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Canon XL and GL Series DV Camcorders
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Old April 20th, 2005, 02:13 PM   #1
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XL2 Lens "Wiggles" ????

An open question to all. I am literally waiting for what will most likely be the 3rd XL2 Kit from Canon. They were purchased new and my vendor has been great. The first one I bought this month still had the film grain and some other issues which were to be fixed by the one I received today. When I got the second one, I immediately noticed that the film grain button was gone. Cleaned the heads first and mounted the lens. Then, I find that the lens wiggles! Yep, put up my other two XL lenses and the new body mount lets the lens wiggle. Has anyone else seen or heard of this problem? I sure I'd have focus/lens issues but it looks OK through the viewfinder. It's just very disheartening when I look at my XL1 and what's it's been through to see such a great XL2 come in dragging a foot each time.
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Old April 20th, 2005, 02:20 PM   #2
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The mount shouldn't be loose. Very sorry that you seem to be having poor luck, but if there are defects, all I can say is return it and try again.
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Old April 20th, 2005, 05:11 PM   #3
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My XL2 also has lens wiggle, about 1-2mm. This does affect the picture during operation. Is this a feature or fault and should I too take it back to the reseller or canon service centre ? Also, mine has the film grain button. Could this be a "feature" of the first batches ?

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Old April 20th, 2005, 05:32 PM   #4
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No your lense should not move at all... that is definitely a defect, and Yeah the first batch had the film grain.
Tom are you saying you had to return the first camera b/c the film grain button was on there? I don't understand that. I have a camera with the film grain and there's nothing wrong with it but a useless button. If it makes you feel bette I had to send my first camera back also.
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Old April 20th, 2005, 07:13 PM   #5
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Just an update...

My vendor has been great...calling several times today even from NAB and promising that I'll have a new camera without fault by my next shoot Fri. (Makes me very nervous since I haven't had one that has worked yet!)

With that said, I'm still very surprised with everything. I've had a demo from my vendor and two new cameras and still nothing works for shoots I'd deliver to any of my clients. I WILL report back Friday if not earlier. I will say that I was told a Canon person would call me today from NAB before the end of day and haven't heard anything as of yet.

If you have a loose or "wiggly" lens I'd send it back ASAP. That just isn't right. If you bought your camera after January and it has a film grain button, I would talk to my vendor and see about that as well.

I've been an active shooter of Canon since 1999. I've even considered moving 50K of still equipment over to Canon from the success I've seen with DV. All I can say is know who you are buying from and let Canon demostrate the same level of service were are put up to each day with every client.

The test footage I've created was really impressive and beyond what I've been able to do in SD with the Sony FX1 or JVC5000. So, I hope Canon continues and delivers for my shoot.

Hang in there...I am...I have no choice at this point other than renting a DVCPRO HD rig!
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Old April 20th, 2005, 07:17 PM   #6
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Reply to Kevin...

Kevin-

My understanding is that if that button's on there it works. If your's doesn't, now we can identify three versions: one's that do, one's that are on there and don't and one's missing the button! So let's go to XL2a,b,c. I've now seen all three!

I know you'll see some cool stuff if I could only get something that works. Heck, I was still using an original XL1 through February! I'll put some of that Frame mode imaging up to what I've seen a lot of people do.

Touch base sometime...curious as to what you shoot.

Tom
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Old April 20th, 2005, 07:30 PM   #7
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Your camera lens mount should not demonstrate ANY wiggle. Whether we notice it in the operation, this would be a fault that should either be corrected with warranty or via Canon. As for film grain, check the other forums as this has been covered. AS an aside, it fixed several moire issues and would save you from having to use a .5 soft Tiffen. Since I like the Tiffen and own a nice matte box, I opted for that vs. electronic simulation eventhough it was VERY tempting for a moment.
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Old April 21st, 2005, 02:43 PM   #8
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No wiggly lens. Wiggle, bad. Or you can use it for slant focus effects.

Sorry that you're having so many problems. Is the film grain button now for color bars only? That would be nice. I have the stupid film grain, which is totally useless. If I want film grain, I'll shoot film. But usually I don't want grain.
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Old April 22nd, 2005, 08:28 AM   #9
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Tom- Hi there neighbor! I didn't even notice you were in Orlando. I just moved from there. Unfortunately I haven't gotten to shoot as much as I with my Xl2 as I like. I have been directing/producing/editing a kids DVD series for the last year and we are FINALLY wrapping it up this month. We actually shot some of our stuff in Orlando at the Full Sail soundstage. We hired a DP. I was just too overwhelmed to shoot and direct... I am a newbie after all. We (the very small company I work for) have also shot a dog training instructional, again hired a DP, due to be released in July. And we have something really big coming up which I can't say much about other than it is pretty big. I should get to shoot on that one. There will be some event type circumstances which we will probably hire a couple of guys so if you are interested send me your resume or if you have a site, let me check it out. We will be posting some of the stuff we shot on our web sites in the very near future. They are still under construction. Gotta Run!
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Old April 22nd, 2005, 11:56 AM   #10
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I just noticed that my lens wiggles too.
I wonder if it might explain some of the problems I have been posting on the "Edge Ghosting" thread.

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Old April 22nd, 2005, 12:33 PM   #11
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Define "Wiggle" for me. My 16x manual lens, locks past the 'click' and there's a tiny bit of play beyond that... are we talking about a bit more 'rotation' possible after 'locking' or are we talking about, grab the end of the lens, and 'wiggle' it left to right??Like the tolerance between the threads is too loose?
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Old April 23rd, 2005, 06:28 PM   #12
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Wiggle Update

As promised the update from the camera received Friday...

Defining wiggly...the lens tilts up and down or side to side. It's not a tightening issue. The lens locks into place fine but wiggles. It may be a cause of your ghosting???

The "new" camera shows up Friday with the film grain button and was reported to me that it was directly sent to my vendor from Canon to fix my wiggly lens problem. Go figure. I don't see how it's new if it has a film grain button. The "wiggly" lens mount didn't have a film grain button but this does. That's the bad news and I feel that I should definately have a NEW camera. I've had one fellow professional who just bought one new and it didn't have a film button.

However, this button cam shoots great and delivered so far on two of my current five days of shooting.
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Old April 24th, 2005, 02:26 AM   #13
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Defining "wiggly"

For my camera, wiggly is this:
Put the lens on, clicks into place. If you grab the end of the lens, there is about 1-2mm of play, rotationally, not up and down. I would have thought that once the lens clicks in, it should be rock solid. So is this a real problem or not ?

Also, another issue I have is with the viewfinder in that in 16:9 mode (modt noticable), there are dark patches on the EVF writing in certain areas. Also, with the eyepiece up, there is a bit of flicker, is it normal ? (it's not much of an issue).

Thanks
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Old April 25th, 2005, 08:19 AM   #14
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Mine wiggles when I grab it firmly with my left hand and rotate perpendicularly.

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