Before the newness of the XL2 fades it's a good time to review its features against the lengthy "XL2 Wish List (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2796)" thread that Nathan started over two years ago, shortly after the XL1S was introduced.

I do not have an XL2 but casual review of this lengthy thread indicates that Canon 'done good'! No, they did not deliver an HDV camera. But they managed to deliver a product that stayed just within the boundaries of "prosumer" (so as not to potentially alienate/compete against their pro-camera lens customers) while also delivering a product that's arguably a significant functional and performance expansion on the XL platform.

Not to be forgotten is that Chris personally presented Canon with key excerpts from this list. No, I'm not suggesting that Canon used it as a to-do list. But I am reminding us all that Chris made our opinions visible with Canon USA's management. It could not have counted for nothing in their design planning.

When Canon USA first showed the XL2 to me, they said that their primary consideration guiding its design and feature set was the input from the existing base of XL1 and XL1S users. In other words, the XL2 was built with XL1 / XL1S owners foremost in mind. DV Info Net members as well as others who have followed the XL1 Watchdog over the years can rest assured that their input as given on these message boards was indeed looked at carefully by Canon USA and taken to Canon Inc. in Japan during the XL2's planning stages (in fact, managers carried hard-copy printouts of the old "XL2 Wishlist" thread from DV Info Net with them on the plane ride overseas). Thanks Ken,