hey gang i have found a couple Xl2's for sale and im looking into the puchase of them what does one look for / play with when going to buy an Xl2.??

are there simple little tests to know that everything is in good working order

lets face it every seller is gonna say thats its working perfect...

any thoughts would be nice thanks
MEKHAEL

how clean does the body and lens actually look? dirt traped or built up in the corners of the covers, around teh buttons,etc,,, adjust the eyepiece does it move smooth or gritty. record some footage and see if it plays back in another camera or deck. it won't if the head stack is off.

Try to find out how many hours are on the heads -- you may end up replacing them sooner than you think.

If possible, look into getting the body only, then try finding a deal on the 16x Manual Servo lens.

Usually, but not always, if a piece of equipment looks like it has been taken care of, it probably has.

Look for dead or hot pixels.

Take a shot of a white balance card then one with the lens cap on. Take a still from each and examine closely.

Also run the zoom and focus and examine for hesitations. Do this with both the manual rings and the auto buttons.

Take the lens off and look at the back end of the lens and the front of the camera body for dirt or anything that doesn't belong or for wear/tear.

I would shoot a partial roll of different scenes and just examine the footage, also checking for sound quality, clarity, etc.

Ask in a descrete way, how they transfer the video to their editor. If they have captured the footage by using the camera as a deck, I would consider looking at a different XL2. They should be either transfering their video with a video deck or capturing directly to disk for the least wear on the camera.

Good luck,

thanks gang all good tips im playing email tag with a few people for now but within a week ill be going to look at a couple... i will do the best i can to follow the advice given..
thanks
MEKHAEL

Try to find out how many hours are on the heads -- you may end up replacing them sooner than you think.

I went through this extensively one time myself, and as near as I can ascertain, there is no way to determine how much time is on the heads, other than asking the owner how many hours of tape he has shot. And if you believe what he tells ya, I've got a nice bridge for sale.