forget the mini35 for a second.

Ok...

The current offereings of 35mm adapters are cool, and using them with the stock lens on a XL1/XL1s/XL2/XL-H1 apparently has shown favorable results. Using a straight adapter and a 20mm relay lens is probably even better.

But I say unto you.....

Whichever company designs a 35mm adapter that preserves 35mm DOF and angle of view that mounts directly up to the body of the Canon XL-series of cameras .... will undoubtedly .... hit JACKPOT!

I'm waiting for the 1st person/company to do that. Man, with the amount of XL series cameras floating around the Earth.....just think!

Just wanted to put that out there.

- ShannonRawls.com

Shannon, yes, the subject is a hot one, and has been brought up here many times.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=57866
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=56745
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50384&highlight=XL+relay+lens
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49015&highlight=XL+relay+lens
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=33522&highlight=XL+relay+lens
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=31023&highlight=XL+relay+lens

The word back in 2004 was that the P+S Technik relay lens was an f/1.0 priced at $1000 itself. I've seen only a few people experimenting with the relay, most recently...

http://www.geocities.com/afsproductions/index.html

And on RedRockMicro forums, this mysterious pic popped up:

http://www.holyzoo.com/000/images/holyzoo/video_production/Relay_For_XL.jpg

By far the least expensive solution is just putting an M2/G35/Letus35/MPIC on the front of the stock lens, but it's bulky and sloppy regarding zoom/focus settings.

I had good results with the 16X manual XL lens however, since I could lock in the focus using the backfocus/macro adjust for a sense of sure focus calibration. I prefer the 16X manual lens anyway, so I purchased a body only kit, and the 16X lens.

Any XL-H1 body only kits out there yet? :)

Quyen Le will be bring out his XL flip in a few months time. Will replace the stock lens.