This is a great forum so thanks for all the interesting stuff.

I enjoy video surfing, birds and wildlife and am looking at purchasing a Caon EF lens in the range of 400-600mm.

Recently I tried my 70-200 F2.8 lens on the H1 with a standard Canon adaptor. At 200mm it had about the same magnification as the stock 20x lens but much less zoom range.

I would believe that using a fixed focal length would be far more difficult to get a fix on a subject such as trying to catch a bird in flight as that is hard enough with the zoom. Canon should have had a catch or lug that locks the viewfinder in the same plane as the lens as it is real difficult to "find" subjects (especially birds in flight) some time. For surfing I reckon some sort of gun sight on the lens and body would help as well. Anyhow enough of the ramblings I would like any advice or experiences regarding telephoto lenses. 600mm would be great as I can use it on my SDLR as well but Canon only go to a 100-400 zoom.

Also some explanations or links to advice and explanations on other adaptors than the Canon and what they do. I thought that it was dimply a device to connect different mounts but would seem that there is more to it than that.

One other very basic (dumb)question regarding shutter speeds. If the camera is recording at 25fps how does the shutter speed affect the image? You could say I am thinking "2 dimensionally" as a still photographer but if you are using say 1/100 shutter speed and the tape is 25fps then you are getting 4 movements of the shutter for every 1 frame.

Cheers Guys

Colin

There's a lot of information on the big Canon telephotos and the EF adapter on this forum and the XL-2, XL-1 forums.

The 70-200mm is much more powerful than the 20x lens. In 35mm equivalent the stock 20x is about 41-777mm, but the 70-200mm is 504mm on the lower end and 1,440 on the upper end. This is a great difference in magnification. I use these lenses almost everyday and prefer the 20x when I can get close enough, but the 70-200mm is capable of some serious moderately long range work and it does do quite well with the 1.4 extender. I also use the 500mmF4 at times but it is too bulky, etc. for most shooting situations.

I used to use the 100-400mm constantly, but it has problems with being sufficiently sharp for high definition beyond 300-350mm(at least this is true with my individual lens), so I no longer use or recommend it.

Some here have recommended the 300mmF4 or 2.8. I got the F4 version based on these recommendations. I picked it over the 2.8 because of the portability factor. It does a satisfactory job, but then you are into the problems you are talking about. A lot of practice helps to find the subject and a sight helps too.

At any rate do a search on the forums I mentioned and you should find a lot of reading.

I also think visiting at the Under Water, Over Land forum would be helpful. There is alway some type of thread about long lenses and associated gear.

Look up this websight below for the Ronsight that will solve the problem of finding distant subjects with telephoto lenses on an XL series camera. I've just taken delivery of one and it works a treat with my 80-400mm Nikkor mounted on my XL2. It is possible to get Nikon adaptors as well as Canon from independent manufacturors. Bear in mind that all 35mm SLR lenses will behave as if they are 7.2 times longer if shooting 16X9 on an XL camera and will all have to be manually focussed. You will also need lenses that have a manual aperture ring.

http://www.ronsrail.com/Ronsight.html

Thanks for the quick responses guys, brilliant.

Will, as I had said I tried the 70-200 mm at 200mm and compared to the 20x stock lens it appeared to have about the same magnification so not sure if there was some trick to it but it looked about the same FOV. Will try and get some better results than my earlier search attempts.

Cheers

Colin

Will, as I had said I tried the 70-200 mm at 200mm and compared to the 20x stock lens it appeared to have about the same magnification so not sure if there was some trick to it but it looked about the same FOV. Will try and get some better results than my earlier search attempts.
No way that they could be the same magnification. Quote from Chris Hurd XLH1 Watchdog regarding the 20x HD lens:
http://dvinfo.net/canonxlh1/xlh1skinny.php
The field of view in 35mm still photo equivalents is 38.9mm at full wide to 778mm at full telephoto when recording in its native 16:9 aspect ratio.
To use any of Canons ef-lenses you need an ef-adapter. Due to the smaller chip on the camcorder than on 35mm cameras you got a crop factor of 7.2x with ANY ef-lens. The 70-200mm will therefore be in 35mm still photo equivalents, 504mm at the 70mm end and 1440mm at the 200mm end.

Does anyone know what the equivalent focal length is for the stock 20x (without anu extender) ?

Cheers

In 35mm equivalent the stock 20x is about 41-777mm