Hello From Whistler,

I am an avid still phtographer who is starting to make the transition
to video. I own an XL1S and have some specific questions which I'm
sure many of you know the answers to. Your help would be appreciated.
I'll be shooting alot in the snow ( skiers and whatnot ) so my first question is
as follows; does an XL1 behave like an SLR in terms of exposure
compensation? When shooting scenes with lots of white ( snow ), should
I be opening up the iris a stop or more. I tend to use the XL1S mostly in
manual manual mode, so when the camera is indicating proper exposure
should I be over exposing a touch instead. Also, any general comments
about shooting skiers and boarders ( exposure and shutter ) would be
great. Thanks and I'm happy to be joining all of you on the board.
Glen

Glen:

I'll let someone else discuss shutter preferences, but as far as exposure, it may help to think of video's latitude curve as being more similar to slide film than negative. Expose for the highlights, because they tend to blow out if overexposed. Stopping down in snow is definitely the right idea--just don't expect to hold much detail in the snow even still!

Mate, you're in luck.

I've been doing just that since 99 when I bought my XL1, and even shot at Whistler, Blackcomb Park to be precise.

The XL1 is like an SLR in the exposure respect. I generally shoot in TV(shutter speed mode) and set the Exposure Compensation dial to +1.5. to avoid the grey snow syndrome. I use manual focus and a polariser on the front of the lens(not the standard ND) to control the glare and keep detail in the snow.

I usually set my shutter speed between 1000 and 4000 and my gain to -3db depending on the depth of field I want to achieve. I found using manual is too difficult to control as the light conditions vary so much and so quickly, especially if it isn't total bluebird.

For the terrain park and especially the pipe, get your hands on a 3x wide lens or a WA adapter. The Century WA adapter is probably a better choice as you can zoom through it if you need to.

Whistler is an awesome place, so is all of BC for that matter. So get out back and show everyone that 16mm isn't the only way to shoot awesome footage.

Guys,

Thanks for the tips. Adrian, what a hoot. I spent the last 7 years in
Yokohama teaching music at Yokohama International School so it
seems funny that you should be one of the first to reply. I seem to remember reading something about you in Tokyo Classfied when I lived there. Am I right?
Further to your response, I'm trying to get my head around a couple of things re: the camera's controls. If I leave my gain set on A, does this in fact
over ride the exposure compsensation setting? Second question: why such a
high shutter speed? I realize that the polarizer is going to be stripping
some light but doesn't this high a shutter speed create some problems
with the image in motion? Do you really need this fast a shutter ( 1000-
4000 ) to achieve good depth of field? I know this last point is a bit vague,
which is somewhat reflective of my thinking right at the moment.
Anyway, thanks Adrian and Steadichupap. This board is just an amazing
source of information. Glen

<< I spent the last 7 years in Yokohama... so it
seems funny that you should be one of the first to reply. >>

Par for the course around here. It's really weird how this happens, but believe me I ain't complaining about it. Welcome aboard,