Will Canon Xl1s lenses work for the Canon XL2, and will Canon XL2 lenses work for the Canon Xl1s?

Bryan, all XL-lenses will work on any XL-camcorder (XL2, XL1S or XL1) and people here in the community also says that those lenses works well on the XL-H1 as well!

You may read Chris Hurds excellent article on this subject:
http://www.dvinfo.net/canonxl2/articles/article04.php

- Per Johan

What specifically causes these lenses to have a different 35mm equivalent than when mounted on an XL1s? Larger CCDs?

http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article58.php

The XL-2 does have larger CCDs, since they are true 16:9 ratio. So, yes, there will be a discrepancy in the specs when everything else is otherwise the same.

Thank you to everyone for the help regarding my lens questions. I have one more, as I'm trying to get wide angle shots now. I've looked at the 3x wide angle lens, and it's a bit expensive. I've not ruled it out, but I'm looking at some adaptors (even though the articles suggest a fragility to them). My question is really about functionality.

I'm looking at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=353931&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

and
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=194448&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

One is much cheaper than the other. I'm wondering what the difference is (beside one being 0.7 and one 0.6). Which one can you zoom through, and I can't figure out what a Bayonet Mount is.