Is the dual-purpose button designated for color bars and film grain functions suppose to bring up each with successive presses? I can turn the color bars selection on and off, but I see no indication for the grain effect in the viewfinder. Must I go into another menu to switch to this function or do I have a possible malfunction? (The adjacent button simply turns the color bars on or shuts them off once I've selected them).

Hi Dave,

The film grain effect was removed from the XL2, the thinking being, that it's
better to add it in post.

Terry

Thanks for the heads-up. I gathered they did away with it (a wise move), and noticed they've even removed any reference to it from the more recent cameras.

While my XL2 and the owner's manual that came with it do refer to it, curiously, the function itself appears to be nonexistent. The result of a transitional phase-out period, perhaps?

What set me to wonder if the feature had been activated was my last shoot, which was unusually grainy. I'm not sure what other explanation there could have been, as I'm quite sure my gain control was set low. Any thoughts?

I've noticed grain is much less noticeable when using the cinema settings. If your used to that, and switched it off for some reason, you'd probably notice the extra grain.

The film grain effect was removed from the XL2, the thinking being, that it's better to add it in post.

Yes, it's gone. And, as Terry points out, this is just one of the features that you would rather apply in post.

-- peer