I'm about to plunge into the xl world' as I found a used xl1s for sale.
I intend to use the xl1s for bird videography using an slr lens.
As I don't have any experience with the cam, I planed to send the camera to
an authorised canon lab for service (check cleaning). Unfortunately that service is not available here (Israel), so I must handle this by myself...

what to ask the person I'm bying from and what should I check before I by ?...
BTW the seller told me that a cassette was stuck once, but the lab technician checked the cassette mechanism several times and reported (him) that averything is alright.

Thanks for any help on this

Sassi

why dont you agree with the buyer to have it sent to canon first before the transaction.. you pay for the inspection.. canon takes a look at it.. tells you if theres anything wrong. and you know beforehand whether to spend money on any problems that they might find or not to purchase it if anything too big is wrong. i figure any decent person selling you a camera wouldnt have a problem with that request.

Hi Andrew,
unfortunately no such service from canon is available here (Israel).

you must have someone in israel that would be able to give it a look over though.. if not, try to play around with it as much as possible.. and if you're not 100% familiar with the xl series get someone who is to take a look at it.

I just bought one used and didn't know squat. Luckily the seller was honest, at least I think so. I had him put a tape in and show me all the functions and what they did. He put a tape in, I ran it, recorded, rewind and fastforward, etc. playback and played it on a tv to check for audio and missing pixles, etc. I dont think you can get much more then that without an autorized cleaning. Play with it for as long as you can and ask lots of questions.

Thanks Andrew and Christopher.

I did as you suggested . Played with the cam. and sent it for inspection on a local lab.
We decided to replace the cassette mechanism with a new one.

Sassi