I am planning on doing a 12 hour trip with the Canon XL1s....I have a nice canon hard case for it but I don't have a body cap to disconnect the manual 16x lens from the body...Can I keep them both connected and make the trip or is this too much bounce / vibration for the lens to be on the body while traveling?? Where can I get a cap in the future??

these days, i choose to err on the side of being over-prudent and dismount the lens and viewfinder while traveling. i've had the viewfinder mount actually bend on me during travel before. buying the extra cap from canon is far cheaper than sending in your kit for service. you can order the cap from canon parts... check their website for the 800 number.

Just ordered a cap direct from Canon..I don't want to take a chance either. The camera has been sitting in my hard case WITHOUT a cap on it or lens because I just shipped my 16x autofocus out for a 16x manual lens...and that is freaking me out for it just sitting in my case without a cap on it....Yes, I'm a little extreme about things as well. Just a quickie question....if dust gets on the CCD cover, can that be cleaned off ?? I wasn't sure if that glass cover could be cleaned or not.

it can be cleaned... just you use the same care and caution as you would when cleaning glass on a lens.

I figured it was even more sacred than a lens - something that only God Like people at Canon could do that us Mere Mortals could never do....That is good to know...