find any info on the signal that comes out of the two viewfinder sockets. Does anyone know what signal comes out of the xl2's viewfinder sockets and if either one is higher quality than s-video. And if so how would I get that signal into a vga monitor?

I've already tried a 7" lcd monitor using a portable dvd player's screen through the rca cable. But the screen resolution and viewing angle were so bad that it was almost useless for framing or focusing, besides it's clumsy. Not that my computer monitor solution won't be clumsy but at least it will make for easier focusing and framing.

any suggestions would be much appreciated. (note i'm not rich and am unemployed while making my movie so I can only really act on suggestions that fall under the $100 mark, like the $50 vga interface or maybe some kind of mirror solution.)

thanks,
jayson
www.oldchildprojects.com

Your best bet for under $100 dollars is to just get a Television that takes S-video and set it up as a monitor. Although it's prolly not possible to find one for under a hundred. Failing that, just use the Composite out. Really, it will serve you just fine. Try it.

I hadn't thought of that, that's a good idea. I could probably get a little kitchen tv from goodwill for 20$ that would do the trick. Then I wouldn't have to drag my monitor back and forth.

jayson
www.oldchildprojects.com

Right, if color isn't an issue, than sure, any television will show you the frame, provided you're NOT shooting 16:9. If you are, then you'll need a better set,but then you're back to looking at pro monitors.

For what it's worth, I like the sony PVM-14N6u. You can find them used on ebay, for 100 to 200. (I saw I place in Canada selling them for fifty bucks, but then another 80 for shipping and more for customs...) The PVM-14N6u is small enough to haul onset,(17x17x19) but it is HEAVY. Good colors, resolution and 16:9. Takes composite, S and RGB, accepts NTSC, PAL and Seacam.

Any of the 16:9 DVD players with Inputs will work fine. I do it all the time.

thanks for the suggestions guys. I checked out the sony monitor, it looks perfect (since I shoot almost everything in 16x9.) I got some birthday money coming so maybe I'll pick one up. Till then I'll keep using the 7" portable dvd player i've got despite it's limitations. (2.5' video cable. broken position springs, horribly narrow viewable angle.) Does anyone get as frustrated with cannon's xl camera's as I do for their not having the ability to frame a shot from in front of the camera? Or is it rare that people frame shots from in front of the camera?

jayson
www.oldchildprojects.com

If you already have a pocket TV (like a little Casio type), you might be interested in something like this (http://www.supercircuits.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3438). You would be free to walk around your set and see the framing without having the monitor tied to the camera.

Cool link Charles... thanks.

As to whether or not it's 'rare' to need to frame in front of the camera... I wouldn't say 'rare' but certainly not the primary concern.

Good afternoon members. I recently bought a second XL2 on Ebay. Listed as new in box. I'm not so sure about that but the camera does appear to be like new except unlike my other XL2 I see a couple of white spots in the viewfinder. I assume these are bad pixels. Has anyone else seen anything like this and by chance did they ever go away ? Thank you, Chris..

They might be dead pixels yes. I had some on my second XL2's viewfinder too (a couple red and one green). The bad news is no, they're not going to go away. The good news is, if they are bad pixels in your viewfinder's LCD screen only, and not on the CCD block, then it has no effect whatsoever on your final output. You might want to test that out.

It might be too annoying to you though, even if it turns out it's only in the viewfinder, in that case you'll have to contact a Canon repair facility and ask if it's covered under warranty (assuming you bought from a legit dealer and not grey market). I never bothered to have mine repaired, I was using a FU-1000 viewfinder anyway.

BTW, I know it'll sound stupid, but since you said it was white, make sure it isn't some dust stuck on your LCD or lens (front or back element) first. You already own one so you're probably aware of that, but just making sure.

Okay, I admit it. It's all my fault. After cleaning the plastic lenses on the viewfinder of my XL2 too many times in the field without the proper brushes and lens cloth, I've scratched the plastic to a point where I need to replace it.

I just got off the phone with the NJ service center and the girl there was at best clueless. Maybe I should have asked for someone else. She told me normal cleaning, adjustments and labor would run $240 plus parts but had no idea what the parts would cost, they would call me with a quote once they had the unit in hand.

Basically, all the plastic lenses on the flip up portion of the viewfinder need to be replaced.

Have any of you ever had this repair done by Canon? If so, what was the cost?

Thanks.

I think the manufacturer's quality control insures that 99.97% of the viewfinder pixels are active. This means you should have no more than seven or eight dead pixels in the EVF. If you do, send it in to Canon factory service for repair.

$240 or $250 is the usual charge, and it's a fair price. Once they have received your camera, they will contact you with an estimate on any costs over and above that amount. Please report back here when you find out what the actual cost is. Also try the Irvine CA repair facility. Good luck,

After reading my post I feel I should add I wasn't questioning the $240 quote, that's seems fair to me.

It was a little early to call the Irvine repair center but I am going to try them as well.

Thanks for the reply, Chris.

Sorry, I should have implied that my comment about the $240 was intended for casual readers of this thread who might be unfamiliar with the service call process. The quality of work provided by the Jamesburg and Irvine facilities should be on par with each other.

I can't see paying a minimum of $240 bucks for a piece of plastic.....mine has the same problem and I would like an alternative solution to $240.00.

The $240 is the minimum price for a service call and it is in fact a fair price. That amount is not paid for just "a piece of plastic." It's the cost for the time and services of the lab tech to crack the camera open, clean and tweak the camera inside and out, upgrade firmware if required, and to generally perform whatever basic maintainence is required to bring the camera back to a like-new condition.

That cost is consistent throughout the industry for similar camcorders from other manufacturers, and it's perfectly reasonable. It's a small amount to pay in order to service a sensitive and delicate $4000 camcorder. Hope this helps,

I just got off of the phone with the Canon Rep and they told me that if that's the only thing wrong with the camera then it should be around $80.00 to repair. CH, is correct in stating that the $240 is a good price to pay for the complete check-up of your valuable camera.
I just ordered the outter lense piece and I should be receiving it on Wed. I'll let you know how it went when I attempt to swap out this piece.
For you own ref. the part # is: YN1-3114-000 (CVF-G3-LENSE) and it cost $20.80 the rest will be labor charges. Now if you are a XL2 club member the cost is a lot less to get it repaired and you will garanteed to have your camera back in 5 days or they will give you a loaner. They will even save your settings and restore it once the camera is ready. Once again value added!!!

Stephen, that information re: part number etc. is very much appreciated. Thanks a bunch for posting that. Let us know how it goes when you get the part. Thanks again,

Okay, I admit it. It's all my fault. After cleaning the plastic lenses on the viewfinder of my XL2 too many times in the field without the proper brushes and lens cloth, I've scratched the plastic to a point where I need to replace it.

Tyge, you scratched my baby? You brute! (hehe)

For everyone else, Tyge bought one of my XL2 cameras last year. Looks like it's doing hard time. (grin)

Hope you get 'er fixed up as cheap as possible.

-gb-

Yes, I'm afraid I did, my friend. It happened the first few days in the dusty conditions of my Africa assignment last year and I want it fixed before I go back this year for another three month stint. Actually, both the top and bottom pieces or the outer most plastic lenses are scratched! I've since realized that I don't need to be cramming a lens cloth in there and cleaning but to use a brush and compressed air. (Though in my line of work, blowing compressed air tends to make things run off deeper into the bush. LOL)

Thanks for the additional insight on the cost of the repair. I'll be sure to report back when I have this rig back from Canon.

OK People I Did It!!! It was easier than I thought to repair this myself. Actually it wasn't the outer glass, but it was the 3rd piece of glass from the most outer glass, PN: YN1-3112-000 (CVF-G1-Lense) for $18.00. There were 3 tiny screws and everything, pretty much, came apart. Just make sure that you remember the order everything goes. One thing I also noticed was a thin plastic cover that was suppose to protect the bottom glass, but I didn't replace that one yet. This thin plastic cover should be very inexpensive to replace since all it is, is a tinted piece of plastic.

Stephen,
I sent you a PM in regards to your repair.

This thin plastic cover should be very inexpensive to replace since all it is, is a tinted piece of plastic.

I believe that would be the filter that keeps the VF from getting fried in direct sunlight. The early XL1 cameras didn't have this and they had to come up with a modification after a few fried viewfinders. Apparently, direct sunlight+magnigying lens+LCD= BAD.

-gb-

After some email advise on what parts to order from Stephen I called Canon today and ordered the parts needed to repair this viewfinder. I ordered:

YN1-3112-000 (CVF-G1-LENSE)
YN1-3114-000 (CVF-G3-LENSE)
DA3-1868-00 (G2 MASK) which I believe is the other part Stephen related to.

All told the parts were $54.38 including 3-4 day ground shipping.
Sony parts phone number is 1-800-828-4040.

Stephen, I may be giving you a call when I do this for some technical help if you don't mind. Thanks for posting the part numbers and relating yo how you handled this repair!

I was going through the menu and the manual and didn't see anything where we can turn on an action safe/title safe view/mode in the viewfinder. Anyone know for sure?

Jonathan

Nope, can't do it. While it would be helpful if it were possible, I've found that it's not too big a deal.

Since the VF overscans a bit, though, what you're seeing in it roughly corresponds to the action-safe area--but you want to account for that unseen overscan in your composition anyway, because not all monitors and/or displays will hide what you might not be able to see along the edges of the VF when shooting. A good rule of thumb, then, is to simply try to keep anything important within the frame of the viewfinder, but at the same time to make sure that anything you don't want to see isn't hiding within that overscan area.

As for the title-safe area, you just have to kind of get a feel for it and eyeball it.

Last post that covered this was back in '03, so I was hoping it changed. Is there any way of making the stock viewfinder (the color one) show action/title safe? If there are no settings, is there anything that anyone out there has done to alter the viewfinder to be able to show them?

Thanks,

Jonathan

EDIT: Never mind...found a post I did back in May (how did I forget about that one?) that Jarrod answered (it's "no" by the way)...but has anyone still found a way to make action/title safe lines for their viewfinder? It's kind of annoying having to shoot extra wide because you don't know where the action/title safe's going to be. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of hooking up a monitor for every shoot I do.

Has anyone ever had this:
My viewfinder does not come off after I loosen the screw.
There seems to be a small brass pin holding it on the camera, avoiding it falls off.
But now I want it to come off, I don't want to put the cam in the bag with the viewfinder on.
I can't find anything in the manual, or did I not look good?

Thijo

They can be hard to pull off. They are made to keep the viewfinder from falling off if the tightening knob comes loose. Just hold each part firmly and pull harder. Make sure that the cable is disconnected first.

A small amount of lube on the pin may help. By the way, this is the same from the XL1 to the XLH1.

Mike

The pin is actually spring loaded and can be disengaged with the aid of a small flat blade screwdriver just to push it in against the spring tension - it's a bit fiddly but better than the "brute force" approach, those viewfinders aren't all that robust.

CS

That was the tip I was looking for.
I did'nt know it was spring loaded.
This works nicely, but it seems I also get it of by pulling a little harder.
Witch I didn't wanna do in the first place, braking things is something wich happens to me more then enough as it is...
But the knife-trick does the job very well!
( I could not find a screwdriver thin enough)

Thijo

Hey Jonathan,

You could try putting 4pieces of Scotch (or other brand ;) transparent tape around the sides of the viewfinder. You'd have to match it to something with a safe area display in realtime. Transparent tape would allow you to see what's still in the shot, but slightly blurred. I think so anyway :)

I guess over time, you just develop an eye for it? Just stay inside a little bit from the edges with your important stuff and you should be fine really.

Even though they *say* it's 'safe' inside those borders, they're not absolutely safe. I just wrapped up editing on a project for a client (shot widescreen, 30p, interview clips) and put all of my titles within the title-safe margins of Premiere Pro. I gave the client a copy who played it on his home tv (a big tv from the 80's from what I understand, I believe rear projection). Anyway, he said "how come the text goes off the sides of the screen on the wide titles?" I assured him I stayed within the safe margins and that the problem was that his tv was out of alignment/calibration. He played the disc on a portable dvd player (widescreen lcd) and everything looked perfect. Obviously there's barely any overscan area with an LCD, so it fits even better.. But it just goes to show that no matter how 'broadcast safe' you try to be, someone out there will have some bad gear to prove you wrong. Thankfully the client's video wasn't made to be played on his home television. ;)

Eric

Has anyone ever had this:
My viewfinder does not come off after I loosen the screw.
There seems to be a small brass pin holding it on the camera, avoiding it falls off.
But now I want it to come off, I don't want to put the cam in the bag with the viewfinder on.
I can't find anything in the manual, or did I not look good?

Thijo
i filed mine down just a little at a time till i got it where i liked it. it isn't such a b**** to remove anymore. the pin had already started to dig a channel in the alum and i was afraid i was going to break something always using so much force to get it off.

Hi

I exchange LCD color viewer pinout for FU-1000 B/W pinout.