Grainy Video
 

Since I have got my XL-2 I have noticed that what I am seeing through the viewfinder and what gets recorded is two diffent things, also much of my test footage has come out looking grainy. I record the same video with my little $400 handy Cam and it comes out looking less grainy and more clear, am I doing something wrong?

Is your gain on Auto? It could be that the gain is kicking in to preserve a better combination of shutter speed and aperture.

Try a well-lit scene with gain set to +3 or less, and manual shutter and aperture. Shouldn't be grainy!

Well, it could be a number of things.

I would first check your Gain setting, that's usually what will cause grain to appear.

Make sure the gain isn't set to automatic (A). Gain is used to compensate for low light shooting. If you are in a room or area with low light and the Gain is set to automatic it will automatically try to compensate and cause grain.

If you need a dark shot but want to keep the quality it is better to flood the room/area with light and use other settings to lower the brightness. That way you will end up with dark results. That's how I would achieve it anyway.

Do some tests. Play with your XL2. Even try out some bright footage in post and try to darken it.

I hope I helped!

Thanks I will give it a shot, I was upsetting after looking at the price tag for both cameras, I will try your suggestions as soon as I get home

I don't know what it looks like, but if you have a slightly older XL2, there is the "Film Grain" button. Make sure that is turned off. There should be an indicator in the viewfinder, though.

Set the camera to Manual and put the gain to 0, or -3 and judge exposure off a good monitor, or you can use an incedent meter. You can also use the zebras to help you judge exposure.

No sin in reading the manual with stuff like this, it's mandatory. As someone else mentioned, take the time to play with the camera and get to know it and the different functions.