Hi from Sunny South Africa - Kruger National Park

Hi all
I am from sunny South Africa and I live in THE best national park in the world - Kruger National Park; with lions, elephants, leopards, beautiful sunsets, tranquility, etc all around me.

I have recently purchased a Canon XL1 and intend to use it in several ways:
* own archive of experiences in Kruger National Park - nature is wonderful!
* events in the area
* weddings in the area
* general use

At the moment I don't have any editing equipment but are looking at something like the RT2000/5 for this purpose. I am very new to DV but I love it already.

Best regards
Danie Pretorius
Skukuza
Kruger National Park

Sounds like you have a setting that REQUIRES an XL-1! What a great place to shoot some video. I hope you'll post some shots online soon so we can see what it's like.

BTW - I use Final Cut Pro on a Mac - a great setup for editing. The newer Macs even let you burn DVDs. If you haven't bought already...check it out.

We run a digital media studio in New Mexico. I'm a full-time Semiconductor Engineer for Sumitomo Sitix Silixon, Inc.; however, enjoy working in the Studio with the creative side of designing web sites, multi-media based training, and corporate videos.

Just purchased the XL1S and having a lot of fun learning the various features.

Hi Robert,

I live in Korea now, but when I was a kid I lived in the Texas Panhandle and we spent a lot of time in New Mexico...especially in Clovis, Ruidoso, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque.

I loved it there...so I'm considering New Mexico when I move back to the States. In your opinioin, is there much of a market there for commercial photography and videography? I worry that Santa Fe and Taos are glutted with photographers, and that Albuquerque might not have that big a market.

I consider Austin my U.S. home now...but when I left there I was having a hard time competing with so many talented photographers, many of whom were already a bit wealthy when they started out and able to have top of the line studios and afford tons of advertising.

I figure Austin, Santa Fe, and Taos aren't exactly the norm to judge other places by. All three are relatively wealthy, small, and full of creative people. I think I'm a pretty good photographer (portraits, commercial, fashion...and...gulp...weddings), but I'd rather move to a place where the market isn't quite so saturated with competition where you're forced to keep up with the Joneses in advertising.

Any thoughts on places in New Mexico?

I'm new to DV, though not to film/video. I owned my own small production studio and taught film in graduate school. I am a professional photographer by education and currently I am the Dept. Chair in Commercial Photography at Antonelli College in Cincinnati, Ohio. A small art college with 150 photo students, as well as Commercial Art and Interior Design programs.
I have been a Mac fan(atic) for 12 years now (owned the original MacII, with a screaming 2 megs of RAM) and even worked for Mac tech support for a year. I currently own a G4 450DP w/ 512 megs RAM, two 40G drives and a Pioneer super drive. Last week I bought an XL1s and the 3X zoom. I'm in love. Still haven't settled on the wireless audio, so if you have a suggestion...I'm open.
I intend to do weddings until I pay it off (I used to run my own wedding studio with 6 photographers) and dabble in some other things that interest me. My goal is to get some of my footage on the last two minutes of CBS Sunday Morning.
I really appreciate Chris and the job he does on this site. I had already pretty much decided on the XL1 and found out about the XL1s on this site. Used our local supplier to get the kit and 3x for $5K+ tax. I look forward to being part of this community.

John,

I was born in Seoul in ’67. Small World.

I’ve been doing video production here in New Mexico concentrating on Government and Semiconductor based video in lieu of my profession; however, have had a lot of work through the Universities here. The City of Albuquerque is highly saturated with video and film companies – especially now with the Hollywood influence – more films are being shot out here in New Mexico.

Hello to all.

There are three speed guns in our little burg of 200 and, of course, my XL-1. The speed guns make more revenue than my XL-1 does, but then I don't enforce the 25 mph speed zone & school crossing 24 hours a day, 7 days week either.

Least ways, I have a home brew PII, 128MB, dual drives, running W2K and Media 100's CineStream 3.0.1. Great NLE.

The XL-1 is a nice rig and works well. I use it with a Sennheisser eW112p (Evolution 100 omni lav mic) which performs very, very well. My hand mics also work just fine Senn. body pack transmitter.

Most of the work is for Southern Cyclist Magazine & Productions[tm]. We do web based vids and will have more in the future. I do lots of single person shoots.

BTW, Chris has been after me to put together an article on building an extension cord for the XL-1 mic. Mine's about 25' long and works fine, but is a little twitchy to be relied upon in all conditions. On single person shoots I run the audio through an FRS and use the FRS as IFB. The IFB works great.

By early next year, I plan to sell my pristine XL-1 to get the S. So if you know anyone interested, drop me a line. I ain't gonna give it away, but I will deal.

Later,
Nathan Gifford
http://www.southerncyclist.com

Chris:

Nice job setting this up - I have been waiting for such a creature.

I originally bought my XL-1 over two years ago thanks specifically to your original Watchdog site.

I just recently finished my first narrative project, a 30-minute short "Soliloquy". More info on my web-site at www.xiveren.com

Mike D from Atlanta Ga.

http://www.tekvideo.net for more info about me.

Stephen,

Would you be willing to share how you compressed the Quicktime Trailers? Did you use Cleaner?

Cleaner EZ that came with the Premiere 6. I used custom settings rather than template settings to improve the look and sound.

It's quite apparent that there is a global presence here within this chat group. One other chat group I read from time to time is the one at DV.com. As a matter of fact, I discovered the Watchdog site via DV.com. Thanks, Chris and others.

Just before packing up my posessions in Columbus, OH in early August, I acquired one of the first 5 Canon XL-1S cameras that became available at ProMax in California. These people are great to deal with, and seem to be knowledgeable about the gear they sell.

I am now living in the Philippines permanently with my wife (originally from here) and am shooting to documentary projects right now, both of which deal with Philippine-American history.

Anyone expecting to shoot in the Philippines with or without their own gear should consult with me re. survival tips. I have lived here off and on for about two years now (thanks to two Fulbright Scholar Fellowships (1995-96 & 2000-2001).

I now teach a couple of courses at one of the premiere universities here, De La Salle. I hope to participate within the various topic areas of this new chat group.

By the way, I got my MFA at New York Univ Grad film school in 1975, so I am schooled in "film". This is why I love many of the features of XL-1 when in full Manual mode, you dig?

Collis Davis

Hi Danie,

I am from Alberton and visit Berg-en-dal on a regular basis. Perhaps we could swop notes the next time i am down. May even bring my editing station so you can have a first hand look at the DVRaptor card using Premier as an editing package.

Regards
Andrew Leigh

aleigh@iafrica.com

hai my name is David Slingerland. I have been working as a cameraman for dutch television for the past 4 years. I have great interest in fcp and i am currently looking for ways to expand my business to other fields of interest. i own an xl1 I like the camera a lot,and hope to shoot some great material in the coming years. I am planning to shoot a documentary about storytelling. the watchdog was very helpful in solving some of the problems and making me decide witch camera to buy. so thank you!!

Thanks -- did you go to IBC last month? If so, how was the show? I was really looking forward to being there, but alas, bad things happen and I know of *no* Americans who actually attended. Thanks again,

Hi, my name is Roman Dirge and I'm currently making several short films with my Xl1-s. I'm a writer on Nickelodeon's Invader Zim and I'm in development hell with my own series and a movie with Columbia tri-Star. I'm interested in absorbing all DV info into my sponge-like brain.

There were some interesting things to see like all the new HD cameras and a great show by adobe and lots of info about mac software. The canon xl1 S was there to be seen (done by optex) they gave it a full specs outfit with there own manual lens, focuspuller(if thats what you call it in english) matte box with an assortiment of filters. it looked just like a filmcamera!
people wise, it was however slow and that had everything to do with the disaster in new york.this was really a shame because there was also less business from the states. I was hoping to get my hands on some of your camera magazines (video) the ones i can not find here.
Lets hope that everybody makes it next time and that includes you to! it would have been nice to meet you. good luck to everybody and lets hope the dark clouds will vaporate and we can all live happy together.

Hello, my name is Charlie Pérez. I'm a PD from Barcelona (Spain) (and an enthusiastic XL1' s camera operator ;-) )
I'm working on 35 mm films, and TV. And I'm trying to introduce the HDCAM format on spots and movies, but It's a hard work...

I'm very interested on working on documentary, so if someone needs crew to make some project on Spain, please, feel fre to contact with me.

My address: charlie@rendium.com

I'm making a movie with the XL1 (the first on this country) with a lot of visual FX.
The 3d coordinator it's my colaborator DVIL a very famous animator on 3d. If you wan't to see some of our works you can go to www.rendium.com

Well, feel free to contact with me to talk about DV and some related topics.

Thank you

C YA

James from sunny Britain here. Based in Poole. Dorset on the south coast.Do a lot of work at sea and looking for anyone who knows where I can get my hands on a waterproof housing for a Canon XL1?
Any replies gladly recieved.

Cheers,


James Ellerton

James,

There is a waterproof housing around, but it's designed for scuba diving, with the XL1 in side it is almost impossible to use it out of the water as it relies on bouyancy to make the package handleable. I can't remember who makes it but i can tell you it was a major housing manufacturer

Hola Charlie.

Soy Markus, aleman pero vivo en Madrid. Trabajo con la XL-1s para la tele alemana. Tienes alguna idea donde se puede comprar este adaptador (MM-XL1) para evitar que el micrófono coga el ruido del zoom?

Un saludo,

Markus

Roman,

Great to see another comic book creator pursuing DV. My partner and I created an indy comic book, S.E.A.L.S. and have written two screenplays along with an animation pilot that we are about to begin storyboarding.

We may even try to mix a live action and animation trailer to gain some interest. Had some good reads but agents aren't the best at envisioning comic book concepts.

Good luck.

Wayde Gardner
Right Field Films

Hola Markus.

Supongo que te refieres al adaptador para microfonos con conexion tipo Canon. Es decir los de tres pins y balanceados. Realmente tenemos la suerte de que accesorios para la XL1 se pueden encontrar muy facilmente en cualquier tienda donde vendan videocamaras profesionales. Yo vivo en Barcelona y aqui se puede comprar en ARPÍ-SERRA. En Madrid supongo que incluso si preguntas en la FNAC lo puedes encontrar.

Si quieres un directorio de distribuidores en España, te aconsejo que visites www.cinevideo20.com encontraras toda la informacion que necesites.

Nos vemos.

P.D. tengo curiosidad por saber que tipo de trabajos haces con la XL1. Explicame algo mas..

Hola Charlie:

es que busco el adaptor que elimine el ruido del zoom que normalmente el microfono coge. Te das cuenta cuando no hay mucho sonido de ambiente. Estoy ahora intendando comprarlo en EEUU.

Yo trabajo aqui como freelance para dos cadenas de television en Alemania. Hasta dos semanas hize mis informes con la XM-1 pero ahora empiezo con la XL1s. Tengo un sistema ya elaborado para hacer un monton de grabaciones solo. (yo se que soy el enemigo de los camaras).

Asi hize ya un reportaje de 13 minutos sobre el tema de inmigracion.

Un saludo,

Markus

Good to see a mix of animation and DV. I'm currently looking for a manga artist to do some snowboarding sequences for a sports video I'm working on.

Originally from Joeys, now living in Houston, TX, but should be back in SA around Dec '02 and ready to shoot some wildlife-related doccies. In the meantime I am looking forward to seeing the Boks come to town and kick some Eagles butt!

Looking at buying an XL1S or similar, however, my dilemma has been whether to buy an NTSC for the next year or a PAL and deal with the extra price and always having to convert while I'm still in the US.

Got a budget of $6000 but hoping to streeeeetch that out to include ENG package AND NLE system, maybe impossible. XL1S alone is coming in at about $3500.

For those of you in SA, what's the current price in Rands for an XL1S and a MAC G4 with FCP 2?

Can one shoot NTSC and edit/output PAL and/or visa versa on FCP?

Health & Happiness
Guy

guypringle@hotmail.com
Africat Productions
713-665-5394

Hi James,

I'm sure there are others but here's a few to start with:

STE-MAN INC., 800-845-6619 (USA), stemaninc@aol.com. I think they are local distributors for EWA MARINE.

R.T.S. INC. are also advertising the same EWA-MARINE housing and their details are: 800-519-0022, rtsinc@erols.com, wwwRTSphoto.com

ZGC Inc. in NY have the Spintec Rain Deflector.

B&H in NY sell:
EWA-MARINE - for the XL1 it is #VXL and is $849.95
GATES - Gates Diego Housing for XL1 is for more serious underwater work.
(August 2001 catalogue) Check out bhphotovideo.com

Hope that helps.

Health & Happiness
Guy Pringle

guypringle@hotmail.com
Africat Productions
713-665-5394

Hi!
Am I the only german DV(i) user here...? If there is some german or german speaking DV-FIlmer here, please say hello!

ZoLO

Here I am!

Bin Deutscher, wohne aber in Madrid. Mit was arbeitest Du?
Ich habe die XM-1 und die XL-1s.

Gruß,

Markus

HI!
Hab eine XL1s inclusive aller Fehler, die da ding so hat! Frisst deine auch Tapes beim zurückspulen?
Hast du schonmal versucht, Mit der XL1 aufgenommene Tapes in einem NICHT SONY oder NICHT CANON player abzuspielen? (JVC, PANASONIC)

Bin echt ein wenig gepestet... Solche Kinderkrankheiten sollte ein Gerät mit dem Preis eigentlich nicht haben...

Aber vielleicht sollten wir da im XL1 Forum posten und nicht in der Neighbours Rubrik!

ZoLO

Hi,

tja, ich weiß auch nicht so recht, was ich sagen soll. Wir hatten heute erst wieder das Problem, dass ein Tape nicht im Panasonic-Player läuft. Da mussten wir alles erst auf Beta kopieren......Schei...!

Ich werde mich aber in dieser Woche noch mit Canon in Verbindung setzen, weil ich nicht einsehe, dass der Schritt von der XM-1 zur XL-1 zu einem Rückschritt wird.

Wo ich allerdings Glück habe, ist beim Bandsalat. Nichts bisher, Gott sei Dank. Ich nehme IMMER die TDK DVM 60, und dann nur im SP.

Gruß,

Markus

GF Beranek, Tree climber, timber faller, author of "Fundamentals of General Tree Work" 512 pages and hundres of photots. Author of "A Tree Story" on CD rom, PDF format, hundreds of full color photos and true stories of climbing the giants. And soon to come "a video of the same"
Always another adventure, huh? And so I'm taking on a video production of climbing the giants. All hands on "how to".
Video production? I'm stumbling with it a bit, but it's going to be great trial to win. And I'm doing it now by finding links to sites like this and other forums to pick up on the tips I read in them all. Very, very helpful. The learning curve isn't so steep now. Thank you all.
GF Beranek. Proud owner of a new Rex M1, RT, Xplode, Nt OS, SM P6DGE, dual 600s, gig of ram and gigs of video drive. Oh, and a vx- 1000 to take to the tree tops and GVD300 on the desktop to feed the rex. Always another adventure!
Beranek@mcn.org

No, but I'm Bohemian and live in Ft. Bragg, California. Got to meet a few tree guys from your neck of the woods at some trade shows in the states. German tree guys. Climbers, timber fallers. Nice folks. Have plans to get out your way someday.
I'm currently taking on a project of videoing tree climbing. I'm new at video, but have links to many forums and read "all" the imput you find in them. Good stuff! Answers lots of my questions without having to ask them.
What are you doing with video? curious. You'll find my link right next to yours in this site. "Born and raised in the Redwoods" All the best. GF Beranek.

For operating on a shoestring you guys have really made some success. With minimum equipment and all. It's the hard work that does it. Love to hear stories like yours. Congrats! All the best, GF Beranek.

Love your comment about cheap lighting, tripod conversion and duct tape. Been there alot myself putting together some past projects. Mainly publishing where many of the photos I used in a book were taken with an infared remote controlled camera place up to 200 feet from the subject, me in a tree. That remote had a mind of it own sometimes and would burn a roll of Kodachrome faster than my spit could hit the ground. Problem was it was set to take stills instead of full motordrive. Still doing basically the same thing, but with video now. Me, being the cameraman and subject in the trees. Always worked with volunterr help, thank God for friends. But I can't always get them when I need them. So I improvise and find ways of doing it all myself. Results in a lot of wasted time, but the little bit I glean always seems worth it. Up in the trees duct tape works great to hold the camera on a birds perch.

TDK TAPES Benutze ich gar nicht!
Die haben eine zu dünne Trägerschicht und verlieren leicht maal was von der Magnetbeschichtung... Ich han zwei mal mit TDK Tapes gerbeitet... da is die reinigungskassette echt heiss gelaufen... :)
Bin jetzt bei Canon oder Panasonic tapes gelandet...

Ich benutze sie nur einmal und deshalb habe ich noch nie ein Problem gehabt. Werde jetzt gleich aber meine XL1s auf Reise nach Barcelona schicken, da das Gerät überprüft werden muss. Bei Gebrauch eines Tapes in einem anderen Player habe ich immer Aussetzer und schlechten Ton. Es scheint ein bekanntes Problem zu sein.

Ja! Die XL1s Tapes funktionieren nur auf Canon und Sony geräten!
Canon sagt dazu (wörtlich) wir haben das auf 2 Sony geräten getestet und das läuft einwandfrei"
Nach dem Motto "Wenn Ihr Mastering studio nur minderwertige Geräte (zb von Panasonic oder JVC) verwendet, können wir ja nichts dafür..." Das haben die zwar nicht gesagt, aber es klingt so...
Mehr dazu, wenn ich mit dem Service Menschen von Canon Deutschland fertig bin... Dann wird man den gesammten Email verkehr zwischen Ihm und mir in den grosen deutschen Video / DV Magazinen (auch online) lesen können!

Eben nicht! Es sieht so aus, dass einige XL1s (darunter meine) einen schlecht justierten Kopf haben (oder so). DIe Folge: Ich kann nur Aufnahmen auf meiner Kamera ausspielen und auf keinem anderen Player sonst.

Just a note to introduce myself...a newbie to this forum. I do production video from my home in Santa Fe. I provide "backdrop" natural scenes for client video productions. I've been using a Sony VX-100, but, just bought a Canon XLS-1. Despite some of its problems, I LOVE this camera. I have control, again...<g>. Distribution is via elecronic media...CD-R, DVD, what have you. NO broadcast stuff for me.

Bill Ravens
Chalchihuitl Productions

Hello can any one tell me if the vanon tele-converter tl-30.5,tl-43 0r tl-46 work on my xl1, they are very inexpenive 99.00-149.00
Ive got to work on a core of Eng job on the Ms river

Hi! I have just become part of the dv community and just wanted to introduce myself. I am a filmmaker from from Bombay,India.
Has anybody shot a short/feature on the Sony VX2000? Any idea of what the reverse telecine results would be??
Do hope to share experiences and learn from fellow filmmakers
of their experiences.

I did a lot of location scouting with my VX2000. The still image function with a large capacity mem stick came in very handy. It let me do an imense amount of planning for my work (both scripts and shoots) Funny you should ask about producing work on the VX2k...

I was in the process of finding it a new home when I sold my first script. Since no serious takers surfaced, I started thinking about doing shorts and using local settings/actors to shoot scenes and evaluate dialog. Darn if I just didn't decide to shoot a feature film.

You can achieve some very nice results using the custom settings to warm up the images and knock down the contrast. It's not film but is more appealing I think.

As soon as I get this progressive download animal figured out, I'll drop some clips on my site, which by the way, will be revamped and redesigned after the new year.

I'm not sure what you mean by "reverse telecine" as lot os folks do tape to film transfers, some with very good results, some with bad. And it can be very expensive.

Thanks Gardner for your inputs. Yeah I did tape to film transfer.Some of the results that I saw were great. But again the lab that does these transfers did suggest that first on the list would be digibeta,dvcam and and then minidv. We recently had a digital festival in Delhi the first of its kind this part of the continent and the shorts were aired with good results.

Well wish you the best with your shorts and features.

Hello neighbors,

Sorry to say but I will Learn a lot fro all of you but have very little offer back. I started with photography ( yashica 124G ) at the age of 15 (1974) and shoot a lot of medium format with a mamiya 645 super. During my hunt to find THE answer to thwe question "should I be digital or stay with film" I discovered the mini DV and added it to a business I created to sell decor photos. The next thing I know I haven't even had the time to try and sell my photos as I have been busy shooting evening news as a Stringer. I found out very quick that shooting news wasn't as easy as it looked. My photo skills helped some with the XL1S but I still had a learning curve of what the assignment editors wanted and then putting it on film (sorry, tape) in a professional looking shoot, at night, without blinding the emergency services workers, with the best video light I could find (second light is a Smith Victor and still looking for a good frezzi or Varralux), all while trying to get close enough to the shoot without getting arrested or stepping on evidence. Even though I am a firefighter and x 911 operator, the law enforcement in this county is still learning how to handle the media showing up so quickly. Doing all this and trying to decipher ten codes and signals to see if the event is newsworthy. Then getting it to the studio 45 miles away in time for the news and getting home quick eneough to get sleep for my full time job.
In my spare time I am trying to get wideband internet service installed and am experimenting with pinnacle studio 7 DV to see if it is possible to get the footage rolled up into an email and delivered by internet.
So, as you see, the best I can hope to be around all of you is"as little a burden as possible".
Thanks
Donny