XL2 color LCD viewfinder

[Raymond Schlogel]

I own and have used the jib by Glidecam quite a bit and its proved to be a great tool. Not sure which one your getting but I can't imagine the viewfinder having any impact whatsoever.

- Ray

[David Lach]

The thing is, I've planed to buy the CRT B&W viewfinder as well, and chances are I'll only be carrying this one on the set, since I've no use for the LCD viewfinder. And since it weights over 2 pounds alone, it'll quickly put my camcorder close to the 10lbs range.

I might be able to push the limits of the jib a bit, but I'm not sure I want to test it. There's something awfully disturbing about the image of a brand new XL2 crashing like a ton of bricks 10' down on a concrete floor ;)

[Barry Goyette]

David,

My recommendation would be to find a jib that is a little over-engineered. The problem with putting a heavy camera on an aluminum pole designed for 7 pounds is not the camera falling off. That most likely will not happen. What will happen is the jib will begin to flex during movements, (limiting your control) and thus the camera might wobble a bit, and won't stop smoothly when you want it to.

Barry

[David Lach]

That's a good point Barry. I'll make sure to find something really sturdy to avoid wobbly looking images.

Although, even though I'm no engineer myself, I can't imagine it'd be very hard to re-inforce any simply designed jib arm with a few heavy duty screws & bolts and metal plates/rods. Of course, might as well go for something well built in the first place.

[Chris Hurd]

Consider the SkyCrane. It was designed specifically for the XL1 and will be a good match for the XL2. Do yourself a favor and don't bother mounting an EVF on the camera when you're flying it on a jib. I can't think of any reason why you'd need the EVF on there. If you need to take audio from that position, get a Canon DM-50 mic for the hot shoe.

[Richard Lubash]

Some of our shooters complain about the XL1 viewfinder for focus vs the black & white ones on our higher end cameras. Is the new viewfinder in the XL2 better.

Thanks,

Richard
2K-Plus
Atlanta

[Kevin Chao]

i don't know whether it's the lens or the viewfinder... but focusing is definately a lot more easier than the xl1s...

[Raymond Schlogel]

The black and white ones are most likely CRT, not LCD which are by nature less " sharp ". Thats why the optional CRT costs as much as it does and why its so worth it IMHO. The new viewfinder is by far better than the old one, but it aint a CRT.

- Ray

[Chris Hurd]

The black and white ones are not most likely CRT. They are most *definitely* CRT.

[Yi Fong Yu]

so black and white viewfinder is REQUIRED not optional! i mean it's such an expensive investment (either xl1s or xl2) and having a viewfinder where you can't even focus? by this logic how come canon doesn't include a viewfinder or at least let the user choose camera body packages with FU 1000? it's not even optional anymore.

[Rob Lohman]

Do you know of any camera for $5K or less with a B&W CRT
viewfinder? I'm glad we can at least get one! Personally
I had little to no problems focussing with the XL1S (PAL).

I'm wondering why all the worrying about focus. The XL2 viewfinder
has the same amount of pixels in the viewfinder as the LCD
screen on the DVX for example (both 200K pixels according to
the websites). So what gives? The screen doesn't need to be
as big since your eye is much closer.

[Chris Hurd]

Actually, beginning sometime in November, certain authorized U.S. dealers will sell you the XL2 body alone or with *your choice* of viewfinder and/or lens.

The optional B&W CRT viewfinder discussed here is a professional piece of gear, made for Canon by Ikegami. It is no more or less expensive than any other viewfinder of that type -- the price (about $1500) is right on the money, exactly what you'd expect to pay for a B&W CRT viewfinder for any other camera.

The color LCD viewfinder included with the stock XL2 is highly useful, definitely superior to the old one on the XL1/XL1S, and will be perfectly adequate for, I'm guessing, maybe 80% to 90% of all XL2 owners.

[David Lach]

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Hurd : Actually, beginning sometime in November, certain authorized U.S. dealers will sell you the XL2 body alone or with *your choice* of viewfinder and/or lens. -->>>

What? Since when? I contacted ZGC and Zotz and they both said they could not give me the choice of viewfinder on the body only kit since the LCD viewfinder was bundled and not optional, unlike previously with the XL1.

Darn it! I ordered a body only XL2 here in Montreal thinking I had no choice but to buy ther FU-1000 in extra, and now I learn that I could have saved and bought the body with the FU-1000 only? Arghh! I must be cursed...

Oh well. As long as I get the camera before december I'm happy regardless.

[Greg Boston]

I think it's funny how b/w crt viewfinders are now such a high dollar add on. My vintage Panasonic full size VHS camcorder has a b/w crt viewfinder along with REAL manual focus and zoom rings that are both servo driven. The zoom even has a green button on the lense zoom lever that lets you get into macro mode. I remember when they started marketing 'color v/f' as feature on consumer camcorders.

If I could only get that Pana to spit out an image like the XL-2 has, I would go back to using it (hehe).


=gb=

[Aaron Koolen]

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman : Do you know of any camera for $5K or less with a B&W CRT
viewfinder? -->>>

AFAIK the Panasonic DVC200 (?) has one and it's around 5k - ish ;)

Aaron