Hi folks

As owner of the XL1 and GL2, I'm planning on getting the XLH1. However, my experience with the XL1 and GL2 is making me nervous in getting the XLH1.

How is the XLH1 quality-wise?

My XL1 is falling apart (purchased in June 2001).
- The eyepiece that rotates broke (cheap plastic - Used Crazy glue to fix)
- Handgrip breaks (luckily my left hand was holding onto the camera) - used Crazy glue to fix.
- Kept sending the camera back to Canon regarding the famous shift-focusing problem (does not keep focus when zooming in or zooming out). Problem not fixed.
- Had to send the camera back twice in regards to the "Eject Tape" problem. They had to change the tape transport mechanism. It seems that the XL1/XL1s/XL2/GL1/GL2 family share the same tape transport mechanism. What about the XLH1?
- Starts to shut down when temperature hits 10-15 degrees celcius. Can the XLH1 operate in cold temperature?

My GL2 is starting to have problems (purchased last July, 2006)
- Send the camera back to Canon for the famous "Tape Eject" problem
- Starting to experience sound distortion on the left channel only.

Now I'm about to spend $10K on the XLH1 but nervous about the quality. Has anyone used this camera long enough to comment on the physical/operating quaility?

Thanks in advance.

Mine has worked fine since I received it in June 2006.

I take very good care of it and it returns the favor.

I got mine in May 2006 and have run about 25 tapes through it (I also use it as a playback deck). with no probs. I am going to pick up an HV10 or 20 soon so I don't have to use it as a deck.

Some of the guys here (Per Johan, Mike Devlin, Didi Schoeman), are really stressings theirs in the bitter cold of Norway (Per), Charter fishing boat (Mike), and the heat and dust of Africa (Didi).

I think you will find that the Canon XL's are built to handle more stress than most cams, though your XL1 is starting to wear. They have rubberized dust caps, buttons that recess, etc.

I've heard of relatively very few probs with the H1 compared to others in their class. (oops! I don't want to start anything).

My original xl1 / bought 1997 served me for 10 years without one single
problem that i could recall / African conditions / dust.

I have never used a head cleaner / never send it for service in 10 years.
Completed app. 240 fast in and out corporate productions. 2 x 13 episode
Broadcast productions and app. 40 music videos.

I have also used it as slave deck for the past 10 years. I only used new
tape stock and one brand tapes.

The one thing that i did practice as a rule was to blow my tape compartment with air after every shoot.

Recently bought an XLH1 / App. 25 hours on clock. NO PROBLEMO !

Herman / South-Africa

My original xl1 / bought 1997 served me for 10 years without one single
problem that i could recall / African conditions / dust.

I have never used a head cleaner / never send it for service in 10 years.
Completed app. 240 fast in and out corporate productions. 2 x 13 episode
Broadcast productions and app. 40 music videos.

I have also used it as slave deck for the past 10 years. I only used new
tape stock and one brand tapes.

The one thing that i did practice as a rule was to blow my tape compartment with air after every shoot.

Recently bought an XLH1 / App. 25 hours on clock. NO PROBLEMO !

Herman / South-Africa

Herman,

Man, that's impressive. Did you use that 'canned' air that you use for spraying out keyboards? I bought some the other day and used it on the outside of the H1 (around the buttons and stuff). I thought about using it in the tape compartment, but wasn't sure.

KEN

Nope / I use a small compressor with a in line filter (water-moist).

Also blow my bags and other equipment.


I decided upon this years ago working in the camera retail industry been
able to get acces to a camera service centre where a technician showed
me the bottom/inside of a tape compartment and the ammount of metal
particles coming from tape / head / transport friction.

Greetings Herman / I had the original XL1 up for sale but decided against
it. Instead i have mounted it in my studio as part of my soul.

Greetings / .Herman

I would be cautious with using "Canned Air".

A Director friend of mine was using "Canned Air" to clean his lenses. He stated that he would never use all of the air in the can. This, he said, came from experience. One time he emptied a can while blowing off his lenses, and out came some type of goo which was hard to remove.

Personally, I have not tested this myself, but I have no reason to doubt his story. So, I have avoided using commercial "Canned Air" altogether.

I would like to hear if anyone else has had a bad expeience with "Canned Air".

Always blow the first squirt away from the lens. Sometimes the liquid air can come out first. The liquid is extremely cold and can shatter the lens.

Yeah, it's cold alright.... What do you guys think about using it in the tape compartment?

Personally, I would not risk getting any sticky goo in the tape compartment.

I would use regular compressed air, not canned air.

You can purchase a small tank at an auto supply place and fill it up anywhere you can get your tires inflated.

Of course, this is not as portable, but in the long run it would cost less than "Canned Air" and might be safer.

I would be careful not to use excessive air pressure when blowing out the tape compartment.

When using this approach, I would be concerned about the moisture in the tank and thus in the air stream. However, I do not think this will be a problem.

Just use a "hurricane blower" squeeze bulb instead. The propellant in the Dust Gun can squirt out.

Don't tilt Canned Air sideways while trying to get into a difficult spot. Guess how I found this out!

Thanks for the warning. i've been using canned compressed air sold for cleaning computers on my cameras for some time now. Have not had the misfortunate experience of solids or liquids exiting the can - but I will no longer take the chance based on these reports.

FIrst choice, a 'squeeze bulb' to blow out the compartment while the compartment is tilted to allow stuff to fall out.

Second choice, canned 'air' but DON'T Tilt the can, as you can spray the propellant.

LAST choice, "Compressed air" for a filling station. This air contains water, dirt and oil vapor. More nasty stuff to be blowing onto your heads/transport. IF you wan't to use 'compressed air' then get your tank filled at a scuba shop. The air there is free of dirt and oil.

I think Richard makes a good point, as one definitely wants to blow out the transport area with clean air.

I've got three XL-H1s that are about a year old. They go out with university students, so they certainly aren't treated gently. We had one go back to canon when the viewfinder started jumping around. That's been it for problems. No clogged heads or other issues. They've each shot hundreds of hours of tapes at this point. Assuming you treat it like a sane person, I think the XL-H1 will serve you well.

I've had my H1 since Dec '05 and have shot well over 150 tapes now.. I sent it to Canon for a problem with the audio portion shortly after purchase and for a routine service in Dec '06 - both times the camera head was returned within 3-4 days...

I shoot documentaries for a living, and am not always in the cleanest of environments - but I do take normal precautions - I use canned air (Dust Off) on exterior surfaces, but never have in the tape compartment - although I would if I needed to (if I was shooting in a very dusty environment) - but I would do it in a clean place where I wasn't introducing more problems than I was fixing - and I would be careful to not blow dust deeper into the camera..

If you use a relatively full can, and DO NOT shake it, there should never be a problem with accelerant with Dust Off, it's a very good product - I have had problems with other brands however... If the camera got really dirty, I would send it to Canon.. but I would send any camera, film or video, to a qualified technician in those circumstances.

I don't know how many hours I have on my camera, but it's alot - I have not had a single problem (other than the audio glitch mentioned above) and have had only a single drop-out, and that was caused by a bad tape provided by a client (I always use Sony Digital Masters, although there are many opinions on tape)...

Two months ago I bought an A1 as a backup camera and have already shot over 25 tapes with that one too - no problems...

I would use regular compressed air, not canned air.

You can purchase a small tank at an auto supply place and fill it up anywhere you can get your tires inflated.

When using this approach, I would be concerned about the moisture in the tank and thus in the air stream. However, I do not think this will be a problem.

The big problem with a regular compressor is not so much moisture as the oil mist which gets thrown into the air stream by the compresor's pistons. I would want at least 1 and probably two oil separation filters in the line before I would use air from a garage style air compressor on my cameras.

Two months ago I bought an A1 as a backup camera and have already shot over 25 tapes with that one too - no problems...[/QUOTE]

Steve
As someone who owns both the a1 and the h1 i was wondering if you could clear something up for me. when i was originally looking to buy a camera i compared the h1 and a1 at b&h, the h1 had a much punchier brighter image and all the presets were the same. i had put it down to the monitor difference at the time and brought the a1 expecting i would be able to get the punchy image i'd witnessed on the h1. everyone seems to be saying they are basically the same image but i am finding that they are not. i am finding that the a1 footage is often flat with no punch. do you find there is a big difference between the two?

XL H1 Here, since January 06. Shot about 200 tapes with it, most of it in DV. Have a lot of drop outs with the cam from the beginning. Send it back to the dealer, worked for a while, but since late 06 the drop outs are back again. There not on the tape but if you put the tape in a Sony deck there coming at you.. It's workable now for me, since there is a spare XM1 at the edit set to capture the DV footage, which works fine. I had the same dropout problems with my XL1 and XM1 by the way, the XL H goes back to the dealer in a couple of weeks for maintenance.

Beside this, I think the body of the XL H1 pretty solid. My cam is out for rental as well, and they are not that gentle with it as I am. I was shooting an item for a TV Show, couple of weeks ago, on a "underground" electro party. A guy how was pretty drunk didn't like my appearance and emptied his glass of beer on my camera.... Beside the stickiness which took me a while to get of, no harm to the cam... O yeah, I kicked the guy....

Oliver: I've been intercutting between the H1 and A1 for the last 2 weeks and haven't noticed a difference.. That said, you do need to adjust the presets differently on the two cameras.. where the H1 may have a range of 7 in some catagories, the A1 has a range of (I think) 100... I set my cameras up using a monitor (actually just a Panasonic HDTV) until they got close, switching back and forth between the two component inputs on the TV (the reason I used the Panasonic)... I never even tested the A1 out-of-the-box though.

By the way, there are many little added improvements on the A1 that I really appreciate.. little things like being able to totally customize the second display setting, the iris ring, the above mentioned range in the presets (and the fact that you get nine of them), the placement of some of the controls, and a bunch of others I can't think of right now..

I don't like the WB preset switch being under the LCD, but that's really a subject for another forum...