XL1S discontinued?! Guess why... ;)

[Josh Brusin]

so I'm expecting a 24p camera? 3 chip.... 16:9 native necessitating new lenses all together? $5500ish

[Daniel Broadway]

If the rumors are true......yes.

[Josh Brusin]

ok... deeep breath.
Holding....







HOLDING>>>

[Don Berube]

Guess I'll ask this question again, since nobody really ponied up to answer last time I posed the question:

Who is actually ready to purchase -and- How much exactly are you prepared/ willing to invest?

Just curious,

- don

[Stephen van Vuuren]

I am - I had to sell my two DVX100's over a year ago due a loss in a financial scam. I've finally picked up an Optura 40 for fun, but really miss have a cam though I've had fun with motordrive still footage and Twixtor.

I will have to go into debt but I'm hoping for a camera and balanced kits of extra (batteries, wide angle adaptor and/or lens) to run around $5-$6K. If it's usuable HD, more, because I could get work to cover the diference. But still well under $10 for HDV 3-chip.

[Mark Kubat]

Okay, it's driving me crazy.

Canon doesn't release new cams as frequently or have short cycles the way Panasonic has recently with DVX100A showing up on the scene only a year or so after debuting the 100...

So when Canon originally said last fall they were part of this HDV thing, I said to myself, okay, the XL1s will have to last till 2005 or so until Canon gets this 3-chip HDV thing figured out.

But now it seems a new cam is imminent.

From a long-term point of view, IF indeed there is now a camera coming out next week from Canon, how can they afford to NOT have it be HDV? You mean introduce a new kick-ass SD cam when HDV is just around the corner? So what? Would you sell off your DVX100 to get it?

I'm not buying the "price of the glass" argument either, folks. Let's face it. Technology is getting cheap(er). If the price of the glass was a limiting factor, why bother developing HDV at all? Why would JVC have bothered to put out their cam and Sony bother previewing their new balsa cam? I just happened across an old ad I had from a few years back when the Sony PD100A was first introduced and priced at more than what you can get the DVX100A for now. And look at Panasonic's 3-chip palmcorders like the GS200 and now the just-announced GS400. Amazing bang for your buck. Look at all those pixels. The GS200 is selling like hotcakes...

Why would Canon be a part of this HDV thing and not put out a cam? With all those patents to their name, they're not exactly dullards. I'm sure they could figure out a way to bring 3-chip HDV to the masses if they really wanted to... I guess we'll be finding out next week if they really want to.

Say the new cam is a 24p, 16:9, interchangeable lens SD DVX100 killah everyone now speculates it to be. So what? Canon will be the leader till next spring when Sony puts out the 3-CCD HDV balsa baby? Then what?

The timing of this camera is weird. I know there have been arguments made here that for Canon, prosumer mini-dv isn't as key as it has been or as it is to Sony or Panasonic but let's face it, Canon introduced the most revolutionary cam in mini-dv history with the interchangeable lenses - Canon did in fact show a great deal of leadership in the past introducing something very revolutionary that set a new benchmark for the format.

Don't tell me Canon wasn't all over HDV the minute JVC put out the cam if not before, well in advance to the official announcement of the consortium. They've had time to work on things. If not now, then when? Next year? After Sony puts out theirs?

So maybe Canon is going to wow us again?

I mean if JVC can put out a 1-chip HDV over a year ago and Sony can preview their thing, isn't it time for mighty Canon to step up to the plate and take a swing?

Or is Canon going to stay in the shadows? I think there's a bit of a "it's-now-or-never" for Canon with this new cam.

Heck, this IS the year after all that Panavision introduced a digital camera - so ANYTHING is possible.

[Mark Kubat]

"Guess I'll ask this question again, since nobody really ponied up to answer last time I posed the question:

Who is actually ready to purchase -and- How much exactly are you prepared/ willing to invest?

Just curious,

- don"

Don, if it's SD, I'd wait till the price drops, people realize the first batch of lenses has a backfocus problem and it gets recalled, etc. and just twidle my thumbs till next spring when Sony does their thing.

But if next week there's an H in front of the D and the V, I'd sell my car, my wife's car, her mother's car and my neighbour's car if that's what it took to get it NOW.

[Steve McDonald]

"How much are you prepared/willing to invest?"
-----------------------------------

I wouldn't give you a nickel for it. If I had to use it myself, that is. Of course, if I could sell it at a profit to
one of you, whose money is as a red-hot
coal in the pocket, then that's another matter.

I propose that a good model designation for the phantom camera is: XL1sX.

Steve McDonald

[Josh Brusin]

if it's a true 24p I'll get one sooner or later... unless it involves some $3000 piece of metal adapter for my mini35... then likely later... if it's HDV and 24p then it'll be sooner. I think I could market the service a bit higher to offset the cost. Most clients 'get' HD. 24p is a sell. They'll see it and get it but it involves the 'see it' sell in.

[Michael Struthers]

I'll bet within 60 days of the Canon announcement Panasonic announces the HDVX100.

Any bets?

[Ken Tanaka]

Naw. Panasonic's probably still cleaning up the blood-stained carpets from their rapid-fire 24P burst.

No, it might be someone out of the blue that might poop in Canon and Pana's punch bowl. Someone like Hitachi or Sanyo or Casio.

[Chris Hurd]

Or Samsung or Sharp. Heh.

[Zack Birlew]

Wait a sec, this question just hit me. When everyone says that they want 24p and HDV, do they mean both at the same time? Or, is everyone talking about wanting the camera to have seperate modes, like 24p mode, DV mode, and HDV modes (720p and 1080i)? I don't know, any of those will do for Canon's next camera. Any o' that would be better than what my GL1 can do ;-). I'm sold no matter what! =D

[Laurence Maher]

I don't know Scott, I mean your enthusiasm is great, but 25 Mbps just isn't gonna cut it for blowup unless you have an intentionally "stylized" film like Blair Witch, and it's popularity was quite a fluke. Every indie filmmaker (accept for one lucky one a year) that shoots at 25Mbps will be unaccepted by distributors for blowup because it looks like what it is . . . a cheap movie. Now I'm not saying cheap-looking movies can't be great, I'm just saying they won't be picked up very often. And the ones that do get picked up from now on will more increasingly be films from so called "indie" filmmakers like Soderbergh or the guy that made 28 DAYS LATER. These guys can do it because they'e in the door and can flaunt it as "artistic choice".

In general, shooting a movie that looks like video instead of film is the kiss of death, as far as what I've learned in my festival and acquisition rounds.

Of course, if you could have Juan modify the new XL-2 to get uncompressed 4:4:4 out of it . . . now then we may be talking.

[Mark Grgurev]

I just figured out that I'm to young to go to DV Expo East(I'm 15). My brother said he'll go and I was wondering whetheror not your allowed to bring your own cams there. I'm assuminging not but I figure I would ask anyway.