I was reading the watchdog article on the CCD target areas and how the XL2 creates its 'true' 16:9 effect. I was wondering then whether this is of any detriment, other than decreased resolution to the 4:3 setting, which I plan to use for my next film.

Hi Edward,

You should understand that resolution in 4:3 mode is NOT decreased. It's 720 x 480, which is exactly what standard 4:3 DV calls for. There is no "loss" associated with 4:3 mode in the XL2.

thanks much for the info!

Chris is, of course, correct. There is no loss of resolution when going to 4:3 on the XL2. In fact, after viewing a resolution chart from the 4:3 XL2, it's surprisingly crisp and sharp.

What you lose when you go to 4:3 is a little bit of the field of view, you won't be able to get shots that are quite as wide-angle as you could in 16:9. Other than that, it looks like everything stays pretty much the same.