What if you could somehow manage to put an anamorphic 16:9 widescreen lens / adapter on XL2 and shoot in 16:9 mode, that way widescreening it to 1:2.35 aspect ratio and utilizing all of the vertical pixels available? That way we'd have better picture quality with minor post hassle (but you can always adjust aspect ratio to what it should be).

They did something like that when they shot Dancer In The Dark 5 years ago. It was shot on DSR-PD150 PAL with custom anamorphic lens that produced 1:2.35 in-camera aspect ratio.

So, what do you think? good idea? crazy idea? good crazy idea?

comments, ideas, pros & cons are welcome!

This idea has been discussed here on the boards a couple of times
already, not specifically to the XL2. Yes it should work, however,
think about the final delivery format as well. If it is DVD you will
not gain any resolution increase since DVD only supports 16:9
anamorphic, not 2.35 (which you would need to do through an
additional letterboxing phase).

The only reason I could think of doing this if you are going out to
film, but I don't know of a single person on this board that has
actually done that for a full movie (they made).

Also keep in mind that such an adaptor might introduce optical
problems or limit zoom ranges etc.