XL-2 on the way: purchased from EVS
 

EVS / EVSOnline.com was awesome. I had called B&H with questions I couldn't find answers to at the website, but the fellow at B&H didn't have time to talk with me and kept telling me to check the website. I had read another posting on this site that EVS was also good, and more personable, so I gave them a call. Their list prices were a little higher than B&H, but I ended up saving money as the person I talked with took plenty of time with me (I'm a complete newb) and I found I didn't need some of the things on my list after all.

I should get delivery tomorrow. I also ordered the Ultimate Guide DVD.

I sure appreciate all the info you all put here.

Trish

Trish,

I am also a B & H customer and it is always good to hear of another retailer of note!!

B& H
 

B and H are so concerned about making sure you get the camera, ie address varification that I almost couldn't buy one. We do not even have names on our streets. I had to have it sent to the school where I work and have it verified!! At that the nationally listed address was 25 years wrong. The curier knows the town (400 strong) and brought it to me. for as competitive as this business is they give outstanding service. I am almost afraid to try anything else, especially with farely large amounts of money involved.

One question:

What lito extended life battery is good for this unit?

Thanks in advance!

I ordered mine yesterday morning from B&H Photo with FedEx priority shipping. It arrived at 10am this morning and I won't get home until 6pm :-( This is the longest day of my life......

Allan

I feel for you guys, the waiting is terrible! I got my XL2 from B&H and it arrived last Monday. I was extremely excited until I found that the camera case was broken near the iris control. The metal of the case was bent open and over the iris control wheel. Since the box was undamaged, I have to assume that it slipped through QA at Canon. Then I was very unhappy... Fortunately, B&H cross shipped a replacement which I got last Friday.

Since this is my first "REAL" video camera, I've been both stunned by the picture quality and overwhelmed by the range of things I can adjust. I now understand why people are always after a setting for this or that. I just don't really know where to begin!

The first few days playing with the camera convinced me of the need for a tripod, since my best shots of my daughters soccer induced motion sickness after extended watching... and the need for the 3x lens for more close and personal work. Both arrived today!

Now I just need to take a long, long vacation to play with it all.

Well, I made it home and luckily, the camera is in great shape. Glad you got yours sorted out Brendon. B&H seem to be a very, very, very reputable company. I'm really pleased with them.

In the short time between ordering it and receiving it, lots of ideas of using it were running through my brain. Now I've got hold of it, like Brendon, I'm wondering where to begin :-)

I have a few days off work and going to laguna Seca this weekend for the Red Bull Motorcycle racing. I was planning on taking the camera, but have decided to opt out taking it this year until I get more familiar with it. There's nothing worse spending a lot of time taking footage only to get home and found you really messed things up because of lack of experience with it.

Ah well, time to go practice.

Enjoy.

Regards,
Allan

Hi Brendon, welcome to DVINFO. You're going to enjoy the XL2 alot. And good for you to recognize how vital a good, steady set of sticks are for high quality camera work.

On a related note, I worked many years in the semiconductor industry here in Dallas as an equipment technician. Why am I telling you this? Because I have actually been to Fremont for two weeks to train at Lam Research on Warm Springs Blvd. Ah, the memories of some nightspots around San Jose and Palo Alto (which shall remain nameless to protect the innocent).

-gb-

Hi Greg and thanks for the welcome. I couldn't hold long shots with significant zoom without noticible wobble. I'll try the 3x lens tomorrow, but expect that would work much better for hand-held shots. I assume more practice will also help, my still camera experience doesn't seem to help.

Glad to hear SOMEBODY has heard of Fremont! It is a rather large, but unexciting city! That may change if we get the Oakland A's in Fremont.

Oh, and DV INFO is the best source of info I've found on the subject.

Pelican 1620 Surprise
 

[QUOTE=David Calvin]What I like about the canon case is that it fits the xl2 perfectly and has configurable partitions underneath the camera layer. QUOTE]

I was a little surprised when I received my Pelican 1620 to find it has "pick" foam slabs -- so I have to configure the space to fit my camera and accessories by picking out foam blocks, even to the point of cutting some blocks in half and gluing them back in. Or else look into the prices of an insert already configured for the XL2.

Does anyone have a little "map" of the best config for the foam?

The Ikan looked very cheap and it was cheap. I had a chance to use it once and once is enough for me. The monitor hardly stayed while panning the camcorder. It was always loose no matter how tight I hooked it. The ratio was only 150:1 and it was not possible to tell how sharp the subject was when zoomed in at 20X. The picture was very blurry = unhappy.

The Azden came in defective so I wasn't able to tell how good it was. It just never work. But, based on the built quality, it looked very cheap.

I retuned both Ikan and Azden for SENNHEISER EW112P-G2, SENNHEISER EW100ENG-G2, Sennheiser MD46 and Canon CH-910. SENNHEISER is excellent in sound and built quality. You get what you pay for. I'm happy now...