Varizoom
 

Get the Verizoom 4" monitor, it works great. But the mount is sloppy, I have it modified so it will not move. Then have a short rca cord to plug into the back of the camera. The battery is separate.

No, I was eyeing the PL adapter, friend is using one but with a angeniuex zoom. I would like to move to fixed lenses. Noticed a few lenses on ebay and a few with a couple of equipment houses. Looking to buy soon. What I am really looking for is what are the most common primes for the xl1s in this configuration. Thanks


Cheers,

Dick Steele

three lines when shootimg a bright spot
 

I tried to post something about it before, but it seems like nobody of the ones who answered me really got it. I'll try to be more clear this time.

When shooting at a bright spot -like the sun- with my XL1s a white vertical line appears going all the way across the image. that's an issue with every digital camera and we all know that.

But how come that -unlike any other camera- when that same bright spot is on the upper limit of the shot, the line separates in three different lines in the primary additive colors (red green and blue)?

the brighter the light the funkier the effect. if shooting at the sun i even got some green or magenta halos in certain positions.

It's not only with my camera. just today I tried on another xl1s and it had the same problem. I also tried this with different lenses.

Please spare me from telling me that I would ruin the camera if shooting at the sun. I'm not such a novice and I know that at f16 with ND filter on nothing will ever happen to the CCD (unless shooting for a very long time).

The problem can be solved with a suitable hood. in fact the problem occurs outside the television visible area. But with all the money we paid for that camera -an amazing camera don't get me wrong - I think this kind of things shouldn't happen.

well.. if anyboby has a good hint or knows something more about it... just let everybody know.

The issue you describe is called "vertical smear."

It is a problem that camera engineers are always trying
to reduce or eliminate. The newer cameras do better,
but . . . they haven't licked it yet afaik.

Thank you Jacques,
at least I know how to call it now.
I'm just wondering... couldn't they just have this defect to appear when the light is on the bottom of the image instead? considering that the sun is usually in the sky... once I was considering shooting head over feet...

wide angle lenses
 

I bought a new XL1S and a screw-on .7 wide lens to go with it. The lens only gives me a slightly wider field than the original zoom lens that came with the camera. I exchanged it for a .4 wide angle and it gives me a much wider shot, but I can't zoom through it. It goes out of focus and I can't focus it either in automatic or manual. Can anyone educate me on what wide angle lens I need that gives me a significantly wider field and will allow me to zoom through it as well?

Canon makes a 3x wide angle lens that works well... I shoot with it a lot. It gives you a fair bit of zoom, but of course not nearly as much as the stock 16x. The wide is pretty darned wide tho...

The pop up on EBay pretty frequently in the $800-$1000 range...

Good luck.

Got the lens back from Canon yesterday, and spoke to a rep today. They replaced a fuse, and the noise dissapeared. He stressed again, that there are no know compatibility issues between the XL1 and the Manual 16x lens.

XL1S and firewire...
 

okay I just saw a company that has a new firewire harddrive set up to capture video through a XL1S. it's called focusinfo.com.
Now my question is: it appears that the live footage gets recorded directly to the firewire harddrive, then they offer various geegaws as a play back system to play down the footage once it's on the harddrive, So, is it possible to forgo this whole concept and connect a firewire drive to the fire wire port on the side of the camera and just shoot and record straight to the drive without having to use this companies additional equipment?

Pelican 1650 case for XL1s
 

I remember being involved in some threads here, as well as looking for info here about Pelican case for my XL1s and if it would be adequate for my needs. SO I thought that I would post my findings so that it may benefit others wanting protection for the XL1s.

The case I got is the Pelican 1650, the second from largest. The specs can be seen on the Pelican website. I has wheels and a pull out handle to pull it, that is also locked. There is 6 clamps on the case that are tighter than a ducks ass. The valve is now automatic so no need to worry about that. It has the "pick and pluck" foam in two layers on the 1650.

So what can it hold? Well I drew cardboard templates for my gear to position them all around to get the best position for the maximum space usage. So I have fitted nicely in the case the following, I will list all items as they appear in the case so you know whats split or unscrewed, etc to be fitted into the case the best way:

- Canon XL1s body
- 16x Auto (standard) Lens
- standard lens hood
- Standard eyepiece / Mic holder
- MA-200 shoulder mount/4 XLR adapter
- Electrical Mains unit and plug.
- XL1s standard Microphone
- Audiotechnica AT635b mic
- Sennheiser MKE300 mic, along with Rycote windjammer.
- 2 x Tiffen circular 72mm filters
- 2 x Large XL1 batteries
- Mic hotshoe mount
- 0.5m XLR mic cable
- Sony PC100 camcorder
- 2 x Sony M batteries
- Sony PC100 electric mains unit
- Sony High Quality Wideangle adapter
- 6 x MiniDV tapes
- RCA/Composite cable
- Sony RCA/Composite cable
- few AA batteries

I'm sure I missed off something, anyway there is still a little room left to put in some things else, like filters or perhaps my lens adapter for XL1s when I get round to getting money for one, or something else.

So as you can see its a great case to carry around a small arsenal of XL1 gear. The cases is dead tough as can be expected.

My only complaint is that there are only 2 wheels...I wish there were 4...then I could have the skateboarding version of a tank! It would look really good skating from your car to the the scene location on top of a rocksolid case or a bit downhill tobogan for those countyside shots.

As you can tell I'm chuffed to bits over my new case...or as americans would put it...Its awesome!!

I would love to see some pics.

my Digi Cam is out on loan, but may be able to send you some pics later in the week. I know where your coming from, cos I searched for ages to try and get a decent picture, but was unsuccessful. I actually bought the case not ever seeing it, or seeing how it looked in person for size and all. Pelican gives it all in Inches. But its hard to envisage inches and size, especially when everythingelse is in milimetres over here.

where to get replacement xl1 lens cap?
 

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here, and this is my first post. I got an amazing deal on an XL1 over ebay, but it is missing the lens cap. It's in pretty good condition, and I want to keep it that way, so I'm wondering where I can go to get a replacement lens cap for it.

I've scoured the web but haven't found any leads. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance.

the Lens in 72mm so you should be able to get a cap at any camera shop will sell a 72mmm lens cap. You dont necessarily need a Canon one, just any one will fit.

I've seen replacement caps on the big E - B - A -Y for like $7.00, man. Welcome to the board. (I'm a newbie here, but I can still welcome newer newbies. (:-P))

EDIT: Actually, I've had issues with my XL-1s cap. Does anyone else have fitting problems? I almost have to screw mine in at times. Very odd.

No. A "normal" harddisk will not see the camera and vice versa.
Those companies add a special interface to let these two pieces
"talk" to each other.

Hi William,

We have an entire forum dedicated to the FireStore from focusinfo.com -- you can browse through it at this location, and please post any FireStore-related questions directly to that forum.

Basically it records an *edit ready* file directly to the hard drive. The key concept is that the data is ready to edit, no video capture required. Hope this helps,

XL1S and mini 35 still grabs & video
 

I thought XL1s fans might enjoy this too so enjoy this re-post from the "The Tools of DV Production area"!

We finally received our mini 35 and yesterday I was able to shoot some test video for an upcoming production and post screen images and test video footage here www.starcentral.ca/mini35rig.htm. There are also some full size screen shots available there which I know some people wanted to see.

Please let me know what you think of the images.

Many questions on the settings used, etc.. are answered on the site so please have a look but otherwise feel free to post and I'll see if I can help.

On a final note I'd like to thank Mizell and Christine over at ZGC for helping us at Star Central Productions. We thank both of you for the tremendous amount of help and support on a product that is probably still not all that well understood by many, yet over the last couple of months you've helped us learn everything there is to know about it in detail. You guys really have been great! Thanks again!

Slo-mo playback
 

Tapes given to me recorded on studio decks are not playing back properly in my XL1s. They look like they are in slow motion, and I cannot get any audio from them. This problem has occurred with tapes from two different production houses. I don't have a DV studio deck, so I use the XL1s as playback to record onto an S-VHS deck. Is there a setting I'm missing? The viewfinder indicators show that I am playing back in SP. Also, I have determined that the problem is not the 1/5 playback mode you can access through the remote control. Any help appreciated.

I am assuming you are talking about miniDV-size tape cassettes?

Call the studio and ask what format they used to record the tapes. Standard DV? DVCAM? Etc.

Sl1s Lens Options.
 

WHAT OTHER AFTER MARKET TELE PHOTO LENSES ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE SL1S? SOMETHING THAT WOULD BE COMPARE TO A 15X OR 20X POWER BINOCULAR.

Hi Mike, welcome aboard. If you search our database on XL1 lens options you will find a lot of very useful information. You could also check out this XL1 Watchdog article on lens options.

One other little point, it's considered a little rude to type in all capitals on message boards, it's like yelling.

Thanks for the post, keep the questions coming.

What is function AE Shift ???
 

What is function AE Shift ???

Thanks

AE shift is uset to cause the auto exposure modes to shift the set point for normal exposure. It has no effect in Green Box, Manual, and Spotlight mode.

6x wide angle adapter
 

Well I opted for the cheaper route and bought the 6x wide angle adapter, by Century, for the 16x manual lens and can't seem to bring it into focus at the widest setting. Has anyone run into this problem?

I had the Ap. open all the way, when I stop down it seems to focus better It's getting to late to set up lights I'll test tommorrow in the sun and with lights.

Dan O'Bannon, I'm learnin :)

Yes! What you have to do is set your back focus first then bring your forward focus in to play afterwards.

SAY WHAT! Yes I know this is a wild one but it works.

As I recall, the 72mm, 0.6x adapter is only partial zoom-through. full wide to about half zoom, with the standard Canon lens.

Xl1s tips
 

I'd like to know exacly what each setting on the xl1s (exposure)do and what would be a perfect setting, if possible.

For exemple, I know that the lowest the gain is, the better it is.

Shutter speed seems to do special effect under 1/60 since the frame rate is slower or kind of.

So what I want to know is just some usefull tips on setting the exposure. Which control should I adjust first and the relation between each other

Thanks

Focus and zooming
 

Whats the best trick to zoom and focus all at once.


How do you know its time to adjust. I guees its just pratice that will help me but a few tips would help

thks

With the white 16x auto lens, simultaneous zooming and focus is not possible due to properties of the lens design (all DV camcorders using servo zoom lenses suffer from this limitation).

With the black 16x manual lens, it's certainly possible but is best done via remote zoom and focus controls mounted on twin pan handles on the tripod. See our sponsor, VariZoom Lens Controls for more info about remote zoom & focus controls for this lens.

Hope this helps,

Canon Internet Authorized Dealer Please
 

Hi all.

Can some one help me list of Canon Internet Authorized Dealer please?

Thanks
AP

Try our list of sponsors for the DV Info community.

Zoom and Focus
 

Hugo, the following applies if you are doing a setup shot or have the time to do it in advance.
1. Zoom all the way in to the subject and set the focus.
2. On the 'white lens' switch to Manual Focus.
3. Zoom in and out to your heart's content. As long as the subject stays the same distance away the image will be sharp.
Obviously, when the subject is getting closer or further away during the shot you're going to have to manipulate focus and zoom together which is no easy feat.

Which Audio 32Khz or 48hz
 

Does anyone have any thoughts on the audio setting to use. I know that of course 48Khz is better quality.....but is it really necessary?

I usually use 48Khz, but am not sure if it makes that much of a difference....?!!

Any thoughts people have on this would be appreciated..!!

Thanks

If you base your audio being reproduced on a standard TV then the difference between 12bit and 16bit is minimal. But as you start to get into better systems and speakers then the 16bit is a bit "crisper" sound, especially if you are adding effects on the sound or resampling it, or if the source is a little complex sounds. I use 16bit all the time as I want to have the best possible source. 12bit does give you the added extra of having 4 channels of sound. But I rarely use that. Im no expert on sound at all, and still learning myself but i have found that 16bit or 48KHz does give better results on your sound, especially if situations start to peak a little. I havent used any fancy hardware to tell the diference, just a good set of headphones on my 24bit computer system and there seems a little improvement to me...but I cannot speak for what you would find. I would just do your own experiments and see what your happier with.

Use 48 kHz/16-bit mode unless you have a a compelling reason to do otherwise. About the only real reason for most people doing serious work is the need for 3 or 4 channels of audio during original recording.

Audio capture problem xl1 to FCP4
 

I recorded with a direct line in on audio 1 from a mixing board. The signal was clear and the play back from the tape is clear (however I now hear a high pitch noise where before none existed) but when I try to capture into FCP4 I get only about 1/3 soild audio and the remaining is just static. It doesn't matter what size the clip is, it does the same thing. Is this a problem with xl1 or FCP4 or am I unknowingly doing something wrong?
Thank you.

If the tape is ok on playback from the XL1, then it is a problem with capture. Is the "high pitch noise" a hum of some sort? Did you have the XL1 plugged in or were you using batteries? Have you checked your settings in FCP - audio capture settings?

It is not always easy to adjust the controls you want, because
you might not be able to do (mostly due to low or bright lights).
Mostly I use a fixed shutter speed and change the iris in
combination with the builtin or an external ND filter.

But if you are shooting a scene where you want the shortest
DOF possible you might need to resolve to change the shutter
speed.

I use a custom preset with my black level as much down as
possible and I always try to underexpose slightly.

Ive been using the ME-66 for some time, mounted to the camera body. However, becuase the mic protrudes so far out if mounted to the normal mike attachment, especially with the system isolator in place, I modified the sennheiser mic blimp (whatever the handle with rubber bands is called) and attached it to the handle on the XL1. Purely in terms of sound quality, its fantastic. It picks up whispers at 20 feet. However, I have no other experience with any other mike, other then the crummy shotgun that comes with the camera. No doubt the higher quality sennheisers are better, however, the longer the shotgun mike the more cumbersome it is. I did one shoot though with an audio technica wireless outfit using the same ME-66. I had another ME-66 on the camera itself. Surprisingly, there was very little difference in quality. Anyway, its a great mike.