I own a Canon XL1s and the supplied mic gives nice, rich sound. But I could not figure out a way to boom it because the cord is too short. ALAS, I contacted a friend who made, from scratch, a 30 foot mic cable for my Canon-supplied stereo mic. It sounds fabulous.

Now for the dilemma: I have nothing to compare it to. Can anybody give me their comparison experiences between the Canon stereo mic and a Sennheiser, Azden or Audio Technica shotgun for independent film applications? I need to know if I should go through the added expense of an XLR adapter. I hope this question doesn't sound stupid.

I think an XLR adapter is only of value when you are going to be
using different MIC's. The more professional ones generally use
XLR to the best of my knowledge.

Hugh,

If you're running a 30ft long unbalanced (not XLR) mic cable, then you are at great risk for EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference). Not sure what your setup is but it sounds like you might be better off running 28ft of XLR cable to a mic from the cam. The shorter your unbalanced run is the less likely to pick up stray noise.

I just checked Canon's site and was surprised to find that the XL1s does not have XLR ins. Guess your best bet is either Canons MA100 or a aftermarket (BeachTec/Sign/Studio1) adapter.