XL1 / XL1S various posts

[Ron Armstrong]

ZGC.com has a dual hotshoe adapter that may work.
Talk with Chris.

[Josh Parra]

lol!
oh im sorry,
your talking to Nick. thanks so much for the info. i had used one of those for my GL2 mic adapter and it worked awesome. i gotta get me another!

[Ron Armstrong]

Hey Nick;

We,ll get it right yet!!!!!!

Ron

[Mark Sloss]

I will be starting a project shortly, where by I need to film from the drivers cabin of a moving underground train, coming from the darkness of the tunnel approching the underground well lit station. I want to capture the LEDS and displays of the drivers cabin as the train is going through the darkness of the tunnel, but I dont want the camera freeking out on me as it sees the light of the platform arriving. Is there a safe techneque for this, as I won't have much time to do it over and over again to get it right.

[Dustin Tran]

I found one brand new from an authorized dealer for $3200. This is the only one they have left. Is it a good price? I don't really want to spend 4k+ for the new XL2. TIA

[Waldemar Winkler]

Well, I recently bought a used one for $2600. Included XLR shoulder pad, mic isolater, furry wind screen, 3 huge batteries, battery/accessory holder, system case, white balance cards, etc.

$3200 "might" be a bit high, but it is still a new camera.

[Dave Frank]

You might want to check the Private Classified boards, there are some for sale.

[Shane Miesse]

i have a tape on a Sony Handycam tape, i think its those 8mm tapes, and i want to copy this tape onto my xl1's little mini DV tapes, i have both cameras, what can i do? can i just hook to cameras up and record? let me know what to do, never done this before, thanks

[Jeremy Davidson]

If the Sony is a Digital8 model (as opposed to the older Hi8), you should be able to just use a 4-pin firewire cable between the two. Put both of them into VTR mode, set the XL1 to Record, and hit play on the Sony.

I've never actually copied from one tape to another, but I think this should work. Make sure your Sony tape is set to Erase Protect first, just to be safe.

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

I’ve got an onboard XL1s Canon stereo mic covered in a Reinhardt fur windshield, fitted inside a Light Waves Systems mini-mount, and connected to an LWS systems Isolator. I also have two separate Audio Technica AT815 Line + Gradient Super-Hyper-Cardioid microphones with a narrow acceptance angle for picking up long distance sounds.
The AT815 mics connect directly to the back of my MA-200 with XLR –XLR cables.

I’ve been thinking of trying different ways of using them during future filming – mainly outside work.

I could remove the Canon mic and replace it with one AT815 mic, and then place the second AT815 mic on a small arm and clamp (connected to the LWS system bar or slotted into the hotshoe mount). This would mean that both AT mics are pointing at the same subjects as the lens; but if I needed to pick up a sound outside of the lens view (such as a bird in a tree etc) while still recording the main subject, I could adjust the second AT mic on the arm-mount to point at the bird.

Another option is to keep the Canon mic inside the normal onboard LWS mount, and then connect each AT815 microphone to two separate long XLR cables stretching in a forwards cone, from the left and right sides of the camera, and fitted to either small stands or short metal rods screwed into the ground.

Has anyone used two or three mics connected to an XL1 or XL1s? I’d be interested to know your favourite ways of mounting them to your camera, plus your preferred methods of connecting them up for producing the best sound, and even more importantly, your favourite setups for the internal Camera Menu, and Audio mic/audio 2 control settings.

[Tom Fruzynski]

In attempting to fine tune the exposure , I would like to use a Sekonic Light meter. Does any one know the film ISO equlivant for the shutter / f-stop settings ?

Or this there a better why ?

Thanks,

Tom

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

I think you already have a topic about this, perform a search.
And there is an article written about it, about people trying to find the ISO value of the XL1 (not s I suppose, but I'm not sure)

These are some topics on the subject:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17351&highlight=iso


http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4166&highlight=iso


This is the article about it:

http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article33.php (this is part 1)

http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article75.php (this is part 2)

Good luck.

[Jamie Huckle]

How do.
I’ve recently been using 1 canon xl1 and another canon xl1s for a small live awards show, for some reason the canon xl1s has an unstable irregular video output. The camera records fine but the picture on the external monitor and plasma screen rolls etc. I have changed all cables and tried different pro monitors….. please help got another job very soon and don’t feel at all confident….
Cheers
Jamie

[Rob Lohman]

It sounds to me that the connector may be loose or something else is faulty.
Did you try both composite and s-video out ports?

I think the camera needs to be serviced.

[Waldemar Winkler]

I don't do feature ("film") work, but I often find myself facing the need to manage several microphones. One issue I recently faced (documenting a dog sled race) required four audio channels. I set my camera for four channel audio at 32k sample rate and every thing appeared to work well during the shoot. However, the posting of the field acquisition had to be done at a 48k sample rate. It was a resolvable situation, but one I do not want to face again because of the added post time it cost. From that point forward, I only shoot at a 48 k sample rate.

I use an external audio mixer. I prefer one with mute switches for each incoming audio channel and a three-band paramatric EQ on each incoming channel (high frequency, mid-band sweep frequency, and low band frequency). While not absolutely necessary, the mid band sweep allows me to choose a narrower range of attenuation/gain than I would have with an average mid-range control. Additionally, the Main Out of the mixer should be XLR with the option to choose high (+4dbl) or low/mic level (-60dbl) output, which, of course, feeds into my camera.

External audio mixers offer quite a bit of control over incoming audio, but still feed out to a select number of channels (usually two). Yes, there is pan control, but what about the live audio that should only be introduced in post, not onto the two or four channels available on the camera? Some kind of independent audio recording device should be in the equipment inventory. Then there is the issue of how to manage control of the mixer itself. Do I split my attention between camera and mixer or find a competent person to manage audio for me? This also affects camera mobility as all of the connections are hard wire.

Because the audio mixer does amplify signal strength and the camera's audio system is in itself an audio mixer, over-driving an incoming signal is a caution to be observed.

To quickly conclude, my decision is to decide in advance which audio signals actual get recorded onto video tape and which ones will be recorded onto an independent audio recording device. Sync them with a clapper sound, and do the final adjustments in post. How one chooses to position and stabilize microphones is a never ending quest.