New Owner's First Impressions: Jeff Drabble
posted on rec.video.production 2/1/99
reprinted with permission

I've been using Sony DSR-200P for a couple of years (I believe it's sufficiently equivalent to the VX9-000 for this comparison) and just today have picked up the XL1 to use alongside it.  So here's a quick list of the things I noticed immediately in my first play around.

The XL1 appears to have a wider contrast ratio making it more forgiving in difficult light situations and allowing a softer, more natural picture. I have not yet used the Frame Movie mode, but it looks interesting.

It has a more effective image stabiliser.  I took it through to full 32x digital zoom on a tripod and introduced a regular shake at the pan/tilt arm.  While maintaining the shake, I switched the stabiliser on and after about 2 seconds delay the apparent shake reduced by at least 75%.  There was, however, a very pronounced picture drift as the stabiliser settled when the shaking ceased.

I would normally scoff at digital zoom and have never been concerned that the Sony does not have it, but I have to say that the Canon held up a quite presentable picture in this mode...  sufficiently acceptable to get useful shots that might otherwise be missed.

The XL1 manual zoom and focus have a very smooth action.

The lens is detachable, allowing for far greater expansion than the Sony.  Furthermore, the XL1 easily accepts systems such as a Lee 4 inch filter holder.  These are a difficulty with the Sony, as the handgrip projects too far forward and although they will go on, rotation of polarisers and grads is difficult.

The XL1 has a detachable microphone and I think this is a bonus.  We never use them and on the Sony we had to go inside to unwire it. After taking it off there was a big hole in the camera body which has gaffer tape over it till this day.

The Sony has more control over viewfinder positioning with its fore/aft slider and I'm not sure about the colour viewfinder in the XL1.  I think it could give some difficulties in fine focussing.  Also, if you shift your eye from left to right  across the viewfinder, the perceived brilliance alters dramatically (like a laptop display) and this might present problems with setting exposures on the run.  I'm not that fussed with the "Near/Far" eyepiece setup either: I think your eye should always be right up to the rubber.  The diopter focussing is a bit rough on the XL1.

The requirement to shut an inner door first, then an outer door, when loading tape on the XL1 is a bit of a shame.  In situations like ours where there are a number of users this sort of thing can cause problems for those new to the camera.

The placement of some controls on the Sony at the lower front are a bit of a pain and I think I prefer where the XL1 has these.  There is a record control on top of the XL1 for instance and this is much easier to access when set up on a tripod with the camera lower than the operator.

The XL1 has an inferior tripod mounting method, using only a conventional thread and spigot as on a handi-cam.

The covers for various connectors on the XL1 are excellent.  Nicely hinged, firm closing doors abound and are a joy to use.  The Sony's rubber cover is a pain in the butt and never seems to go on properly.

I'm not much of a fan of all the auto setting possibilities on the XL1.  I think if you own a camera like this, you should have learned enough to confidently operate it without the camera making committee decisions about it all for you.  Besides, if you are bright enough to figure out which one of the priorities you should be using, then you are bright enough to put yourself in full control.

The shutter speed choices on the XL1 are excellent and give you sufficient  range to avoid bar roll on both TV and computer monitors in both PAL and NTSC versions.  We could never achieve this with the Sony and it was a bloody nuisance.

The XL1 has more gain available. However, the camcorder also abdicates some player functions to the remote only, and this could be a pain should you not be able to lay your hands on the remote control (often the case).

The XL1 allows 4 channel sound recording with lines in from an external source such as a CD player.  If you are at all serious about the sound you record you will need to buy the optional extra MA-100 XLR connector unit and that allows you to fit the other optional extra CH-900 battery pack. Also, I'm informed that the case from Canon is crap and we are having a custom unit built.   That's perhaps the sting in the tail of this camera: there are all these desirable extras, but when you put them onto the base price it suddenly doesn't seem so cheap.

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Written by Jeff Drabble
Thrown together by Chris Hurd