When using other Canon lenses with the XLH1 what is the crop factor?
 

It's something crazy like 7.2 for 4:3 and 8.8 for 16:9 ? Is this correct?

So in other words if I put a 35mm L series Canon lens on an H1 it would end up being:

35 X 7.2 = 252mm telephoto lens correct?

So what is the point ? Wildlife shooting I guess. Am I missing something?

What are the options for shooting wide angle with the H1? That is utilizing lenses other than the lens that comes with the camera.

Canon HD 6x Wide Angle Zoom
 

Your best bet for a quality wide angle is Canon's own 6x wide angle zoom.

From the Canon website:

Professional Camcorders - High Definition Camcorders and Lenses - Standard Definition Camcorders - Software - High Definition Camcorder - XL H1 - Canon USA Consumer Products

"The Canon HD Video Lens 6x XL 3.4-20.4mm L is made for the High Definition ENG, commercial, documentary and feature videographer who demands uncompromising optical quality. The 3.4 to 20.4mm wide-angle zoom lens provides users with an extensive range of focal lengths from 24.5 to 147mm (in 35mm photographic terms). Designed for Canon's XL lens mount system, it adds even more versatility and artistic range to Canon's XL HD camcorder, the XL H1."

Aloha,

Jeff

The 6x lens is great piece of glass. Still very tough to rack focus if you're using it for cinema applications.

But the fact that they built a wide-angle HD zoom lens that is sharp corner to corner with a reasonable amount of chromatic aberration for less than $3 grand is amazing!!!

I don't think you'd ever really want to use a wide lens for rack focusing, unless it is in some sort of macro function, i think that's just the nature of the lenses.

That being said the 6x lens is really really good, I like it a lot better then the 20x of course at about 1/3 the cost of the camera it may be a little cost prohibitive.

Back to the original post, I absolutely agree I don't really understand the point of the ef adapter in it's current setup. I've given up on Canon making a 35mm ef to xl adapter and start engineering my own, if it ever becomes more then just shakey out of focus glass I'll post the results here.

The EF adapter has a specific application, and that is super-extreme telephoto. It's a good match for wildlife videography, surveillance, and some types of sports -- such as surfing -- where the camera is located very far away from the action.

Really looking forward to your results.

really looking forward to having some results!

The Canon XL-Nikon adapter is also a good option to the EOS adapter if you happen to own any of the the superb line-up of Nikkor lenses.