an easier solution?
 

hi, i saw a guy with a homemade mini35, and he put a canon SLR lens on it (a relatively in expensive one). he turned on the motor and it was AMAZING!.

but what if i bought that lens, and a canon XL1s EF adapter and put THAT on my XL...... would i get the same effect? why or why not?-- assuming i'd also get a wide angle lens to kill that disgusting 7.2x magnification. would i be looking at the same DEPTH OF FIELD?

thx
-arthur

you cant kill that 7.2x magnification by using a wide angle lense. the focal length is still 7.2x, just the new focal length will be lower cause you used a lense with a low focal length (100mm - 720mm, 15mm - 108mm).
but that construction doesn't change the depth of field. that home made mini35 uses a special construction to imitate the mini35, but its still a optical system (with old photo cameras or rotating fake cd's ect), the ef adapter is a mechanical adapter. i suppose it was invented to use the xl-1 for filming wildlife or reasons where a extreme high focal length is needed

DOF depends on focal lens. The loger the focal lens, the shorter the DOF.
So, using a very wide lens (to "kill" the 7.2X magnification) means you get a very long DOF. Actualy, the lens you're already using on your XL1S is a very wide lens. 7.2X wider then a "normal" (like the canon SLR you talked about) lens. That's why you get that long DOF.