New 30 second XL2 24P edit sequence
 

I was bored today and decided to put together a little edit sequence using the XL2 and post it here. It's nothing fancy but hopefully some will think it's cool.....

www.starcentral.ca/trailers/PumpkinGirl.wmv 1.5Mbps / 6.0MB / 0:33 seconds

Canon XL2 NTSC, 24P, 16:9, 3:2 pulldown, -3dB & 0dB, 1/48th. Manual mode, some cine gamma settings, Canon XL1s 16x lens, 500 watt Lowel DP light with spun and daylight gel indoors, 75 watt yellow flood light and late evening daylight outdoors.

It's cool.

that yo daughter?

anyway i like the XL2's quailty in low-light. is this better than XL1s in low-light anyone know? i have it but i've not utilized it enough to know.

Well the recommended illumination by Canon for both cams is 100 lux.. but really such a rating is meaningless.

Having moved over from the XL1s I would honestly say from what I've seen so far that the low light capability of the two cams are similar.

Note that so far I have only been using the XL1s stock lens on the XL2 and not the new XL2 Flourite L IS lens - not sure if this would make any substantial difference.

Thanks for that clip. I can't wait to see more videos shot with the XL2.

That's really nice, man.

Dennis, why are you using the 16X white lens instead of the 20X new fluorite lens?

Kewl, Dennis!

Love her expression when she sits down and looks at the pumpkin, this kid will go far. ;-)

Thanks for the footage.

--Ralph

I'd be curious to find out if some filmmakers and 24p videographers add (well done) motion blur in post to further reduce the strobe effect?

No autofocus in 24P?
 

Is it true that XL2 has no autofocus in 24P?

It has it but it is really, really slow. Similar to Panasonic DVX100A in pogressive mode. They call it "focus assist". It has something to do with the reduced sample rate....normally samples 60i images, 60 per second. In 24P it is only getting 24 per second to adjust focus....so theoretically it will take over twice as long to find the focus.

In 24P mode the CCD runs at 24Hz, vs. in interlaced mode when it's running at 60hz.

So the autofocus system, which is designed to work properly by getting 60 updates per second, is only getting 24 updates when in 24P mode.

It means it won't just take twice as long to find focus, it'll take MUCH longer, because with the updates coming more slowly, it'll likely overshoot its target much more frequently and then overcorrect and overcompensate, ad infinitum...

Adam Wilt tested a DVX in 24P mode on slow shutter speed (which further reduces the updates, I think he used 1/6 second which means the focus system was getting updated only 6 times per second). It took the camera 55 seconds to lock focus, something that 60i would have done in like 1/10 of a second.

So yes, focus assist is there, and no, it won't perform like "real" autofocus.

Jean-Philippe - I plan to use the XL2 mostly with the mini35 so I doubt the 20x lens will even make it out of Canon's box. I just sold my PAL XL1s and my XL2 update kit for the mini35 has arrived - so from here on in, its 35mm lenses for me.

Ralph - I tried doing a short film in the summer with her that I wrote but unfortunately ran out of time. I plan to reshoot it in the spring with the new XL2. As for the footage I posted of her, it seems dark when I view it on CRT so I might upload a brigher version. It looked fine on my LCD.

Thank you Marty and Barry,
I guess DVX100A has the same slow focus in 24P like XL2, right?

Yepper, the DVX100A has a slow autofocus in 24p mode. It would be nice if it was faster, but truly, you really should get a feel for fast manual focus. Helps avoid focus hunting mistakes that ruin an otherwise great shoot.

Does the XL2 have a numbered focus scale like the DVX? That's what really floats my boat with manual focusing on the DVX.