For really impromptu interviews, the Canon is fast. The best way is to light using 2 or 3 point technique, but if you must be quick and in the face of your talent you can use this rather obtrusive method. Be sure to get some diffusion material to tape over the lamp to soften it otherwise every interview you do will start with "My that light is bright!"

XL1s Connection problem
 

Could anybody out there help me connecting my XL1s with a Mac G5? The computer doesn't recognize the connection of the device. Tried all possible options recommended by imovie, even Final Cut didn't help. In the Mac shop they couldn't help me. The Firewire cable seems ok. We tried even another brand new one. Tried the connection with another G5...nothing worked. Now what I don't understand is the following: being at the other end of the world in Manila, my XL1s worked instantly very well with a 3 year old G4, which was running already under sytem X.
For any hint to solve my problem I would be very thankful. Regards from France...

In the world of the WINTEL PC, the usual issue for the problem you describe is drivers, a second issue is boot sequence (some systems want to see the camera connected and powered before the PC is booted). Also, some capture software includes a "Canon" setting that might help. And some IEEE1394 chips just do not work with the Canons, but these appear to be few. Sorry I cannot speak mor specifically to the Mac workd.

I have a G5 and it connects fine to the XL1S.
Try looking through the apple site. I found this link which may help you (although it is an iphoto program) it may be helpful.
Go to this site... http://developer.apple.com/sdk/index.html#ImageCapture and go about half way down the page till you find the title "Image Capture SDK for Mac OS X v10.3". That program itself might not work, but you may find something similar that will work. The program entitled, "FireWire SDK 20 for Mac OS X" may be helpful too. Good luck.

XL1s - buying used, input requested
 

I have an XL2 and need another camera that will be used nearly 100% for outdoor shooting. The local camera shop has a XL1s used that they took on trade. It looks to be in great condition, has everything right down to the original box. It was traded for a an XL H1. I have the option of purchasing an extended warranty on the unit, which is the exact warranty they provided for all of my other video and still equipment I purchased from them.

Is there anything that I need to keep in mind when buying a camera like this used?

Is $2799 a fair price for this type of camera with 2 years of warranty added on?

John,

All in all, that is not a bad price if the warranty is good. As long as you don't do something stupid, like pour sand into it, you're covered. Right now they are going from about 2,200 to 2,800. The trade issue adds to the package and the fact that the original box is there says the previous owner was carefull, and showed concern for its care.

I just got am XL2, and sold an XL1s to a brother for 2,600, but threw in a nice tripod. Hey, he is my brother! No warranty, but like I said, he is my brother, and I have not even cashed his check yet!

If you are like me and have invested or plan to invest in many accessories, the XL1s should make a good back-up or second camera, as it can share big-brother's stuff.

Let us know how it works out and best of luck to you. Just remember one thing, for 1,200 more you could have another XL2 from B&H, and that may be something you want to explore.

Mike

That's definately something I've considered Mike. The other thing I keep coming back to is this second camera will serve in a back up capacity so it will never come out of the case unless something happens to the XL2. I don't want to find myself literally a thousand miles or more from civilization and have the camera go down.

New Camera Mic for XL1
 

Hey, My camera mic on my XL1 broke and I want to get a new one that is better anyway. Is there a better one that is less than $200 that will fit it?

Thanks guys

question regarding aspect ratios
 

Hi,
having recently got an XL1s, i was playing around with it today to find that when i viewed back footage on my widescreen TV, the footage shot in 4:3 mode looked better than that shot in 16:9 in terms of the shape of the picture. 16:9 looked stretched vertically and i would have expected it to be horizontally if anything..
I adjusted all of the aspects on my tv and found that when set to wide or auto wide, the 4:9 stuff always looked a nicer shape.
What would you clever folks suggest I do now to get a widescreen effect on my footage. Film in 4:3 with the 16:9 guides on and just overlay the black lines in premiere... or.. (and this is the one thing I'm yet to try) film in 16:9, capture using the widescreen setting of premiere and then if required add to the widescreen effect by overlaying black lines onto that?
What I'm trying to achieve is a widescreen video that still has the black lines top and bottom to appear 'very' widescreen!
Yes. Any help would be appreciated

I always shoot in 4/3 with the 16/9 guides, and crop in post.
Other people prefer differently, but I can't frame easily if my image appears vertically stretched.
It'a choice you make, but I think shooting in 4/3 and cropping is the easiest, you can get your image up and down in post too.
It's best you do a search on this topic, because there have already been some very interesting topics about cropping in post vs cropping in camera.

Canon XL-1s resetting time code
 

I am having a problem with my Canon XL-1s. This XL-1s was purchased new. I have owned it for 18 months and have less than 10 total filming hours on it. I use in exclusively indoors in a studio setting. When not in use it is carefully packed away in an Underwater Kinetics case.

Recently the camera started resetting my pre-set time code with black bands through the picture. This only occurs after a pause in filming and only after the first twenty minutes of tape length. I stop the shot and restart, sometimes with success and sometimes I have to advance the tape in VCR mode, and then restart to avoid resetting the time code. Occasionally I get a message, “Heads Dirty, use Cleaning Cassette” but I believe this is an error as the recorded picture is excellent. I have used a cleaning tape twice in two hours of filming, but hate to overuse the cleaning tape. Also I consistently use the same tape, Sony Excellence.

I never encountered any problems with my old XL-1. It was performing beautifully after 100 hours of filming and up to the day it was stolen.

Any Suggestions?

David,

If the camera is telling you that the heads are dirty, I would assume that they are dirty and clean them very thoroughly. The camera may detect a problem in an area of the recording heads that does not show up in the video image, such as the time-code area!

I would clean them well and try it again. I did not fully understand all you were saying, but you may also try changing out the small memory battery, just in case.

Really sorry to hear about the stolen camera, it is everyone's worst nightmare!

Hope it works out for you---Mike

Conecting mini remote camera to XL1
 

Anyone out there have any experience or knowlege of using a mini camera to record to the XL1 (or any other camera for that matter)
I am looking to find a mini remote camera to film vultures nesting and want to know how best to do this. Can I record the signal to my XL1 (all these tiny cameras seem to have just normal video conectors, can I get a cable to go into the dvin slot (minidv 4 pin) on most small video cameras?
This system has to be easliy powered for long periods (up a dam big tree in this instance) days from nearest electrical supply so 12v only
I have no knowlege in this area so any tips hints etc would be very useful
Thanks

I made up a "hat cam" .It is a lipstck cam that I made a velcro band for.The hat ,I glued velco to the brim of a baseball cap.The lipstick cam has 2 leads .One is composite rca cable, the other a power cable.
I bought a small bag attached to a belt and used a small Canon zr cam.
I made a foam shell for the cam that fir the bag. I cut a 1" by 2" hole in the bottom of the bag and sewed a clear plastic piece in the hole.This allowed the remote to control the recording cam.I picked up an eight AA cell housing and wired it to a connector for 12v(the lipstick cam spec is 9v to 15v)
I bought a container to fit the battery pack in and slid it into the cam bag aswell.For audio I used an iRiver with the mic plugged in and the line port connected to the audio in of the Canon.The cable lengths are about 5 feet but make to suit.You could make them quite long and attach the lipstick cam to a pole or mount it very close to the nest while your able to stay back a bit further(depending on how long your cables are)
The image quality is reasonable but you need to do some testing and practice to learn how to move your head.

Better in what way? Ther are a number of alternatives depending on your needs.

What type mic do you need? Mono, stereo?
What pickup pattern do you need? cardoid, or mor4e focused?
Do you want capability for off-camera use as well?
Do you have an XLR adapter such as the MA100 already?

You may be able to find a Canon exact replacement on the used market. It is not a bad mic as general-purpose, stereo, on-camera mics go.