XL2 Arrived.....WOW!
 

I received my XL2 friday....I am blown away.

I also own 3 Betacams, Sony PD150 and a Sony DVW-790WS Digital Betacam.

My first tests with the XL2 have blown me away. I will post a review shortly.

FYI-
I ordered from www.ebuyer.com.
$4450 + $35 overnight shipping. Ordered on Thursday Sept 2nd and received on Friday the 3rd.
All the other sites were around $4999.

What a deal! I'll have to check that out!

Looking forward to a review.

cheers,

fyi-
when I ordered the site said "7 days"...I called CS and was told it was in stock and to place order online (they wouldnt take a phone order). I received it by 10am the next day.

Hi Greg,

Am very interested in what your thoughts are about the camera.

Please feel free to share some footage with us and at least tell us how the XL2 stands up to your higher-end and higher-priced Beta and DIgi-Beta cams as far as giving you the output you need in your work.

Am very much looking forward to hearing back from you.

Best regards,

- don

Greg,

i would like to hear your comments about the XL2's dynamic range.

thanks

I don't want to gush about this thing, but my first and now third day impressions are right there with Greg's. I shot a political spot with the Mini35 and XL1s the day before the XL2 arrived (don't ask who <g>). It was a real image piece intercut with historical footage. All the candidate footage was shot pondside at golden hour with some nice supporting lighting.

I haven't had time to do an A/B with both setups yet, but at sunset today I grabbed the XL2 and shot Kris sit at the same location (the spot was shot at our farm for aesthetics and everything was still in place from the shoot).

Anyway, wow again. No lighting this time...just the exact same location and props and using the setting sun for a kicker, about a 1 minute setup versus a 4 hour setup with a crew. I'd use this footage in a heartbeat.

And for the record, the budget for these things cetrtainly allow for film.

So Jim, my question to you is: if the budget allows for film, why not shoot film? Are the savings being passed on to you, I hope?

<<So Jim, my question to you is: if the budget allows for film, why not shoot film? Are the savings being passed on to you, I hope?>>

Yeah Charles...because we're the creative shop that does the concept and writing as well as the production, pretty much everything we do is on a project basis. So if I can deliver the quality without the expense and more extensive nature of film production, then it's a plus all around.

I also like working small and find more and more clients like it too. I recently got an opportunity to do some I Love NY stuff for that reason and because of the "looser" nature compared to what they regularly shoot. A good deal of the comment was about the time and extent of the 35mm work they regularly get.

We're more the guerilla style of production.

Greg,

I could not find the XL 2 at www.ebuyer.com.

I couldn't either at first. But do a search for Canon xl2 and you'll get it.

I had trouble finding the XL2 on the site, however if you look on the left hand side down the bottom you can be either logged in as ENGLAND/USA choose usa and go http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdW N0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=150042 or just do a canon XL2 search and it is indeed that price which i find as a shock :O

I found that price at Ebuyer.com a shock as well. Almost made me wonder if it was one of those scam sites. But the guy said he got his camera and all the accessories, so I guess it is for real.

I found another online dealer that was selling the XL2 for $4199.00 So I called them, and of course it was a New York dealer with no reseller rating. The sales guy listed all the standard accessories and with USA warranty and that he had two in stock. Probably a scam..that price is just too low.

Dealer link: http://www.1-877camcorder.com/xl2.html

I found it. My original search had a space between the "L" and the "2".

Please confine the discussion to the merits of the camera and refrain from discussing dealers who are not our sponsors. Thanks for your consideration in this matter.

Greg,

how is the dynamic range of the XL2 compared to other 1/3 CCDs camcorders (DVX100 PD170) ?

thanks

Initial impression:

NOTE: This is my first XL camera, so some of my comments may be obvious to you veteran XL users. I primarily shoot with a Sony DVW-790WS Digital Betacam. I also own a PD-150 so most of my comparisons will be to this model.

The camera has a solid feel, very professional looking (unlike the Sony) it is also very heavy. The Canon L lens included is awesome. Overall the camera has decent balance, although the shoulder pad is not located in an ideal spot and cant be adjusted. When you fist grip the camera and pick it up, there is no doubt you are holding a professional camera, very nice feel.

I love all the external buttons to turn on/off the most common features- color bars, 16X9, Frame Rate, Gain, white Balance, etc. Most of this is buried in menus on the PD150 and a pain to access.

The body has a very nice soft matte black finish and the handle grip is a very nice touch. The grip has a rounded insert for your index finger which places your thumb right above the secondary zoom control and start/stop button.

The viefinder looks very nice, but is is sometimes difficult to focus. The vf mount is very sturdy and adjusts both left/right and in/out. It is very beefy looking which adds to the professional look of the camera.

Overall the camera looks very similar to the Arricam Lite.

I have only shot a few minutes of footage so far. I am shooting with the following settings:

16X9
24P
-3db gain
CP1 w/ Cine Colors selected.
Manual control (M)

I have not adjusted any of the other parameters yet, I'll report those later, although the menu settings seem to have a very limited range. I am used to an extreme range of Gamma settings on the DBeta.

Initial observations:

WOW ! This thing looks great for an under $5,000 camera. Compared to my PD150 the difference is night and day. The footage will even cut together with footage shot on the Digital Betacam. With the PD150 when we edited in footage it was obvious it was DVCAM material, there was no hidding that fact.

Overall the image is a bit soft though, almost looks like a pro mist filter is being used. I also noticed a bit of banding in some situations.
The dynamic range is much better than the PD150, but not even close to the DBeta.
I have only used a XL1 on a few occasions, and the XL2 is more like an XL5 in comparison....huge improvement!!!

I'll add more later as I start experimenting with the Gamma settings.

What situations caused the banding problems? Was it a consistent problem or an occasional thing?