Bottom Line....

[Clint Comer]

Hey guys. I have the money and am ready to buy this camera. But I want a simple answer to whether I should buy it or not. There is no need to go into detail but I would like a "yes buy it, it rocks the house" or a " no don't buy it because of this....". At the moment I do wedding videos, high school footaball, and various other contract jobs. I plan on shooting a feature next spring as well. So now that you know where I stand, please tell me what you think. The bottom line. Thanks.

[Rob Lohman]

The bottom line is make your own decision. No-one can tell you
whether to get this camera. That is insane. Why would you let
someone else decide this for you? If you can't do this yourself
then in my humble opinion you are not ready to buy such an
advanced and expensive piece of equipment. There is no yes
buy it or no don't buy it.

It all depends on your budget, what you want to use it for, which
features are important to you, which aren't etc. etc.

YOU have to make YOUR OWN decision. You can only do this by
making of list of things you need, things you would like to have
and things you don't care about. Then weigh all the camera's
within these limits (including price) and make a good informed
choice. Read these forums for other people's opinions (but never
let them decide for you) and then go and check out the camera
yourself in a shop near you!

In my mind I do not see why you would need an XL2 to answer
your original question. There is no 16:9 in anything you do.

If you really want "guidance" (which I hope it is instead of
somebody deciding for you) make a new thread AFTER you have
made your list (which I talked about above) and then post that
list. Which things are important to you and which features do you
want / need. Then we can give far better response what would
probably work for you.

The original question you asked is as personal as it comes. It
may "rock" for me but totally "suck" for somebody else.

[Pete Bauer]

Clint,

In response to your thread:

>>>>>>>>
"Hey guys. I have the money and am ready to buy this camera. But I want a simple answer to whether I should buy it or not. There is no need to go into detail but I would like a "yes buy it, it rocks the house" or a " no don't buy it because of this....". At the moment I do wedding videos, high school footaball, and various other contract jobs. I plan on shooting a feature next spring as well. So now that you know where I stand, please tell me what you think. The bottom line. Thanks."
>>>>>>>>

Here's my two cents:

While enjoying my GL2 (but not being entirely happy with its good-but-not-great 16:9), I had been eagerly awaiting the next crop of HDV cameras as the "promised land" of a substantially better image in 16:9.

When the XL2 came out, I decided to get one knowing that it would be an interim camera...maybe half a year to a couple years until HDV or a derivative thereof matures and gets established. In the meantime, the XL2 is King of 16:9 miniDV.

Like most folks here, I simply want the best picture quality I can get at a prosumer -- or less-- price point. Had I known the Sony HDV consumer camera was just around the corner, I'm not sure if I would have bought the XL2 or not...MIGHT still have done so, since the "Pro" version of the Sony is still some time off.

As someone who is slowly moving up from vacation video to actually learning videocraft, I'm enjoying the he!! out of the many advanced features of the XL2 that simply are not found on a palmcorder. As you've undoubtedly read, it is optimized for 16:9 and the picture really is beautiful -- but will never be more than 720x480 (NTSC), which I suppose someday will look utterly crappy to all of us!

Should you get an XL2? I do have to agree with Rob in that nobody can decide for you what camera, if any, to buy. But I'll write a few thoughts, for whatever they may be worth, about the utility of the camera. If you want:

- great 16:9, the XL2 will do that. Presumably, though, HDV will do it at a perceivably higher resolution...maybe a short wait for the new crop of cameras to hit the market.
- a camera with the depth of features to practice better film-making, the XL2 has LOTS of functions to do things well/artistically.
- an easy-to-handle camera for run-and-gun of sporting events, etc, the XL2 probably isn't the best choice.
- top-notch 4:3 and don't care that much about 16:9, then no need to step up to the XL2. (If I preferred to shoot 4:3, I'd just have stuck with my GL2).

I hope that helps you decide on cameras.

Cheers,

[Ken Tanaka]

Clint,
Of course I don't know anything about you or your needs, but here are my 2 cents.

You indicated that you do "contract jobs", suggesting that you are compensated for your work. So perhaps the healthiest and most mature way to view your decision is from a business investment perspective. What "contract work" could you get with an XL2 that you could not get with your current camera? (Your profile indicates that you are a "student" using an XL1S.) If you can honestly identify such opportunities and if they will at least recover the $4,500-$5,000 in a reasonable period then the answer is likely "yes".

If you cannot honestly identify specific business opportunities that the XL2 would precipitate, then you need to be honest with your life priorities. Once you spend that money you will never get it back (in this case). It's very easy to become caught in consumer frenzy, particularly at gear-oriented boards like this. But you need to ask yourself if there are better ways to use that money. Perhaps you have tuition or other schooling expenses. Perhaps there are other elements of your existing kit that could use an upgrade? Five thousand dollars is a lot of money, particularly to most young people still in school.

Two suggestions. First, browse the Classifieds section of the forum and look at all of the cameras for sale at deep discounts from their original costs. Look at the low number of usage hours claimed on many of them. Are you going to be posting such a notice in, say, a year or two?

Second, just wait. If you have the cash in-hand, put it into a 6 month CD at your bank. If in six months when the CD matures you still feel you want the XL2 you will at last have earned enough interest to cover the shipping.

[Aaron Koolen]

As Rob said, you really need to weigh up everything.

If you are shooting mainly 4:3, I would look at something like the Panasonic DVC200. No progressive, but 1/2" chips, fullsize DV tapes and it's a fullsize shoulder rig etc. It will cost you more $$ though. I suggest this because the camera is fullsize and for the things you said you shoot, you might look more 'pro' with a camera like this. There are apparently other cameras in this price range similar to the DVC200 - Sony DSR250 maybe(?)

Also it depends if you're happy with your xl1s. If you are and the clients are, stay with it and save yourself the $$. Get yourself some more post production gear, or other field gear. Mixer/preamps, good shotgun/hyper for your movie, lav, lighting kit. 5K would go a VERY long way to getting you a pretty good setup of other pieces. Of course if you hardly use them then renting is better.

Aaron