Hey people I'm getting ready to buy my XL2, what accessories do you recommend for someone moderately serious to serious. I don't have a lot of money for accessories, about 1000 bucks max, that includes case, tripod and everything! Let me know yall's favorite picks! Thanks so much!
Jonathan

well it depends a lot on what you are planning on shooting

Tripod and head is IMO very important but if you always shoot handheld then of course not.

That item alone will take at least 600 off your budget. If you shoot a lot of tripod a lanc controller is important as well there goes the rest of your budget. An external LCD screen is also nessecary for tripod shooting

Audio may be important. Wireless mic set such as the sennheiser will run about 500 - 600. Additional mics as nessecary

Filters. Polarizers, ND filters, grad ND, ...

Additional batteries, dual battery charger to be mounted on camera

Video lights if you do interviews and stuff like that

EF lens adapter if you do wildlife shooting and want to use EF glass for long distance

case depends on what you need it for. Storage, carrying around, traveling. Cases will cost you between 200 and 500 or so depending on what you need. You can get softcases or hard shell type cases such as pelican.

forgot. if the XL2 will be your only camera another inexpensive camera or a DV deck to use as capture deck so you dont have to use the camera might be a good idea as well.

Dont know if you have any editing station yet but you may need to update your PC depending on what you have. Enough power and disk space and some DV editing software (Vegas, Premiere, FCP,..)

The dual battery charger is really important in my opinion because it not only gives you many hours of recording time, but it distributes the total weight well should you want to do handheld work.

I agree with all the above and place my 3x lens and 16x manual lens near the top of my important list. They allow so much more flexibility in what I can do.
Dave M.

Thanks so much yall, I think you're onto something with the dual battery charger, as well as the tripod, but I think for now I'm probably gonna be mostly going for handheld shots. Anyone know of a good body rig for the xl2, glidecam, etc.?

I'm getting my XL2 in about a week and there are a few things I'll definitely be getting.

The first and most important is a battery upgrade. Get at least one BP-945 because the standard battery just doesn't cut it. You should look at getting the dual battery charger, as well.

The second accessory I'll eventually be getting is the Firestore FS-4. If you haven't researched it, check out the DTE forums here: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=60

Tripods are nice but I won't use one a lot so I will hold off for now. I'll definitely get a few mics and filters sooner or later.

If you're looking at getting a steadicam, don't pay more than $20 for it! My friend made one of these and it works great. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/


Hope this helps,

-mark

... If you're looking at getting a steadicam, don't pay more than $20 for it! My friend made one of these and it works great. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/


Mark's right! It's truly neat and works amazingly well for practically no cost.

--Ralph