New member without remote
 

Greetings to everyone, and thanks to those who make this group possible! I just purchased a pre-owned XL1 and am preparing to do an instructional video. My experience is limited as I work as an animation artist, and have only worked around videographers. My first concern is that the camera did not come with a WL D-2000 wireless controller and I am having problems finding one. Anyone have one lying around? Question: is the feature set and quality improvments that much better in the XL1s that I should have saved my pennies and waited ? Glad to be here and thanks!

Well it's a bit late to ponder over the changes between the
normal and S model. But yes, some features are readily
improved on the S (like not going to standby, higher signal
to noise ratio and other things).

I think you can order the original remote control from Canon.
Give them a call to find out.

desaturation for color correction
 

Hi guys. I know I read about it here somewhere, but darned if I can find it. Someone was discussing the fact that they desaturated the color on their XL1s, then resaturated it in post to provide them with more room for correction and control. Is this a practice you recommend? How exactly do you acheive this (what values -dB do you recommend? Also what about contrast? I would like to use this in my next project to bring my overall look to a higher level. It is about flyfishing and I want it to look "pretty".

Hmm. Seems like that would be a negative thing. Traditionally you want as many options available to you to work with when going into color correction. What's the difference between desaturating a full saturated image and starting with a desatured image?

It would seem to me that if you desaturated in camera, you're losing colour resolution and therefore cannot get it "exactly" back in post. Sort of like if you crush your blacks or blow out your whites, that detail is gone and aint coming back.

Aaron

Xl1 Dv Output
 

I think I know the answer to this, but it sure isn't spelled out the "wonderfully information skimpy" manual that comes with the XL1.

WHEN IN THE RECORD OR E TO E MODE....not playback

The DV output of the XL1 apparently only outputs audio from ST 1 (16 or 12 bit), whether the source is the camcorder's mic or line in from rear the RCA jacks.

Anything input through ST 2 will be recorded on tape, mixed with ST 1 or ST 2 only.

BUT, the XL1 will not output any signal from ST 2 through the DV output to another device, mixed with ST 1 or not, the only output signal is ST 1 clean.

Unless I am missing something which might allow me to get the ST 2 signal out as well. Is this possible with an XL1?

Why our friends across the Pacific do some of the design things they do or don't do, constantly amazes me.

News?
 

Just a querie from across the water; Does anyone know of any news about an XL 2 release in the near future? I know, I know, everyone and his brother wants to know about it, but I'm thinking of upgrading my XL 1 and don't want to miss out.

Do a search on XL2. The subject has been much discussed
already. The short answer: no-one seems to know yet if and
when something is coming, what it will feature and how
compatible it will be.

Anamorphic lenses and the XL1S
 

I'm going to be using the XL1S with Anamorphic and wide angle lenses and I'm after some feedback from people who have used them before.

Mainly whats the best adaptor and how to sort out the obvious zoom in frame problem.

Cheers.

broken viewfinder/microphone mount
 

Does anyone know a 'quick-fix' to glue or weld the metal body of the XL-1? The part that sticks out from the left of the start-stop on top of the camera, where the viewfinder and mic are mounted? A heavy object fell ontop of the camera breaking it. The cam works fine, now its secured with nylon straps (cheesy)

fix for xl1
 

I would suggest using a product called JB Weld if you are dealing with metal. It appears to be part of the body framework which is a magnesium alloy.

Hope this helps. I noticed you are located not far from me. Just down the road in Plano.

regards,

-gb-

Where did it break? Mine once broke at the neck, right up by the where the viewfinder slides on. I used SuperGlue and 6 " black plastic "tie-downs" (Home Depot). CAREFULLY put on the glue and then pull the straps on as tight as you can with pliers. Then, using a sharp knife cut off the remaining plastic tie.

xl1 no tape display
 

Hello,
Could somebody please help. I have just bought a xl1. I powered it up and switched to record mode and put a brand new tape in it but in the viewfinder it is displaying that there is no tape. I'm sure or hoping that it is something simple that I have missed out. I would be very grateful for an answer to this problem. Thank you.
Alan.

Did you push the tape carriage until it locked in place? Or did you just close the outer door?

bingo
 

Thank you very much Jeff. It works.
Kind regards,
Alan.

I've not worked with such an adapter, but if I'm not mistaken
you can either not zoom through them (ie, pick your focal length
before you shoot the scene -> which is a good practice anyway)
or you have a shorter than normal zoom range.

Some testing might be in order before you decide to actually
shoot something with it in my opinion.

I'm trying to understand what you are trying to do.

Your NLE package needs to support 4-track in order to receive 4-track across the DV (firewire) connector. Not all NLEs do (I think Premiere does).

If your NLE does not you can get a program called Scenalyzer that will. You can then import the audio into your NLE.

Someone else will have to answer whether the S will output 4-track analog through the audio input connectors. On the older XL-1, analog audio will be output through the headphone connector. The 3 options allow you to select either main, sub, or mix by pressing the audio monitoring button.

Hope this helps,

As Nathan notes, many NLE's/capture software/drivers do not support 4-channel capture via firewire. But if you did record 4-channel, the XL1 will output 4-channel on firewire. Check the specifications of your NLE capture system to see if 4-channel is supported. [Canon is ahead of most MiniDV camcorder makers in supporting 4-channel audio.]

You can obtain 4-channel analog output as well on playback. Output is from the Audio1 and Audio2 jacks. Details are in the manual on page 61.

when the XL1S is automatically, which are the parameters
 

when the XL1S are set to automatic, which are the default parameters ,the original setup ?

My XL1S can't playback.
 

I have 2 cassettes.
First, I shoot with canon XL1S.
Second, I shoot with other camera.

The first and the second cassette can't playback in my XL1S camera. There are noise in my audio, the video is good.
But when the first and the second cassette, I playback with other camera, the result is good.
Why that can happen ??? My XL1S can shoot, but can't palyback.

Thanks for your help.

12 v battrey adaptor
 

ALOHA

I recently lost my xl-1 12v battrey adaptor, module clipped into camera space with car cigarette adaptor on the other end of coiled cord and am looking for a source to purchase a new one. Any sourc info appreciated.

MAHALO


Jerry

I am not completely sure I understand your problem.

Question 1:
Does the audio recorded on the second cam play OK on the XL-1S?
Yes - XL-1 is probably OK.
No - Configuration error or faulty XL-1.

Question 2:
When you play your recording on the NLE (computer's editing package) is the audio OK? When you render back to the camera is audio OK through headphones?

If you cannot get the audio correct on the XL-1 at this point, check you audio setting and read the sections in manual about audio. If you are using 4-track, realize that audio monitor must be set to mix or sub in order to hear the other audio channels.

If after all this it is still not working it is possible that the XL-1 does have a fault.

Question 1 :
No, the audio recorded on the second cam can't play OK.

Question 2 :
When I play on the NLE and through headphones, the audio isn't OK.
I'm not using 4 track, I am using 16 bit audio.

I don't think it has any (except shutter?), since it all depends on
lighting etc. Shutter is probably 1/50th for PAL and 1/60th for NTSC.

Are you talking about these kind of adaptors?

BINGO!!! Rob,

Thanks much.

Jerry

New Guy
 

Hey Guys

I just wanted to say that I am now a proud member of the xl1s club. I picked it up monday and I couldn't be more happier.

Any tips or tricks you guys might have would greatly appreciated.

Welcome aboard. Read a lot here and get the most expierence
with the camera as you can. The more the better.

Take off that cover on the front of the lens, hit that red button on the side and move your arms around ;)

Seriously though, congratulations John! What are you going to be doing with your new camera? Shorts? Home stuff? News?

If I were you, one thing I'd recommend playing with is frame mode. It was something that I didn't really do when I first got my XM2 and when I actually came to having a project that might have benefitted (In hindsight it would have) I didn't know enough about it to risk shooting in it. In the end I deinterlaced. I would have preferred frame mode fooage to save the render times.

Cheers
Aaron

Discovered technique
 

For all you “old hands” this probably isn’t anything you have already discovered. However, I thought I would pass this on to others, like myself, that are gaining experience with the XL1s.

There are times when a zoom in to a subject is needed or appropriate. The shot I required was a “zoom in” to a set of church doors and when the zoom was complete, have the door open (with no one opening the door). Typically, there are two possible ways to do this with the stock lens. Put the camera in auto focus and pray it doesn’t start hunting for focus on the zoom (then have an assistant open the door out of shot) or put it manual and adjust or follow through focus on the zoom…problematic at best with the stock lens.

I discovered a third and successful way (by accident). Instead of shooting the shot with a zoom in, start the shot with the door open and just release it to close on its own and then zoom out. Then in post simply reverse the clip in your NLE program. It works fantastic and…importantly…the camera stays focused on the zoom “in” shot.

Mark

The actual tip behind this is to zoom in to your subject (doors
in this case), focus on that and then zoom out again. The subject
should be in clear focus (and you should be able to do a zoom
in, if you need/want to). This way you will better set your focus
than when you do it zoomed out.

Ofcourse doing this typical shot the way you did is an excellent
way of doing it indeed. A lot of punching shots etc. are shot in
such ways as well.

XL1s as a transcoder?
 

I think I already know the answer to this question ("No") but is there a way to make the XL1s act as a transcoder, taking S-Video in the back and spitting it out DV so I can record directly into the computer?

I have some external video I'd like to dig but don't want to spend the time and headwear dumping it to a tape and then playing it back off the camera into the computer. I'd ideally like to pipe the vid into the XL1s via S-Video and then free-digitize it into the computer over firewire.. but it doesn't appear this is possible, even if you record to a tape at the same time, as having the DV cable plugged in makes the XL think it's supposed to be getting it's input from there.

home-made XL1S wideangle..
 

i was playing around tonight and shot some test footage with a kindof ghetto wideangle i made.

works nicely for fixed shots or zooming through the first 50% of the zoom range on the stock canon lens. not the greatest thing in the world.. but hey i made it for free. also, i didn't center it properly in the mount i made so you can see some shadowing at the top versus the bottom.. this falls into the overscan area i suspect though so not much of a problem, but i'll still recenter it :D

not sure if image tags are enabled on this board..

(copy and paste the image address if it doesnt appear)

http://www.adamgeek.com/wide1.jpg

I think you can with the av insert button on the top handle. havnt tried it myself, but thats what the canon site says.

http://www.canondv.com/xl1s/f_av_inputs.html

I have a dazzle, so i just use that for bringing footage from other sources into my cpu. but if the av insert works then u should be set.

Rich

hehehe....thats cool man. How did u do it? how about a home made anamorphic next?

<<<-- Originally posted by Rich Lee : hehehe....thats cool man. How did u do it? how about a home made anamorphic next? -->>>

i took apart an old lens i had (for photography) and mounted one of the elements on the canon lens.

i have been thinking a lot lately about trying to build an anamorphic adapter.. there are a lot of older 16mm lenses for sale on ebay for very cheap (bolex, etc) and i am pretty sure i could rig one of these up pretty easily.. but i am thinking maybe i will just buy a mini35 and get it over with haha.

Rob is right.

also, another useful technique is if you are doing a dolly shot on an object for instance, where you want it to go from very out of focus, to a perfectly crisp focus as the dolly approaches a certain mark/point.. you can shoot the scene backwards (from the mark, prefect focus, roll dolly backwards, and lbur the focus) and then play it back in reverse in your NLE, and voila, you will neverhave to mess with many many takes of trying to pull the exact right focus as the dolly stops on the mark.

Zoom noise
 

Hmmm bit of a problem with the noise made by the zoom, I have isolated the senheiser mic by using O rings, but still a discernable amount of noise is picked up when zooming. I have soundsoap, peak 4.0 Pro and would like to know if anyone knows roughly what the frequency is of the zoom noise? Then hopefully I will be able to remove it. Have ordered the hotshoe adapter for the mic so it hopefully wont happen again, but the Christening footage I am working on is blighted by the noise

Thanks in advance

Jed

That's possible only if you go through tape. So you can record
the SVHS source on tape and then capture that to your computer.
This only works on the newer S model!

I had the same problem. Fixed it with a filter in FCP, I think it was the high pass filter. I wasn't able to find the exact frequency because I don't have sound soap. If you are using FCP, try the different filters, or try the different filters with whatever NLE you are using. Soundsoap should be able to locate the frequency now that I think about it....however, that may be a problem because as I remember the sound starts low and then gets a little higher as you zoom in or out? So, a general filter in your NLE should help. The hotshoe adapater will also help! Good Luck!

edit: you might also do a search if you haven't already as I know this topic has been covered before.