I just bought an XL-1 from B & H and from what i gather its covered with a 14 day return policy and a 30/90 day work/parts warranty.

Soundboard Patch..suggestions???
 

Greetings from Cincy,
I'm new to the forum but glad I found it.
My question is....I do alot of music videos/live performance shows and have never had to much luck with pulling a direct sbd patch into the Xl1s. What equipment would you suggest to use as a preamp/mixer for better performance. It's extremely hard to monitor sound during a live show, and rely mostly on the visual monitoring of the levels, but I am doing something wrong because everytime its either clipped to the bajesus or not enough gusto, but my audio levels are right on.
Thoughts, comments??
Thanks in advance.

Reasonable rent price for XL1-S (Canada)
 

A DP has expressed an interest in renting my XL1-S occasionally for tests and rehearsals.
Any suggestions on what a reasonable day rate would be? I'm in Vancouver BC.
Nelson

You should get decent sound with the XL1. Clipping implies an improper setup, probably overdriving the XL1 inputs.

How are you feeding audio to the XL1, and what settings are you using?

If you are shooting from near the sound baod and have an electrically clean environment, the easy setup is to take a tape output form the mixer (typically abotu -10 dBV level) to the Audio 1 input, and use manual audio level control.

If the mixer only has balanced outputs, that is OK, and in fact better if you have to run cable some distance to the XL1 or are in an electrically noisy environment. They you will need a XLR adapter such as the MA-100, Studio One, Beachtek, etc. Be sure to match levels, the MA-100/200 is not designed for line level input, only for mic level inputs.

External Hard Drive, FPS, And Other Newbie Questions...
 

Hi all,

I introduced myself in the "Neighborhood" forum here;

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=52140

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn from experienced, knowledgable people and I will try not to abuse the priviledge (by doing research and leg work first, then asking).

When I started capturing from miniDV tape I realized how little hard drive space I actually have. I happen to have a couple of 120GB IDE hard drives around so I thought about getting an external 1394 enclosure and installing my editing program on it, and basically keeping this drive for DV only. Do you have any recommendations about which ext enclosure works best and any other considerations?

Also, I have found myself in need of being able to produce slow motion for technical analysis and while I can slow things down in editing, if the "detail" isn't there on tape, it won't be in the final. Having worked as a still photographer I'm aware of the relationship between shutter speed and f-stop with regard to exposure, and when I worked with 16mm in the military, I knew that to produce slow motion, a higher frame rate was needed. I'm not seeing that the XL1s has this capability with regard to FPS so I'm a little confused. Will adjusting shutter speed give me what I want in this situation?

Also, I shot some tape that when captured and encoded, looks fuzzy, or at least not as sharp as it could be. This was using the auto focus mode. Do I need to manually focus to "set" the auto focus so it will be sharp?

You can find an example of what I am talking about here, it's a 5,700k file;

http://www.digihub.com/05-09-21_BD.wmv

Thanks in advance to allowing me to benefit from your wisdom and experience.

Ken

(my biggest fumble yet, traveling hundreds of miles to two different shoots and then realizing I didn't have my on-camera mic turned on, sheeez)

Long Life battery for XL1s
 

Hello all, I am new here. After searching before posting i was unable to find the answer but what have you all found to be the battery of choice for extended life. I still only have the stock battery. I have seen ones advertised on Ebay as having a 7.5 or 8 hr life. I am looking for a battery that will allow me to record for extended periods before swicthing the battery or charging. Any advice you guys can give is appreciated. thanks

Jason,

you may want to look at one of the add-on accessories, the CH-910. It is a dual charger holder that holds 2 batteries. If memory serves me right, you can even switch batteries on it as you are shooting.

hope this helps,
~Mike

Dear Jason,

I have purchased some of the Canon BP-945 type batteries on Ebay. Four of the one's I purchased were outstanding ($31.00 each in 2003). I could power the XL1s, at idle for over 18 hours, and many hours of recording, more than 4 hours, probably 7 hours. In general, I can tape constantly for half a working day without worrying about the battery.

I purchased 12 more from another vendor (Less than $20 each in 2005) and they were also good, but not quite as good as my first four.

If you are interested powering the camera for an extended period of time, you may use the dual battery adapter, as mentioned above.

Also, you can purchase the car adapter/charger from Canon which allows you to use a 12 to 24 volt battery system. Two car batteries, or 4-6 volt Golf Cart batteries will power the camera for weeks. As this setup is not very portable, it will probably not suit your needs.

However, the car battery adapter / charger is very handy in that you can charge one battery as long as you have access to a vehicle. I find that this battery charger does not drain the car battery excessively while charging the camera battery.

Ken, welcome to the forum.

People here are very friendly, but I think your post has gone unanswered because your first question was not specific to XL1 / XL1s cams at all, and the others only marginally. Also, there is a collection of questions that are unrelated to each other, making it more of a chore to answer. No worries, These are common errors for new guys, and even experienced hands forget sometimes. Choose the forum for each subject carefully, keep the scope of each post narrow, and I'm sure you'll find this website to be all you hoped for and more.

Frame rate is not adjustable. Some cams allow you to select either 30 fps or 24 fps, but that's it. 60i is still 30 fps, but with two interlaced fields per frame. Increasing the shutter speed will have the effect of exposing each frame more quickly and thus reducing the blur of fast moving objects.

I looked at your link. That's a nice little clip, very watchable even with the focus issue--I ran it five or six times. Autofocus is often unreliable in dim lighting, so yes, manual would have been better. Was it humid? If the cam had come out of an air conditioned vehicle, or even if the dew point was rising due to weather condtions, A thin film of condensation might fuzz it up also.

Someone HELP ME PLEASE
 

Hi everyone,

I am a young starting filmmaker and have been shooting my short films with a Hi8 camera. I just recently started learning about camcorders and got myself a Canon XL1. Does anyone have any ADVICE that they can give me for acheiving the best look and sound? I watched this one mans independent film that was shot with the same XL1 camera and for some reason the quality did not seem very well. I heard that there is a better solution to transferring your video directly from your camera to your computer, but I'm unsure of it. If there is anyone who has suggestions to getting great picture quality and sound that would be great. Thank you.

Chad, I have one piece of advice for you: Look around these boards.

Seriously, and I don't mean to sound mean, but before you ask for advice, you might want to look around. These boards are full of great information. Feel free to ask any specific questions, though, and you'll have a slew of people ready to answer.

Thanks and welcome!

Kevin

hello chad,

kevin has a good point.
got myself a xl1-s last year, been learning by reading a lot, here, and everything else i can get my hands on it. off course, i learn also by shooting, reviewing, writing my settings down, going to rehearsals etc. trial and error.
over the last year the quality of my videos has improved..a lot...but i still have no clue about a lot of things.
i learned here, that you get super answers to specific questions, but nobody wants to do other people homeworks. which is cool with me.

i think the best connection (no loss of frames) is the IEEE 1394 no matter were too. (pc,vtr, monitor)

greetings

i recently was going to rent a xl-2 for something but i ended up buying one instead. One store here in edmonton was going to charge like 215 dollars per day. I know its not the same camera but hope it helps anyways. You can also call local places around where you are and ask how much they charge to rent theirs

In Belgium I saw one on the internet renting it for 52 euros a day.

Will I Break My Xl1?
 

As a soon-to-be owner of a DTE (direct to edit) device, I'm wondering if it is possible to do 100% TRUE tapeless recording.

Obviously, you need to have a tape in your camera in order to allow it to record. You can't tape DTE if you can't push the record button!

But I'm wondering if it is bad for a camera to have a tape casing with it's tape removed running in record mode.

I would think that it is OK since there is zero friction on any of the heads, but I'm not a mechanical engineer so I don't know if the camera heads actually NEED to have tape running through them to perform properly.

I would rarely or never do this because I would want to have a tape for archival purposes anyway, but in the case I wanted to shoot something quick and simple--like a birthday home movie, let's say--it would be cool to be able to go 100% TRUE tapeless.

So the question is: Is it bad for an XL1 or GL2 to not have any tape in the MiniDV tape casing while "recording"?

Thanks!

May be "a great question"
 

i've, i think, a great problem.
i shoot my documentary with 1/25shutter. now i wanna change my materials in 25p (like panasonic dvx100). sorry my camera is a PAL XL1S .
do you know a solution?

There are a number of software solutions for this. One of them is DVFilm Maker, however I think they suggest shooting at 1/50 shutter speed for best results: http://www.dvfilm.com/maker/

I explain better. I have already shooted, about 25 hours, to 1/25 shutter. I would like to remove part of the Riverbero on the images. I have used Magic Bullet V.2 but without visible results.
Some solution?

Xl1s/radio Mic/final Cut Express.
 

I am having problems setting up my new radio mic(seinnhiser 100) with the xl1s, i bought a MA200 for the camera.
question: can i have the onboard mic and the radio mics running together,can i switch/mix the "onboard mic" and the "radio mic"..... as in a wedding set-up. priest/onboard mic...groom/radio mic, will final cut express show the radio mic as two channels on the timeline or one channel, or wht would be the best set-up.
john.

Xl
 

Anyone Know !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cannot speak to Final Cut Express. It should be covered in the program documentation.

See responses to your other post (moved to this forum).

They can run together, works best in 4-channel mode. But some NLE systems have difficulty with capture of 4-channel sound. You may not need to use the MA200 for audio input with the wireless mic.

Most event shooters find an onboard mic inadequate for recording voice of speakers if the camcorder is more than a few feet from the person speaking. A good shotgun mic can help some, but is not a full solution. Voice picked up from ambient sound is better if a good PA system is used, but tends to echo in large rooms such as churches.

A wireless mic on the groom will usually pickup the priest when he is speaking near (within a few feet) the groom. Wiring the priest often works better for several reasons. He speaks more often than the groom often at a distance from them, is usually near the groom and bride when they speak, and is usually used to wearing awireless mic. A perhaps minor point, grooms and groomsmen are more likely to make wisecracks while the mic is live that you may not want on the original tape.

2-channel audio or 4-channel using 3 mics
 

I know there's limitations with some video capture programs and Win FAT-32 in capturing 4-channel audio. When using "multiple" microphones, would it be feasible to use a Portable Microphone Mixer and have all audio recorded on 2-channel stero? I know to get stero, the mixer would need stero output or a two-line out-put that are duplicates to get simulated stero or even a splitter into L-R input from single output. Another question: When using the MA-100, can a Portable Mic Mixers line-out be connected to one or both XLR-in of the MA-100 or should it go directly into the camera by-passing the MA-100?

You can use a field mixer to mix three or more sources to two channels and feed that to the XL1. Many people do that. It helps to have an experience sound person to manage the mix to be sure you get it right.

Beyond the cost of a good field mixer, the main down sides are that the mixer is one more piece of gear to manage in the field, and you cannot change the mix in post. With 4-channel recording you can adjust the mix of up to 4 devices when editing to get the sound balance you want.

Some people record audio to a separete device, e.g., DAT or MiniDisc, and synch the sound in post.

If the mixer has mic-level output, you can connect it to the MA-100, if not you need to pad the level to mic level, or feed it direct to the Audio 1 input with the XL1 input set to line level.

Thanks Don
 

It's nice to get a knowledgeable answerd to my questions and in a timely manner too. Thanks again.

Sorry for the late response, but this isn't correct... you don't need a tape in the camera to run a DTE recorder. I assume we're talking about a FireStore... just put it in free run mode, and stop and start your recordings directly through the FireStore interface.

help-tech question
 

i am sorry guys/ gals

have a black out...<G>

is the firewire on the xl-1s a 4 pin or a 6 pin.?


i am blank...

thanks

Should be 4-pin at the camcorder

Replacement Battery Charger
 

Greetings all,

I'm new to the forum and have found a lot of helpful information by browsing here.

I am in need of a new charger and extra batteries for my XL1. I saw the thread about inexpensive batteries on ebay but didn't see anyone mention third party chargers.

I'm looking at this unit on ebay and was just wondering if anyone has had experience with it or other aftermarket charges?

http://cgi.ebay.com/CANON-BP-945-XL1...QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks,
Steve

I've used a Sima SMP-13 with success. My only complaint is its wall wart is big.

If you have differnt batteris for different gear, you may want to look for one that supports as many different battery types as you can.

The link information does not say much about the charger to help evaluate it.

On camera light
 

Any suggestions for an enexpensive on camera light? Would be used for indoor interviews. What about the Canon VL 10? Any advice would be appreciated.

For really impromptu interviews, the Canon is fast. The best way is to light using 2 or 3 point technique, but if you must be quick and in the face of your talent you can use this rather obtrusive method. Be sure to get some diffusion material to tape over the lamp to soften it otherwise every interview you do will start with "My that light is bright!"

XL1s Connection problem
 

Could anybody out there help me connecting my XL1s with a Mac G5? The computer doesn't recognize the connection of the device. Tried all possible options recommended by imovie, even Final Cut didn't help. In the Mac shop they couldn't help me. The Firewire cable seems ok. We tried even another brand new one. Tried the connection with another G5...nothing worked. Now what I don't understand is the following: being at the other end of the world in Manila, my XL1s worked instantly very well with a 3 year old G4, which was running already under sytem X.
For any hint to solve my problem I would be very thankful. Regards from France...

In the world of the WINTEL PC, the usual issue for the problem you describe is drivers, a second issue is boot sequence (some systems want to see the camera connected and powered before the PC is booted). Also, some capture software includes a "Canon" setting that might help. And some IEEE1394 chips just do not work with the Canons, but these appear to be few. Sorry I cannot speak mor specifically to the Mac workd.

I have a G5 and it connects fine to the XL1S.
Try looking through the apple site. I found this link which may help you (although it is an iphoto program) it may be helpful.
Go to this site... http://developer.apple.com/sdk/index.html#ImageCapture and go about half way down the page till you find the title "Image Capture SDK for Mac OS X v10.3". That program itself might not work, but you may find something similar that will work. The program entitled, "FireWire SDK 20 for Mac OS X" may be helpful too. Good luck.

XL1s - buying used, input requested
 

I have an XL2 and need another camera that will be used nearly 100% for outdoor shooting. The local camera shop has a XL1s used that they took on trade. It looks to be in great condition, has everything right down to the original box. It was traded for a an XL H1. I have the option of purchasing an extended warranty on the unit, which is the exact warranty they provided for all of my other video and still equipment I purchased from them.

Is there anything that I need to keep in mind when buying a camera like this used?

Is $2799 a fair price for this type of camera with 2 years of warranty added on?

John,

All in all, that is not a bad price if the warranty is good. As long as you don't do something stupid, like pour sand into it, you're covered. Right now they are going from about 2,200 to 2,800. The trade issue adds to the package and the fact that the original box is there says the previous owner was carefull, and showed concern for its care.

I just got am XL2, and sold an XL1s to a brother for 2,600, but threw in a nice tripod. Hey, he is my brother! No warranty, but like I said, he is my brother, and I have not even cashed his check yet!

If you are like me and have invested or plan to invest in many accessories, the XL1s should make a good back-up or second camera, as it can share big-brother's stuff.

Let us know how it works out and best of luck to you. Just remember one thing, for 1,200 more you could have another XL2 from B&H, and that may be something you want to explore.

Mike

That's definately something I've considered Mike. The other thing I keep coming back to is this second camera will serve in a back up capacity so it will never come out of the case unless something happens to the XL2. I don't want to find myself literally a thousand miles or more from civilization and have the camera go down.

New Camera Mic for XL1
 

Hey, My camera mic on my XL1 broke and I want to get a new one that is better anyway. Is there a better one that is less than $200 that will fit it?

Thanks guys

question regarding aspect ratios
 

Hi,
having recently got an XL1s, i was playing around with it today to find that when i viewed back footage on my widescreen TV, the footage shot in 4:3 mode looked better than that shot in 16:9 in terms of the shape of the picture. 16:9 looked stretched vertically and i would have expected it to be horizontally if anything..
I adjusted all of the aspects on my tv and found that when set to wide or auto wide, the 4:9 stuff always looked a nicer shape.
What would you clever folks suggest I do now to get a widescreen effect on my footage. Film in 4:3 with the 16:9 guides on and just overlay the black lines in premiere... or.. (and this is the one thing I'm yet to try) film in 16:9, capture using the widescreen setting of premiere and then if required add to the widescreen effect by overlaying black lines onto that?
What I'm trying to achieve is a widescreen video that still has the black lines top and bottom to appear 'very' widescreen!
Yes. Any help would be appreciated

I always shoot in 4/3 with the 16/9 guides, and crop in post.
Other people prefer differently, but I can't frame easily if my image appears vertically stretched.
It'a choice you make, but I think shooting in 4/3 and cropping is the easiest, you can get your image up and down in post too.
It's best you do a search on this topic, because there have already been some very interesting topics about cropping in post vs cropping in camera.