New Owner's First Impressions: Karl Kroeber
posted on DV-L 4/20/98 -- reprinted with permission

On the basis of opinions found... at Chris Hurd's XL1 Watchdog site, I bought an XL1 sight unseen through mail order at the beginning of February. I mostly shoot outdoors (primarily in the Yosemite), so flexibility and good light handling are of prime importance to me. So far, my XL1 has been virtually flawless. Yes, the autofocus could be faster and yes I burned the viewfinder, but the images are consistently inspiring, the camera has been totally reliable and the ability to quickly craft settings under very difficult conditions (light and weather)is unparalleled at or anywhere near the cost of the XL1. I have intercut XL1 footage with Beta SP and I doubt that any but the most highly trained (and forewarned) eyes could tell the difference.

I shot for half a day during a non-stop snowstorm with the XL1 in one (ungloved) hand and an umbrella in the other (gloved) hand. The stabilization is fantastic and handled everything I threw at it and I also found that despite the cold, handling the camera with one hand for long periods was no problem.

One benefit/flaw is the camera's distinctive appearance. It draws a crowd. Over and over again people have come up to me and wanted to talk about the camera. The amazing thing is the vast majority don't know what it is. They just know it looks cool and presume that is reason enough to start a conversation. This is great when I'm doing live interviews, but the downside is that it is really difficult to lay low with this camera.

I have recently taped over most of the silver and red surfaces of the camera and lens with black electricians tape and this has cut the noticeability factor considerably. Much better.

I also taped over the overly sensitive and not very useful manual zoom ring, which now allows me to quickly steady the camera with my left hand by grabbing the barrel of the lens without having to worry about destabilizing the image by accidentally hitting the zoom ring.

For maximum portability, the XL1 works very well with the Bogen 3211 tripod with the 3126 head w/HD quick release. I also have the heavier duty 3063 head but at least in the cold of winter, it has too much resistance for smooth panning using the XL1.

The LowePro Vidcam 6 bag is a great fit for the camera and a full complement of spares and accessories. You have to remove the EVF/mic assembly and the lens hood to fit the camera in the main compartment, but doing so creates a fairly compact and easily carried package. It only takes about 15 seconds to replace the EVF and hood and start shooting.

I have had no problems with dropouts when re-using Panasonic tape.

I had the sunburned EVF repaired under warranty and Canon was precisely true to its word. I overnighted the unit to them and the repaired unit was FedExed to my door in a 7 day (total) turnaround. Kudos to them. The manual clearly tells us not to point the camera or the viewfinder at the sun, but Canon magnanimously covered the repair anyway.

Obviously, Canon recognizes that the sunburn problem is a real-world design flaw that they should (and apparently presently will) remedy. In the meantime, you can protect yourself by creating a filter using transparency film. Make a 2" circle (in Works or Photoshop etc) and put a 90% opaque grid on it with a clear .25 in area at the center. Take the eyecup off the EVF and put the filter over the lens opening and replace the eyecup. You can't use the far setting, but I believe that the screen is safe with this setup. In full sun, if you remove the unfiltered eyepiece and use it like a magnifying glass, you can burn wood instantaneously. Its quite impressive. With the filter in, I couldn't even feel a warm spot on my hand. However, I still have not had the guts to point the thing at the sun so the caveat is that the filter most likely will protect the screen, but I can't guarantee it. Still, until Canon's fix comes through this kind of thing provides a workable solution.

My edit system is a Mac 9600/300 (w 320 megs of ram and a 9.1 gig Cheetah) running Radius Edit DV. Also in the system are the Sony DHR 1000, a Sony SDT-S9000 DDS3 DAT for backup and a Panasonic 1386 NTSC monitor. Again, this system has been virtually perfect. True plug and play. I actually look forward to each session using this system. The computer and program seem rock solid and everything fits and works together seamlessly. The only freeze I have experienced came as part of the problem listed below and has not recurred since Radius provided the workaround.

The problem is a rendering bug in Edit DV for which Radius quickly provided a workaround pending a download fix. Be careful to keep the first rendered piece in your timeline short (perhaps a single transition) because the program keeps expanding the memory allocated to each successive render of the first render section. If the first section is large or you re-render many times, soon the render file has become anomalously enormous and the program tells you that you are out of disk space. My last project was actually just over 4 gigabytes when this happened. The remaining unused 4.2 gigs on the drive were unavailable. Anyway, Radius was very responsive and I presume they will follow through with the fix before v1.5 comes ready.

Some more impressions from my experience with the XL1:

The motor hum is not a problem. I think the camera gets criticized for something that is actually an advantage: the mic system is so good and the noise floor is so low that the motor noises SEEM louder when nothing is happening. Under real world conditions with even slight ambient noise, the motor noises are not noticeable. Also, it helps to not tighten the setscrew on the mic mount all the way down.

I have had no problems maintaining manual focus. I have, however, taped down the zoom ring. It is just too fussy.

As far as using the camera on a tripod and doing focus zoom and pan at the same time... two out of three can be manipulated in real time. I have found that if I set the focus at the ultimate destination of the zoom that I can then control the zoom rocker with my left hand (reaching over the lens and under the mic) and control the pan arm with my right hand. For me this works great.

The XL1 color viewfinder is bright and works fine except that if you are off axis vertically you can misjudge the exposure and it is sometimes difficult to judge absolute focus. (at my age - 48 - this happens a lot anyway, though) I think these factors are inherent in any camera with a small color viewfinder screen.

That said, I have no complaints about the exposure or clarity of my footage whether shot in manual or auto.

Including the color EVF with the XL1 is not a pro approach, but appears to be a marketing "benefit" aimed at the consumer market. Given that this camera crosses over the consumer/pro boundary Canon should also offer a black and white pro version EVF. I would buy one in a heartbeat if they were available.

The balance (front heaviness) of the camera seems a little awkward at first. I don't even think about it anymore. I can shoot all day with no more fatigue than using any hand held (non shoulder mount) camera, like the VX1000. In addition, the XL1 is far more stable than the VX1000 due to the added support from the eyepiece. The camera is comfortable in one-hand use. I haven't seen the MA 100 except in pictures, but I doubt it will change the balance of the camera appreciably. I don't even use the flip down support that comes with the camera: I leave the support in its closed position and the camera fits nicely to my shoulder. The physical stability and moderate weight of the camera combined with the excellent optical stabilization system make for a very predictable and confidence inspiring setup. I now routinely expect to be able to hand hold this camera at maximum zoom. Amazing.

As to picture quality, I have shot quite a bit of side by side with the VX1000 and Beta SP. The XL1 seems slightly superior in depth and clarity to the VX1000. Not quite as much of the smooth 3D quality that the Beta SP gets, but darn close. Intercut, I'm not sure I could tell these three sources apart under most outdoor shooting conditions.

The Canon's primary advantage seems to be mostly in its image quality and flexibility when going to manual settings. The more I shoot and the the more I learn about the camera, the more I appreciate it. It's not perfect but it is an elegant bundle of innovations and practical compromises. I liked it from the start but I am happier with it every day.

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Written by Karl Kroeber
Thrown together by Chris Hurd