Canon XL-1s resetting time code
 

I am having a problem with my Canon XL-1s. This XL-1s was purchased new. I have owned it for 18 months and have less than 10 total filming hours on it. I use in exclusively indoors in a studio setting. When not in use it is carefully packed away in an Underwater Kinetics case.

Recently the camera started resetting my pre-set time code with black bands through the picture. This only occurs after a pause in filming and only after the first twenty minutes of tape length. I stop the shot and restart, sometimes with success and sometimes I have to advance the tape in VCR mode, and then restart to avoid resetting the time code. Occasionally I get a message, “Heads Dirty, use Cleaning Cassette” but I believe this is an error as the recorded picture is excellent. I have used a cleaning tape twice in two hours of filming, but hate to overuse the cleaning tape. Also I consistently use the same tape, Sony Excellence.

I never encountered any problems with my old XL-1. It was performing beautifully after 100 hours of filming and up to the day it was stolen.

Any Suggestions?

David,

If the camera is telling you that the heads are dirty, I would assume that they are dirty and clean them very thoroughly. The camera may detect a problem in an area of the recording heads that does not show up in the video image, such as the time-code area!

I would clean them well and try it again. I did not fully understand all you were saying, but you may also try changing out the small memory battery, just in case.

Really sorry to hear about the stolen camera, it is everyone's worst nightmare!

Hope it works out for you---Mike

Conecting mini remote camera to XL1
 

Anyone out there have any experience or knowlege of using a mini camera to record to the XL1 (or any other camera for that matter)
I am looking to find a mini remote camera to film vultures nesting and want to know how best to do this. Can I record the signal to my XL1 (all these tiny cameras seem to have just normal video conectors, can I get a cable to go into the dvin slot (minidv 4 pin) on most small video cameras?
This system has to be easliy powered for long periods (up a dam big tree in this instance) days from nearest electrical supply so 12v only
I have no knowlege in this area so any tips hints etc would be very useful
Thanks

I made up a "hat cam" .It is a lipstck cam that I made a velcro band for.The hat ,I glued velco to the brim of a baseball cap.The lipstick cam has 2 leads .One is composite rca cable, the other a power cable.
I bought a small bag attached to a belt and used a small Canon zr cam.
I made a foam shell for the cam that fir the bag. I cut a 1" by 2" hole in the bottom of the bag and sewed a clear plastic piece in the hole.This allowed the remote to control the recording cam.I picked up an eight AA cell housing and wired it to a connector for 12v(the lipstick cam spec is 9v to 15v)
I bought a container to fit the battery pack in and slid it into the cam bag aswell.For audio I used an iRiver with the mic plugged in and the line port connected to the audio in of the Canon.The cable lengths are about 5 feet but make to suit.You could make them quite long and attach the lipstick cam to a pole or mount it very close to the nest while your able to stay back a bit further(depending on how long your cables are)
The image quality is reasonable but you need to do some testing and practice to learn how to move your head.

Better in what way? Ther are a number of alternatives depending on your needs.

What type mic do you need? Mono, stereo?
What pickup pattern do you need? cardoid, or mor4e focused?
Do you want capability for off-camera use as well?
Do you have an XLR adapter such as the MA100 already?

You may be able to find a Canon exact replacement on the used market. It is not a bad mic as general-purpose, stereo, on-camera mics go.

The new XLH1 mic is like its predecessors except that it now includes a switch to go mono. A welcome addition in my opinion. You might be able to obtain one directly from Canon if that interests you.

-gb-

My XL1s is chewing up my tapes
 

I bought an XL1s (PAL) last year on ebay in UK, up to recently I was having no probelms.
Recently the camera is chewing up tapes but only on playback connected by firewire to my editing computer and under computer control.

The first message us usually on the camera "eject the " when I eject I see nothing wrong with tape and try again and get the message again If I continue the tape then is seen to be out the cassette and chewed up.

This mostly happended first with tapes I had shot last year, I was advised to do a head clean more often and to use only Sony Mini-DV tapes. Now more recently bought tapes are getting chewed.

I am based in Kaduna Nigeria, and don't have any reliable technicians around that I know of, to help solve the problem.

Can anyone out there advise me.

Arthur Brooks (Commercial Video Producer)

Good Day, Arthur!

I can't say that what I am about to suggest will work. But, it seems to me that your tape is hanging up on a piece of dirt/tape, on your tape rollers.

Now, Canon, says only to use a "dry" cleaner tape in your machine.

Think carefully about my suggestion, before proceeding: With a cotton medical swab dipped in tape head cleaner, clean the areas that come in contact with the tape, other than the heads. Allow to dry over night.

I had a similar problem with my XL-1s, and this seemed to correct it.

I had a similar problem a couple of months ago.

My XL1s was purchased brand new and was only 14 months old (not heavily used either) when it developed the fault. When rewinding the tape, the message 'REMOVE THE CASSETTE' would flash up in the viewfinder. Sometimes the tape was OK, but more often than not, it was de-spooled out of the cassette and chewed up.

I sent the camera away for repair and it was found that the idle gears were faulty and had to be replaced. Cost about £90 GBP. Since repair everything has been OK.

Sounds like your XL1s may need a service/new parts.

XL1s Lens Cleaning
 

Forgive me if this is a revisitation of the blindingly obvious, but what o most of you guys do to remove deposits from the surface of the lens - I'm talking here about the more stubborn deposits, dried liquid splashes, soot ! (I kid you not from a roadside shoot), rather than dust which can be blown off with an air-spray / light brush. I'm wary of wiping the marks too vigorously for fear of scratching or marking. Any tips on popular cleaners, cloths or other techniques.

Sorry if this is pretty basic, but I've had mixed responses from the suppliers / dealers I've talked to about this. Cheers

Try lens cleaning material from a good photo store, same stuff used on high quality photographic gear.

Note; a UV filters can keep stuff of the front glass of the lens, but does add additional glass, reflections, etc, unless it is a very high quality coated filter. Thus use one onlty when necessry. Use a deep lens hood to reduce the chance of stuff reaching the lens.

lens extender?
 

most of my shootings are in a theater/ studio setting, and i am most of the time zoomed in all the way.
have not used the digizoom feature of the xls-1.

been thinking of getting the 1.6 lens extender.

i wonder if somebody could share their expirience please?

did i say that right?

thanks

Karl;
Your not getting much response (unfortunately). So I will give my limited experience. I do not own the 1.6; But have friends that do. There is a degradation in the quality of the image. Sometimes not noticable, probably dependent on the lens used and the lighting. It isn't the most highly recommended piece of equipment.

7200 mah batt
 

plan to buy some extra batteries, and saw at b&h the canon: bp-970g,
7.2 v, 7200 mah. retails for about $ 175 a piece.

what i could not find is the run time.

just wonder if anybody has some info, and could help out please

thanks and a happy new year

greetings

The manual for the XL1s rates the 3000 maH BP930 for 1:55 (115 minutes) and the 4500 maH BP945 for 2:55 (175 minutes) of record time. On that basis we might expect a 7200 maHr battery in new condition to be rated for something around 4:40 (280 minutes). However, if you look at the run-time tables in the XLH1 manual, it implies the BP970 might give more, perhaps around 5:30 (330 minutes).

The run-time ratings generally reflect optimal (lowest power consumption) set-up. Actual run-time will depend on battery condition, and camcorder shooting conditions; e.g., connected powered accessories, which lens is used, shooting mode, etc. Time spent in pause counts against available run-time.

can I use the XL1 to XFER video from VHS?
 

I was wondering if anyone knows how to transfer video from VHS to the analog ports on the back of the XL1?

PLease CC response to funkaholickz@hotmail.com

1. It's best if you do a search, the topic has been covered many times.

2. People don't mail eachother solutions here, because others other people with the same problem couldn't find any thread anymore with an answer, because all the answers would have been in mails...
We want questions and answers to be available for everyone.

Best regards,

Xl1s video pixelation & audio dropouts
 

A contractor shoots a job with his Xl1s, gives me the tape...I put it in my DSR11 and experience severe drop outs. Check out an example at the following url

http://www.altairproductions.com/Dir.../AVP/index.htm

Now here are the particulars.
-Xl1s w/only sony PR tapes used. Tape was new out of case w/wrapper.
-all decks cleaned before tape insertion
-We have not had this problem with tapes from his camera before this
-captured over FW from DSR-11 VTR unit
-When played from OUR XL1s and captured from composite RCA connectors it works just fine
-We have tried the tape in 2 DSR-11 vtr's 2 PD170's and an XL1 and GL2 ALL have the SAME problem using F/W but the XL and the GL captured fine using the composite jacks. Also got the problem when trying to capture from our Xl1 thru the svideo jack.

I have NOT tried it in the contractor's XL1. He claims that he never has a problem and that he captures all his footage from the XL1 using a GL2. The other day he brought over a tape of an interview he did using HIS XL1 and Viola...we had the same trouble.

I am wits end here...has anyone seen/heard of this before? Got any ideas?

Thanks
Scott

The original XL1 does not accept analog video input, only audio.

Analog output have a error correction/masking effect that may not be present during a DV transfer. Also, playback is typically more sensitive to dirty heads than recording.

If the playback issue persists with a lot of different machines and with other tapes, the XL1 may have an tracking error, needing alginment. Try capture from the XL1 used to shoot the tape - if it is OK, voila.

NEED HELP! anyone know how so setup a glidecam 4000
 

Does any one know how to set up a glidecam 4000 for use with canon XL1s. I am using all stock camera (no assessories).

Need to know a ballpark figure of
1. camera placement on mounting plate
2. Number of weights on each side.

I am not having good luck with this at all.

Charles

XL1S mic problem
 

Hi,

I have been using the mic that came with XL1S for sometime now. But it started
not recording to one channel intermittently. I am not sure if its a mic cable problem or something more serious.
Could someone please give me some advice how to test this and what other stereo mic(s) is available to replace this one (omnidirectional)?

I am thinking of using a mono directional mic to connect to xlr (MA-100), but i like the stereo mic.

Much appreciated.

Gordon

If you can find (borrow) another stereo mic with a mini-phone jack, connect it to the camcorder and see if that mic works. ALternatively get a splitter adapter (e.g., from radioshack) aud feed a mono mic to both channels of the input. If that is OK, the problem may be wiht the mic, possibly a defect in the cord, connector, or just dirt on the jack/plug.

The Audio Technica AT822 is a nice little stereo mic that can work on a camcorder or with minidisc recorders, etc. The cheaper stereo mic you see are, well, cheaper and sound quality would be substantially lower.

check out "the stability of balance" video at glidecam's site.

http://www.glidecam.com/videos.php

here are some tips:

1) get your hands on a quick release plate and adapter. this will make your life much easier going forward. manfrotto/bogen have an extra long plate with mm measurement markings which has proven very valuable to me in the past.

2) the xl cams are front-heavy. mount the quick release plate on the center hole, towards the back of the glidecam's mounting plate. i don't have my glidecam in front of me and i can't give you the exact hole, but the adapter was towards the back of the mounting plate, but not jutting off of it.

3) set up your camera exactly the way it will be set up on the sled. that means, put a tape in, take the lens cap off, level out the viewfinder, etc.

4) start out bottom heavy and remove weight plates as necessary.

5) use the telescoping pole at the very end of setup to fine tune your drop time. a longer pole will increase bottom heaviness, and a shorter one will decrease. glidecam recommends a 2.5 second drop time. this seems to vary with operator preference, but it's usually between 1.5 and 3 seconds.

good luck.

XL1 Playback Problem
 

After returning from an extremely wet and muddy Honduras jungle trip, I noticed there are several segments where i either get a blue screen or a split screen consisting of five bars of what was shot and five bars of someother scene.
I cleaned the heads via cleaner tape with no success. The split image appears in the camera view finder and on my monitors.
Incidentally the KATA rain cover worked very well (I think) I did get a moisture warning one hot/humid/rainy afternoon.

Any thoughts if or how to salvage the bad segments?

Thanks
Jon

Try several different playback machines playback machine. Hopefully you can get enough good playback to piece it together.

WANTED: advice about XL1S battery and charger
 

WANTED: advice about XL1S battery and charger

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just purchased an XL1S used for $1800 - it has only the BP-930 battery and the remote...I need a AC charger with the DC coupler so I can charge the battery when it's in the camera...does anybody have one for sale or know where I can buy an aftermarket AC power charger so I don't have to pay the Canon retail prices.....I'm also looking for rechargeable batteries...I found a sunpak unit that quick charges batteries....is this a decent brand to use on the XL1S or should I go with Lenmar batteries...these two were highly recommended by another person and he said I should post my needs on here to see if anybody had anything to sell to me....I don't care if the batteries are aftermarkets as long as they are good and he stated that the Lenmar batteries will show the battery level on the XL1S.....Can I get a battery charger, AC power adapter and DC coupler as aftermarket products that are just as good as Canon??
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Dean

Dean,

The AC charger will not charge the battery while it's on the camera. Nor will it charge the battery while the charger is running the camera on AC power. You have to physically unplug the charger output to the camera for the battery to charge. I've heard good things about the Lenmar batteries from others who use them.

HTH,

-gb-

That's a well-documented problem which sometimes can be attributed to contaminated heads but is typically due to head alignment issues. More often than not a drum replacement is the ultimate fix. I wish you luck with your footage, but my experience has been, once it's on the tape, even the pricey decks won't cut it.

Adobe premiere omf
 

apart from paying £400+ is there any way to get the whole adobe audio timeline/projetc out of premiere into pro tools or nuendo.


Ive tried EDLs and they dont seem to work


Cheers Steve

Thanks
 

Thank you for the reply, will go and do some testing.

Do you mean export the audio from the timeline to an audio file; e.g., a WAV file, that you can open in another program?

Warm Expodisc for white balancing
 

Does anybody use these expodisc for their video productions? There is the regular expodisc that give a neutral white balance and there is the warm expodisc that gives a kodak 81A slight warmth white balance...do they work like they brag??

Premiere Edl or OMf
 

i mean export the whole timeline so as to edit it in a program such as pro tools, or nuendo.

When i try and bring a premiere Edl in to Nuendo it comes up "parse error"


I know there is a program called Pro Export PPro which allow premiere omf export.


I just wanted to see if anyone know any other way because Pro Export PPro retails at £400+

Cheers

Steve

difference between HC-3000 and HC-3100 CASE
 

I need to know what the difference between the HC-3000 and HC-3100 hard case is? I ordered the HC-3000 used for my XL1S but the instructions say the XL1S should be in the 3100. does it make any difference?? I was just going to cut foam to put inside.

canon the XL1s be programmed with no cassette
 

Can the XL1S be programmed with no mini dv cassette in the camera?? I'm awaiting the Canon head cleaner to use for cleaning the heads before I run a new tape in it - I just want to make sure it's safe to program and set up all of the settings before I put a tape in it. It doesn't say anything in the manual about it.

there is no problem at all. all settings are saved regardless of whether or not a tape is in the camera.

thanks Henry !

Sound Level check with XL1S
 

Okay, I've decided to shoot in 16 bit audio mode....
and then use the two channel - a friend of mine said I can drop other
channels in with post production - so the manual is saying that I either use the mini jacks for an external mic or the RCA line-in for the external mic...what about the levels?? It states something that anything over 12 should have the headphone plugged in (is this a MINIMUM audio level that will record on tape??) When I'm doing my sound check with the button, how to I determine where to set my level controls at?? I'm confused with this....would I test my loudest dialogue or ambient sound to make sure it's not going over a certain level?? Any suggestions?

What ever audio signal reaches the active audio input will record to tape, but too low a signal can be lost in the nosie floor. For best results I believe that when doing manual audio levels they suggest that the audio level average around the -12 setting. (This is a compromise between signal to noise ratio and avoiding clipping on audio peaks. It works OK with "average" sound sources in consumer/prosumer environments, but may be too high for program material with a wide dynamic range.) Specific types of program material may call for a different setting, and using headphones can help making the judgement inthe field.

In general, the loudest sound you want to capture without distortion should cause the meter to peak just below zero. Anything above this may be distorted due to clipping. Practice until you get a feel for the equipment capability and how best to meet your audio needs.