It's official: Canon XL2 announced
 

The word is out.

See http://www.usa.canon.com/templatedat...40713_xl2.html.

You heard it here first!

Stay tuned to DV Info Net for "further developments."

See link above for full story, but here's a juicy quote for you:

"NEW YORK, July 13, 2004 — Canon's new XL2 camcorder offers an evolutionary design and new professional features — including a choice of 60i, 24p or 30p frame rates, 4:3 or high resolution 16:9 aspect ratio, new 680,000 pixel progressive scan CCDs, and a full line of customizable controls for cine-looking results. Along with its new 20x interchangeable lens, this new Mini-DV camcorder empowers cinematographers and videographers with a completely customizable broadcast and feature film quality acquisition tool."

Much more at the press release link above.

Oh man....

and I just had convinced myself to stick with being a writer...

and I just bought a car!

wowzers

Any pics? We want pics!

There's an embargo on pics for a few more hours yet. The press conference at DV Expo later this morning is the official unveiling. Photos to follow soon afterwards!

Great
 

That's great news! Hope it'll proove to be all it seems!

wow
I can't wait

thank
 

GOD that 16x manual lens I have is still worth something, but a 20x lens hmmmmm I keep renting extenders and 24p(now I wont have to buy that dvx) .... very excited cant wait to see pics. Of course Im one of those who wont buy for a year with my fear of bugs in the 1st offering but still.......

M

I'll have to go the place I buy all my gear at and bug them about when they will get the XL-2, now all the DVX100 users can shake in their boots!!!

I'm dissappointed that it's not an HD cam, but I'm sure there was a good reason for this, like to keep the price under $5000. The line about supporting SMPTE timecode is a little confusing to me. It's not DV CAM format, right? Will regular mini-DV decks be able to read this timecode?

It's not DVCam, no. The SMPTE time code, user bits, etc. are similar to -- well, maybe even identical to this very same feature on the Panasonic DVX100A, which is also plain vanilla DV. The DVX writes SMPTE-compliant VTC into the sub-code area of the DV tape. I'm willing to bet that the XL2 does exactly the same. Just a guess, though.

here you go.. nothing radically different on the looks front:

http://www.canon-sales.co.jp/dv/line...kit/point.html

Here are hi-res pics.
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/do...713/canon1.jpg
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/do...713/canon2.jpg

thanks
 

to jarrad and masahiro for that sneak peak, notice the integrated shoulderpad of course now im shaking in my boots because I use the Anton Bauers with mine and is there a place to mount the holder on the new shoulder pad....im also wondering how the viewfinder is going to be. I guess Im going to have a hard time falling asleep tonight :)

M