Hi,

This is kinda linked to my filming meteor showers post in general topics but thought it best to post here.

Is there a low light level lens available that will fit onto an XL1? My main interest would be to film metoer showers but some night time wildlife filming would come a very close second.


Regards

Nick

By "low light lens" I guess you mean a fast lens? If you do the standard XL lens is one of the fastest video lenses around. You could try the manual lens but I has the same max of F1.6.

To get any faster you'd have to go to 35mm SLR lenses and then your limiting your self to something that is gonna cost you more that the camera and isn't a zoom lens. There are 2 options as far as Canon lenses go and they are:

1. EF 50mm/F1.0/1.4/1.8 The F1.8 version isn't much good and really shouldn't be considered. The F1.0 version costs about the same as a new GL2, so I'd be looking at the F1.4 version.

2. EF200/F1.8 A fantastic lens worth more than a new XL1s, would be a fantastic piece of glass to sling off the end of your XL but you would have no zoom or money left in your pocket.

To use any of these lenses you'd also need a Canon EF-XL adapter.

There are lots of lenses available from other manufactures like Nikon, Sigma etc, but by the time you adapt them you'd be better off using the standard XL1 lens with your camera set to the slowest shutter speed 1/6PAL 1/8NTSC.

There are at least two "night vision" lens attachments that operate in the UV spectrum for seeing in the dark. One is from Electro Physics, the other from Optex. These devices attach in between the XL1 camera body and lens. Can't recall the price but I believe they're in the range of USD$8000. Primary application is surveillance and law enforcement.

The difference between F1.6 and F1.4 is not even a half a stop in exposure. Not really worth worrying about. The $8000 is the less expensive of the two. The other runs $12,000 to $15,000 depending on accessories.

Jeff

I saw the optex at NAB three years ago. They said it
cost about $5K, and if you had lights turn on at a bad time,
you blow the electronics.

Ummmm ok, i don't think i'll be getting one of those in a hurry. Thanks for the info though guys.


Nick

Keep in mind that the CCD prism block sets/limits the aperture to a max of f/1.6. Using a larger aperture lens will not provide any speed benefit.