It's official, I'm an idiot, and I'm really close to buying this camera.

Did you get your XL2 from an Internet Warehouse or a local shop? I've always liked supporting local business, as opposed to a web page. But for the sales tax on an XL2, I could almost buy a 0.7 wide converter, or a cheap wireless! Is there anything to gain buying local? I don't think they are a Canon repair shop, so the cam would still have to take the boat for repairs

I've also heard of 'early adopter' problems with the XL2 (mainly from Sony/Pana boards). The only believable problem I've heard about is back focus, other problems seem kind of iffy and I'm not going to perpetuate what could be rumor by posting them here. All I hear from this board is raves. Has anyone had a problem with the three month production run XL2?

PS: some other cameras I studied at before deciding XL2
Sony PD170, DVX100, JVC GYDV5000U

Hi Jeff,

I agree with the sentiment of supporting local businesses, and buy a lot of my equipment there. Yes, sales tax can take a bite out of your wallet. Note however that many states are now getting proactive about collecting tax on things that you buy elsewhere. For example, here in NJ the the income tax form contained dire warnings that they expected payment of sales tax for all out-of-state purchases and offered the opportunity to declare them. I have no idea if they could really catch you, but ended up voluntarily paying some tax anyway. My concern was that I was already claiming a tax exemption on some of this out-of-state equipment. You might want to check the Missouri tax code on this and discuss with your accountant (BTW, I was born and raised in St. Louis myself :-)

If you do buy online then be careful because there are a lot of questionable sites. We like to encourage everyone to buy from our sponsors since they support DVinfo.net and you can be assured of their integrity. Here are some links to the XL-2 at DVinfo sponsors' websites:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=339002&is=REG

http://www.evsonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=9549A001

http://www.zgc.com/zgc.nsf/c7a682995edb4e7585256b4d001ebd57/f49553736a52f64985256ed100720395?OpenDocument

http://www.zotzdigital.com/item.php?pid=937&mysession=9d4c30ca1c5aebdf853a05eb04648686

I usually go for low prices, never at the expense of the seller's reputation though, but for the XL2 I decided to buy locally.

It helped that I got an amazing price on the thing, but I would have bought it here anyway. Just for warranty purposes. It's less hastles just to bring it back to the store if something is wrong with it. They take care of the rest.

You don't have to pay for shipping and often, if it needs to be sent somewhere else for more complex repairs, they have their own fast carriers.

The XL2 was too expensive and too delicate a piece of equipment for me to buy out of town. Personal choice, but it helps me sleep... ;-)

My situation might not be the best example since I don't pay any taxes when I buy work goods, I get them refunded through my business tax number. But if I had had to pay close to $900 CND in taxes, I might have decided to buy out of province after all.

Regarding early model issues, I bought the camera about a month ago, and have not noticed back focus problems with the stock lens. I have not experienced the "loose EVF" problem some have been complaining about either. In fact, there was no problem whatsoever right out of the box.

Thanks for all the quick replies guys :)

David,
<It helped that I got an amazing price on the thing>
If you don't mind, what kind of deal did you get? Is it typical to get a break when buying something like this?

I got the XL2 for $5700 CND + taxes at L.L. Lozeau in Montreal, which amounted to about $4500 USD at the time, though with either the Canadian device gaining value or the US dollar losing some, the margin has been reduced and it would now be closer to $4800 US (without taxes).

Just a quick note, out of fairness to the authorized dealers who sponsor our message board, and to provide the best service possible to those who are looking to buy, we really tend to discourage discussions of dealers who do not support this site.

Hiya Chris,
I didn't mean to get that in depth about dealers, but I guess that's where it went, sorry. In all fairness, I've spent over $10k at BH _This_Year_ (not bad for a hobbyist) and I have no problem with them or any dvinfo sponsor I've spoken with.

Thanks Jeff -- a great thing about buying locally is that you can walk the camera back in if you have a problem with it later. All of our sponsors who deal over the net have excellent return policies, though.