Which Adaptor/Lens to buy?

[Luis Cardoso]

I am a beginner and I have just bought my first XL1 to film TV commercials.

Basically I want to give my customers the best picture quality I can get, without breaking the bank

Which Adaptor/Lens do you recomend I should be looking for?

Settings that you would recommend to experiment with, to film -

Outdoors
Indoors
low light
bright light

[Rob Lohman]

Welcome aboard DVInfo.net Luis!

Is something wrong with the stock (16x) lens you received? It is
fine for a lot of stuff you want or can do with the camera.

It sounds like you are just starting out and have no real idea how
the camera and the accessories for it work. If so I would not advice
you to get more equipment, especially from a group such a these.

Let me explain why.

Everybody shoots different styles of video/film, even if it is for the
same thing like commercials, music videos, wedding videos etc.
Besides that everybody has a different way to work and equipment
that might be great for someone else might not be good for you
at all!

In the end the most important aspect of all of this is experience.
Learn the camera and the complete workflow (I assume you plan
to shoot a couple of fake commercials first before doing a commercial
one for a client that has (high) expectations!). Then if you are
completely familair with the camera you are ready to start think
about what doesn't work for you and might be handy to get to
increase the quality of your shooting or move you faster etc.

There is a lot of stuff to get ranging from:

- lenses / adaptors / filters
- lighting gear
- audio gear
- support gear (tripods, dollies, cranes, steadicams)
- power systems (batteries, generators)

etc. etc.

So asking for "which adaptor/lens do I need for best picture
quality" is basically an invalid question. The camera comes with
a kick-ass lens (at least quality wise) and other lenses or adaptors
will not really improve your quality (except for perhaps the mini35
adaptor which costs $10.000 excluding lenses, yes it can be rented
as well).

Most lenses/adaptors/filters give you a different way to control
the image like:

- get a wider angle of view (wide angle lens or adaptor)
- enable precise manual control (manual lens)
- increase lens magnification (extender adaptors)
- lower incoming light (ND filters)
- reduce shiny surfaces and reflections (polarizers)
- soften an image (promist filter for example)

etc. etc.

[Luis Cardoso]

Thanks Rob

You're right I am very new to this and I really do appreciate your words of wisdom

The reason I asked about picture quality is because I heard about and looked into the mini35 adaptor and I thought there could be other adaptors that improve picture quality (that don't cost $10 000) But I am enjoying experimenting around with the XL1 (and the standard lense) and have only begun to learn of its capabilities.

Thanks Again and Take care

[Rob Lohman]

There really isn't, the standard kit is a great kit quality wise. Learn
it well first and you'll automatically see what you will need to get
to expand the great system futher! Good luck!