My Xl1s has started telling me to eject my tapes each time I go to a second tape. (I have tried many brands)

I have had the camera for a year and have just had an annual maintenances done at the country's only repair shop
(Canon NZ)

They have never heard of this problem! There is nothing on it in the manual in trouble shooting.

Strange!.. why would there be a software command to tell me to eject the tape, if it wasn't accoicated to a system file and action proptocol.

I feel I am out on my own here.

The tape will go again after 15 mins. Is this an over heating problem? The operating room temperature here is only around 20o C

Bryan, I just had the same thing happen. I saw in the manual that it could be caused by iether humidity in the camcorder or dirty heads. I ran a cleaner through it, same message. I let it sit with the door open and in 1/2 hour the problem went away. I live in Atlanta, GA and went from AC to 90 plus humidity. How this helps. Bob

Bryan

<< I have tried many brands >>

There's your problem. Using different brands will definitely gum up the heads. Try Bob's suggestions above, and if that doesn't work, then you'll need to send the camera to Canon factory service and have it professionally cleaned. When you get it back, choose *one* brand of tape and don't switch brands again. Hope this helps,

Thanks for the replies. The problem is, Like I just said, I just had the camera serviced and the heads cleaned and in this neck of the woods we don't get any level of humidity.
If you are right, what is the best tape brand to go with?

Same thing is happening with my XL1. Every now and then I get an EJECT TAPE warning message. If I take the tape out play it in a deck and reinsert it in the camera it is fine. Also it happens in the middle of a tape for no reason. Take the tape out insert another one, no problems... It is intermitent, I could not so far pinpoint any reason. I live and work in dry climate, the heads are clean... and I used only one type of tape from day one.

Try replacing your backup battery.

Hi Bryan and Valeriu,

Did Ken's suggestion work? Wouldn't that be amazing!!

From what I've read in other places, the problem you're experiencing isn't unheard of with Canon cameras. If replacing the backup battery didn't help, it looks like you've got two choices: Live with it, which is what others seem to be doing, or send it back to Canon and hope that the problem occurs during their testing so they can try to fix it.

For those living with it, they're trying things like keeping a deck on hand and running the tape in it for a few seconds. Do a Google search if you want to see more.

Not being able to count on my camera would drive me crazy. I'd send the thing back to Canon with precise written detail (such as what you posted here) so they know how to test--and for how long. As you know, you’d get an estimate from them on the repair charges, so you could back out if it seemed too expensive.

To answer your tape question, Bryan, there's a very knowledgeable guy here named Frank who has reason to believe Fuji's are good for the XL1s. Do a search on the tape forum here for more info. I switched one of my problem cameras to Fuji tapes. Haven't noticed a huge difference, but I like the tapes just fine, although they're harder to find locally for some reason.

I hope you're back to uninterrupted shooting soon!

Thanks everyone for your replies, it's good to have a users community.
So how do we get Canon out of bed with this one. Surely there must be some real person in thier organisation who must speak.

OK, I was wrong, I just got finished doing a wedding for a friend in Breckenridge, Colorado. NO HUMIDITY. During the rehersel the Canon flashed "Eject Tape". I eject, close the door and it works fine. After about 6 -8 on - off's later, it happens again. This keeps going on. So, the minute the bride comes down the trail (it was an outdoor wedding), I shoot and NEVER stop through the whole thing, even shots from me climbing a ladder tied to a pine tree to get the shot (her father's idea, not mine), the bride after the actual ceramomy, over 40 minutes later. It worked, but the Canon goes in for service this week. Bob Safay

Replaced the battery, same thing.
I put in a "cleaning tape" that was accepted.

Talk about coincidence. I did a wedding this weekend (Saturday) and about half way through a tape (luckily I was documenting the photoshoot) I got the EJECT message (first time since I got my XL1 back in 2001). Throughout the remaining use of the tape I would get the EJECT message. So I would eject the tape and insert it again. When I switched to a new tape it was OK after that.

Did some more shooting today (Sunday) for the Montreal Dragon Boat race and everything was OK.

Could be something wrong with the tape or the physical tape cartridge itself.

Well the Canon came back from the service center in NJ. They cleaned the heads, replaced the idler gear assembly, drive gear assembly and slide chassis assembly and performed tape path adjustment...$252.84. Spent a full day with it up in TN shooting whitewater rafters. No problems. Oh, last time I sent it in was Sept 2003. They replaced the same stuff and charged...252.84. But it sure is worth it. Bob