this is scary, Xl2s blowing up fuses and nobody has a clue why! Maybe connecting and disconnecting firewire without turning the XL2 is the culprit but i never had that problem with other cameras. It is even more dissapointing when you consider that the XL2 is a high end miniDV camera. <ost low end cams don't have this problem. I think canon has to be informed about this problem. If they claim that not turning your camera off when connecting/disconnecting firewire is a user abuse, i think that's 100% BS! IOt spells weak electronic design as far as i am concerned. I do hope my unit will be more cooperative.

Brian has calmed me down quite a bit, and I am returning the camera today. Brian does feel that it is related to the DV cable, and that plugging and unplugging in a "hot" situation is not recommended.

Although I've had the camera just over a month, I have been doing this kind of "hot" switch in the past with no affect. In fact, Page 101 of the user manual titled:

Connecting to a Computer Using a DV (IEEE1394) Cable

States:

"If the computer freezes while you have connected the camcorder, disconnect and reconnect the DV cable. If the problem persists disconnect the interface cable, turn off camcorder and computer, turn camcorder and computer back on and reconnect them."

According to this, it looks like Canon is OK with the hot switch as well...Me, I'm going to turn my camera off in the future (when it comes back) whenever plugging something to it.

It's probably common knowledge around here, but I would get real familiar with the wiring schematics of wherever your editing station is located. Connecting two units together that are drawing bi-polar AC current can result in some wicked damage!

You sure? I use a shotgun mic that is powered through phantom power and even though my camera appears to be fine right now, I do remember that soundman on my last gig that kept pluging and unpluging the XLR cable without turning the phantom power off when I had my back turned (even though I told him not to do so). I'm afraid now. If this issue is power related, pluging and unpluging a powered XLR cable carelessly might have weaken the master fuse. Hope not, or that soundman will be hearing it from me! ;)

The only way to use AC on the Xlxx is through the AC Converter/Power Supply, which isolates the camera from AC, so that wouldn't be it.

And if anyone dares to tell us that plugging a firewire cable into the camera will cause a fuse to blow... and that is OK... They are crazy to think that anyone would buy that.

This is a serious problem, and Canon has other problems as well such as a peculiar tape transport/recording system that can only semi reliably share tapes with other Canon cameras, bending lines recorded to tape due to some focusing or sharpness aberration, etc.

I liked Canons because I always had Canon and Nikon 35mm cameras and I liked the lenses and camera quality. I can get some great images from the XL series and I like the odd look of the camera. For a small Prosumer camera, it looks more professional than the smaller competitive cameras. For my business, looks do count. I use hi-end cameras on some shoots, but if the budget is tight, I go MiniDV, but the client still expects Hollywood. The look of the XL is slightly deceptive and the camera looks more expensive than it is.

But all of that is mute if the camera fails in the field!

I have had record inconsistencies, straight lines of buildings come out bent horribly and other annoyances. I think Canon needs to fix our rigs.

I think that my next inexpensive camera will by DVCAM and I will not buy another Canon product in the future unless Canon addresses these issues.

After this next shoot, I am going to put these cameras up for sale :-(

It's a prosumer camera and it's MiniDV. It is what it is.

Like I said before if this was a serious problem, then we would have heard from other people by now, this is a pretty popular forum for XL2 people. You are number three.

Since getting my camera back from Canon in March, I've shot a bunch of jobs with my camera. I've put it on standby and plugged & unplugged the audio and video ports with no ill effects so far. I do feel a twinge of anxiety sometimes, but I keep shooting.

Yes it is troubling and frustrating, but as I said: it is what it is. Please let me know if you are selling your XL2, I'd like to have a back up.

Hi Mark,

Yes, I agree, it is what it is. It is a low priced camera, but I expect more from a company like Canon. I am a consumer advocate, so a critical eye is in my nature.

I think that I will sell the XL1 and the XL2 as a package after this shoot and replace them with a Sony DVCAM unit. I'll have to see how I feel after this shoot.

The XL2 hasn't even got 5 hours on it, and the XL1 may have 20 hours. I am a "clean and care fanatic", so the XL1 is like new as well.

What do you think they are worth??

Thanks for the reply !

Not sure about the XL1, but the XL2 being brand new, should fetch a decent price. You may want to separate the cameras, though.

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the reply.

I'll share my thoughts after this shoot :-)

She's Back
 

My repaired XL2 came back today. Thanks very much to Canon who expedited the repair. When I first called in, I talked to a receiving tech who told me they very busy, and maybe I should call back in a couple days. Lead time, she says, is usually a couple weeks!!!

They called me however the next day, and this technician understood the sense of urgency, and asked me a couple questions about my setup, and hinted that they'd make repair a priority.

That they did...I got the Camera back in my hands less than 36 hours after his call.

That won't do anything to the camera, not sure about the mic. The soundman should know enough not to f with your camera with out your say so and supervision. He'd have a fit if you messed with his gear.

The phantom power on/off during unplugging is a good question for the audio forum. Do a search first, this may have already been addressed.

Bill, glad to hear that it was quick. Canon does very well by their customers. No problems since I got mine back from their NJ service center. I've run 26 hours of tape through it since and she's rollin' like a champ.

I just recently made a little sheet where I keep track of the maintenenace and usage on the camera. This way I can keep an accurate count of hours between head cleanings and under what conditions the camera was used, etc. Okay, so I'm a little meticulous.

Bent 1394 Pin
 

Hey all, I found out the cause of my camera's failure, and thought I'd pass it along, for your info.

I got my XL2 back last Thursday, shot some video and went to transfer it to my computer. Sure enuf, just like the previous week, it was not loading video from the camera to the computer...This time, though, I notice the computer does not even recognize the camera...So I switch the camera to different 1394 ports on the computer, (all the while, putting her in standby and being real careful...) and still nothing...Pretty soon, I have that nasty smell of death (Fried electornics), and a camera that won't power up.

She's gone again.

This time, tho, I believe I have locallized it, and I asked Canon to specifically look at the 1394 port and test it on the computer. They confirmed the problem rested with the 1394 in the camera, saying I had a "bent pin" there, which has been fixed. I don't know how the "bent pin" happened, but my existing 1394 cable is finding a rapid route to the trash can, and a new one will take its place.

This problem is easily identifiable, and doesn't need to fry your camera before you know it's there. When attaching the 1394 to the Camera, your computer should immediately recognize it...Generally the computer will "ding" at you, then pop up a notification balloon on the computer that a dv device has been found. My computer didn't do that, and didn't see the camera, and I knew it didn't see it...I just kept fiddling around with it...

If you don't get that "connected" message, unplug your camera, and run like hell. My problem was, I kept the XL2 connected thru the firewire (probably 3-4 minutes), it was running just fine, except the computer didn't see it. Eventually, I guess, a power surge made it's way into the camera and zapped it.

Hello,

I am happy that you may have found the problem, sad that it took this anguish to do so.

I am skeptical though, sorry about that, but I didn't think that the signal that passes through the firewire port was powerful enough to... well, cause a fire :-o

I just don't think that you would get enough current through there to cause a short. I hope for your sake that you are right and never have this problem again !!

Yes, if you don't get recognition immediately through your firewire port, disengage, something is not right.

Good luck and please keep us informed :-)

Sorry you had to suffer the same fate twice, but glad that you were able to localize the problem.

All the best, -M

Kind of wishing the master fuse was user replaceble, or resetable.

Now that's a "FIRE WIRE"

What... no applause?

Sigh

I don't know if you are aware of this or not but in the mid nineties after Sony had success with the VX1000 and was starting to market the less expensive "home" DV cameras to the public, they did a survey of the target market and actually found that most people were afraid of the term "firewire" as it made them think it might catch something on fire. Seriously. Therefore Sony rebranded the firewire feature of these cameras with the term ilink in an effort to make the consumer feel more safe using it.

Takes A Bow...

Seriously, I fried my 3x lens by taking it off with the camera still on (oops, that little red light is far too small, and I am far too forgetful at times). Eitherway, crossing Contacts and Bent pins are the bain of my existence.

When a Camera dies, Ressurect it.
 

My XL2 has done a two scary things. 4 horizontal bars across the screen, a sudden loss of all vital signs. But in the end it was all solved by removing the battery and taking out the small internal battery, forcing the camera into a hard reboot. You will lose all stored settings in doing this but it is better than the alternative.

Matthew Cockrell

another data point
 

Sorry to revive a rather dead thread, but I figured I'd register my experience for the potential benefit of others. I got my XL2 last November and have used it sparingly since them. I'd say I may have shot a total of 10-15 hours with it. Imagine my surprise in August when I was halfway across country shooting with it and midway through the day it just died. There was no warning whatsoever. It died halfway through our day - I had about 30 minutes worth of footage on the tape at the point it crapped out (I had shut it off during lunch, and after lunch it wouldn't power up at all). So obviously we couldn't get our tape out before returning it to the Canon service center. They turned it around pretty quickly, but when I got the camera back, the first thing I did was check the footage on the tape and unfortunately it was useless - nothing but a stuttering mess.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that now there were two new problems with the camera too. There was something wrong with the viewfinder connector, so there was no image on the EVF. I could wiggle the connector a little bit and sometimes it would "stick" and the EVF would stay on, but it made the camera nearly useless. Unfortunately, I was days away from another crosscountry trip and I absolutely had to have the camera, so I decided to live with it and then send it back upon my return. One other weird problem was some sort of "growth" that appeared inside the optics of the the eyepiece. At first I thought maybe it was something on the outside of one of the lens elements, but it was definitel internal. It almost looked like mold or something growing between the lens elements. Pretty disappointing. I store the camera in my office in a storm case and there's a large dessicant pack inside the case, so I don't think it's seen any excessive moisture. I sent it back in and got it back about a week later and all seems well for now. I'm leaving on Thursday for Japan and I'm praying that nothing goes wrong with it because there's nothing worse than lugging all that gear through airport security and checked baggage and then have it fail on you

Wrangler Note
 

Three posts from the past 18 hours have been removed (one of them mine) as a meta-discussion was beginning to emerge. Open, honest discussion is welcome, but "FUD" -- Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt" and side-bar discussions (meta-discussions) are not.

Please keep the discussion on the topic of the thread, in the realm of reasonable substantiation, and friendly. The thread is hereby returned to those who have problems to report about their XL2.