Hi Guys,

I'm quite pleased about the idea of taking out the Film Grain feature, but I got the camera before that intelligent decision and now I'm stuck with a good for nothing button.

Do I have any reason to be upset ?
And if Canon adds a really cool feature in new XL2's what about us, any compensation?

Anyone knows if using the Developers Software Kit that Canon offers for free, could add a feature to this now EXTRA button?

what do you think guys?

Hi Joan,

Welcome to DVinfo.net!

The links below are pretty much what's known, or even speculated, about the Film Grain button so far.

http://www.dvinfo.net/canonxl2/articles/article12.php

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37052&highlight=Film+grain

We're looking forward to the first post from someone who has a "post-film Grain era" camera, but be assured that either way, you're not missing out on anything.

Not sure, but I don't think the SDK is available yet?

Cheers,

As far as I know, the entire SDK affair is dead in the water. Sorry,

Chris,

Is that a company position, and if so... why?

Nope, Richard, it isn't, it's just my own position. They haven't said a peep about it since the announcement last July... which is coming up on... seven months ago now?

I should have clarified my remark as an opinion; sorry about that.

I hear that the function of the button will now be either a self-destruct mode, or a magic film look mode, but you won't know which until you try it.

Hah!

This is my own fault, for ever having speculated that they could do something with that button. Of course, they ain't doing anything with that button... it's just a two-step process to activate color bars, as always.

Really fascinating is receive a reply in the next hour. Pretty awesome!.
Well, at least I’m not alone in this one and is good to perceive that our XL2(owners) community is growing. All of us are in the same boat in this technical issue...
Ufff! I feel better now.

Thanks

from Montreal,

Joan Daniel

yeah, my camera has the film grain feature which IMO is fairly worthless. I just hope that the new ones without the feature make this "older" one dated.

My XL2 has the Film Grain button, which in its present form is not too useful for me. I'm hoping the SDK idea is not totally dead, and enterprising individuals will come out with new functions for this button. Top of my wishlist right now is the "Lord-Of-The-Rings" button which will make anything I shoot look marvelous, have an epic storyline and give the feel of an enormous budget. Shouldn't be too hard.

Richard

Hi guys,

I have been reading this site for a long time. Found a lot of useful info for my GL2s. Thanks everyone. This is only my second post. I'm honored to actually have some information to share that might be useful.

I just bought an XL2 this week from B&H. It does not have the film grain feature. The supposed extra button is still there and it is still used for color bars. You have to press the select button to "activate" the color bars and the second button toggles them on and off.

In other words, Canon added nothing, they just subtracted the option for film grain. Turning on color bars is just a 2 button process.

Sorry to deflate anybody's hopes.

-Vence Vida
Creative Juices Video

Damn Vence, you just burst my hope for a "Make this film sell" button...

On my XL2 (purchased 2 weeks ago) the first button displays "film grain" or "color bars" in the EVF. Turning on film grain appears to make the EVF image a little brighter, but no other obvious effect. I haven't bothered to try it and view the results on a larger screen. I've been wondering if I got a pre or post film grain XL2.

How did they disable film grain? Is the option removed completely, or does it still "pretend to work?"

Personally I think Canon's approach to this is a bit sloppy considering the price of this beastie. They should either add another "useful" feature (1 KHz tone?), or remove a button and streamline the color bars option.

-cw-

My XL2 has no film grain indication of any kind - not on the button panel or in the viewfinder. It sounds like you got an older version, even though you just bought it.

-Vence Vida

Oh boy! I can hardly wait to go shoot some fake film with fake grain!! But what would really complete the experience for me would be fake hairs caught in the fake projector! 8-D

-cw-

After spending time on the phone with the "video tech"guy at canon, I am SURE that there will NEVER be an SDK released for the XL2. My reasoning behind that is the tech I spoke with just a few moments ago, named Chuck (no relationship), told me that he was one of the "top techs for the Xl2" and that he had NEVER even heard of a software developers kit for the XL2. Of course, this seemed a little odd to me since even "I" have heard about it and that it was one of the smaller reasons that I chose to purchase an XL2 in September of last year. But, I guess everyone, including myself, was apparently mislead, confused, or just hearing what we wanted to hear. I did a search on the net for Canon's XL2 SDK, but only found a few sites that spoke of it. Even Canon's own site search tool left my page empty without a return from the query. So, bottom line, no such thing exists or will ever exist. Surprisingly enough, i first read about the XL2 and the SDK on this site, well before I had purchased the XL2 from canon. Makes me wonder about the rest. But that would open up a whole 'nother can of worms for the people that still believe EVERY thing they read (I used to be one of them), so I'll let it die there.

I agree, it seems as though it's turned out to be vaporware.

To avoid further confusion I'll be removing all references to the SDK off of the XL2 Watchdog site. Hope this helps,

Yeah, I haven't seen anything more here or elsewhere than Canon's words...nothing that indicates anyone claimed to have the SDK or knew anything specific about it...we all have just waiting and wondering.

I like Canon stuff, but playing the Vaporware game is not acceptable. (This is quite out of character as compared how they DON'T pre-announce hardware. We'll probably never know what the story actually is, but I'm left remaining curious as to why the company was willing to give itself a black eye on that.

So be it. I still love the camera...and will until I move up to HD soon. ;-)

Strange...My model has an SDK feature when I first press it, and when I press the button a second time, a red sign displays in the viewfinder "LORD Of The RINGS Mode"

Maybe I've got the mock-up version...