Not just a nasty rumor. It did hit me in the head! Overall I found the whole rig was just too much for the back of the camera for me. I use a couple of Power2000 6000mah batteries and each one lasts about 4+ hours easily.....coupled with the BP930? that came with it I am happy as a lark.

There is something to be said about a clean setup without too many extras all over your rig. It allows for a more streamlined approach to shooting.

Re: Howdy
 

Hi Martin

It arrived this morning (sadly I'm at work), so I'll give it a whirl tonight.

Interesting, Marty. Mine comes nowhere close to my head. Is it posible Canon did a re-design on the brackets of later model XL2's? If they got rid of the "film grain" button and effect and fixed that firewire problem they had with the earlier models anything is possible.
I'd say the BP-945 is at least 4-5 inches from my head.
Hmmm...maybe I just have a tiny -ss head.
Oh, well.

I bought an XL2 about a week and a half ago, I guess...brand new...still has the film grain button. So what's up with that?

Nick, then you should have an old model, right?
Because indeed, Canon said they would bring out new models without the grain button.
Not that it's a big difference, though.

I believe they discontinued that feature very early this year. It sounds like the store you bought it from is trying to clear out its older models first.
I think it's definitely grounds (if it matters to you) to take it back and ask for a newer style unit.
I don't want to alarm you but only suggest this because some (not all) of the earlier XL2s had some kind of a master fuse problem when plugging/unplugging the firewire cable or connecting certain accessories with the camera powered up.
The cases were fairly isolated, but...you never know.

FWIW, my XL2 was among the very first batch sold in the US upon release of the camera. Works great...although I've never used the film grain button so can't verify that feature! ;-)

True, manufacturers always reserve the right to update their products as they see fit, but I have heard nothing of any other design changes to the XL2. A rare few people have reported fuse problems, either with the camera body or a lens, but not enough that it was clear to us out in end-user-land whether or not it was a design problem or simply misfortune. Has there been an announcement or other objective indication that Canon has changed anything other than removing the film grain button? If so, please advise us, because based on what I know at present, I wouldn't care whether I got a camera with or without a film grain button.

I purchased mine in January from B&H. It seems they run through their stock pretty quickly on choice items. I believe it was not long after the announcement that they were discontinuing the 'film grain'. Mine did not have the feature, so it was one of the updated models. To note that your brand new item still includes the discontinued feature leads me to believe that it sat in that vendor's stock room for at least 8 months.
-Jon

Yeah, the film grain button isn't the issue at all. It would just concern me a little to think it could potentially have the firewire problem. But as stated in my previous post and echoed by yourself. It was a seemingly isolated incident that has seemed to go away.
I think there's something interesting, though, about Nick recently buying an incarnation of the XL2 that hasn't been manufactured in a very long time. Makes me wonder if Canon had problems moving the XL2 because of the very high sales of the DVX100A? Sad, actually, as I much prefer my XL2. It is indeed a sweet instrument.

Well, I bought my XL2 through Best Buy, and I highly doubt they sell more than one a month out of any particular warehouse location. Luckily, I bought the service plan, so they can't screw me too bad. If the master fuse blows, it's covered under surge/manufacturer defect (I know Best buy's service plan inside and out because I sold computers there for a year) in their service contract. I'll make them give me a new one. So easy for them because they either get to tag Canon with the bill, or their insurance picks it up. I haven't even put a tape in the damn thing yet (let alone a firewire cable) because I'm waiting on some computer parts. Hopefull, the IEEE1394 won't be faulty.

Congrats on the new purchase, Nick. I'm sure you'll be very satisfied with the camera. Once you start getting into the menu system and tweaking stuff you're going to start seeing some nice looking images coming out of this camera.
Best of luck.

Thanks. Hopefully I'll have some stuff online to show you guys before the end of next month.