well I managed to swap my xl2 for a new one... guess what, this one makes the same noise, My concusion is is that this faint clicking noise is normal part of focusing and should be nothing to worry about... it did not effect my footage, appart from the fect that when recording distant sounds it may be best to turn of autofocus. hope this helps.

20x Lense Clicking Noise. A Problem or Normal?
 

Hey everyone. Just upgraded XL1 user to XL2. Not sure if this normal but when I turn on the camera, the lenses makes a "click click" sound. Everything still works. ND filter. Zoom. AF. Everything. Should I be concerned?

Totally normal. Relax.

yea it's fine...

Here are the steps that every NEW XL2 owner goes through... myself included last October...

1. Open XL2 Box with great excitement.

2. Charge battery just long enough to run outside and film trees, or bumble bees for 5 minutes...

3. turn on camera and here horrid clicking sound...

4. post a thread here and call canon while freaking out...

I think these steps are actually in the manual too. Congratulations and Enjoy the camera!! I love mine and don't notice the clicking now.

Just Thought I'd expand a little on Matthew's steps......

5. Get footage into NLE for editing.

6. Freak out because footage doesn't look as good as expected.

7. Make another post about dissappointment with camera.

8. Do a little more reading in XL2 watchdog.

9. Figure out how to shoot full manual with custom settings.

10. Update previous post and state how pleased they are with the camera.

I think Canon should have put a label on the camera that reads:

"This is a professional DV camera, it will take some time to master"

Tony, the clicking noise is the optical image stabilizer engaging. If you look at the front of the lens when you power up the camera, you'll also see the front element wobbling in what appears to be an alarming way. This is completely normal.

Whew. What a relief... another thing is that.... the 16x lenses can zoom a lot faster than the 20x lenses, this is also normal right? 20x is longer therefore slower to zoom?

Actually you can adjust the speed of the zoom by turning the small wheel just in front of the rocker bar. Bob

Yea. I did that... it's still not as fast as the 16x. I guess its just how the 20x lenses are. Thanks for the advice.

clicking noise
 

This was a $180.00 lesson for me. The people at canon said that the lens was not ment to do this. Wish I had come here first.

Yes, one more time for the record:

Clicking in the 20x lens on power-up is normal, it's just the OIS calibrating itself.

There are basically 4 steps man..

1.) Assemble XL2
2.) Read manual, don't understand manual so you quit reading it.
3.) Turn on the XL2, start crying when you hear the lens clicking and sounds like its melting down.
3.) Repeat.

Back Focus issue's - 20x lens. Cost??
 

I know it's been discussed many times on here (I DID search and found many topics relating to it), so sorry for the redundancy...

Back focus went out of align on me roughly two weeks ago on the standard 20x zoom lens.

I found all sorts of threads related to it, but no one actually said how much canon charged for the fix.

Anyone?


The reason I ask is because the last time I dealt with the service center, it was a nighmare. They tried to charge me over $400 for the small repair needed (main fuse), and after consulting others on this site that had the same problem, I found they were only charged $200. I told that to the repair guy on the phone, and he immediately "revised" his quote to $200.

Cheers,

-brown

And by the way, this same back-focus issue is currently plaguing 3 other cameras I shoot on right now. My XL2, and two of my other shooters' XL1s's with the 16x.

20x lens too sensitive
 

Hello,

I have been very happy with my XL2 camera. I, however, have a question on the lens sensitivity.

I was filming within an arena whre the light are, unfortunately, not all the same. It easy to see with our own eyes. When you look at the light you will see that they are either red or white. The heat generated by those lights are then different and are visible by the lens.

For exemple, in filming a subject without moving/panning the camera I will be able to see in wave a redish and a white color on the camera.

A friend of mine is filming the same scene with it's Panasonic DVX100 and his lense will not show the samething.

Is there a setting on the camera that I could use to eliminate this. I like the fact that the lens is very sensitive but this way to sensitive. My clients do not appreciate this.

Thanks for helping !

Regards !

Daniel