Using consumer Mini DV to play XL2 tapes

[Russell Feller]

Thanks Jon, and I do look forward to all the info that is provided by you and others here at the watchdog.

[Terry Shaw]

Originally Posted by Marco Leavitt

What about 24p footage? Can I capture that correctly using a cheaper non-progressive camcorder?

Hi Marco, I use a Canon ZR-25 to transfer my XL-2 tape to the computer.
Most of what I shoot is 24fps, works great!

Welcome to the fun Russell.

Terry

[Christopher Drews]

I've been using the XL2 regularly for almost two years.

I've shot 4 short films and a feature without anything major.

In fact, we just finished transferring 29 tapes from the XL2 to my MacBook Pro without any problems whatsoever.

"Hard on the Heads" seems like a problem of yesteryear. I've never seen this to be true on a camera with this type of build quality. The feature would be disabled if it would harm the camera or the heads for that matter.

Mechanically, I've only had a couple of issues with my rigorous usage.

1) The viewfinder support has cracked, causing the viewfinder to slant. (dropped on set)

2) The tape eject button sticks and must be held down to eject tape. (over usage)

3) Moisture caused the camera to shut off twice. (left outside in camera bag)

Otherwise, flawless operation.

My vote is – use it as a VCR and don’t waste money. Spend that extra dough on a 35mm adaptor.

[Russell Feller]

Well I guess in my opinion it would prolong the life of the camera and heads and be less hard on them. If I am going to spend $4000 on a XL2 why not spend the extra $125 for a consumer vid. camera to save a little wear on the XL2.

[Bert Smyth]

Originally Posted by Russell Feller

Well I guess in my opinion it would prolong the life of the camera and heads and be less hard on them. If I am going to spend $4000 on a XL2 why not spend the extra $125 for a consumer vid. camera to save a little wear on the XL2.

Well, just check with your software first. I'm using Premiere Pro 2.0, and this list of compatible cameras is pretty short, and with CS3 the list is even shorter. You can buy a cheap Mini-DV camera for capturing, that's what I was using my old ZR10 for. But now its dying, and I just bought a little Samsung, but Premiere doesn't aknowledge it. Makes the question of a cheap camera as an editing deck kind of moot.

But the post that talks about the XL2 being robust enough to take it is probably right. When we were at the Canon seminiar, that's exactly what the rep said. The camera transport controls will out last the usefulness of the camera, according to him.