New Plug for Stock Canon Stereo Microphone
 

I have the stock Canon Stereo Microphone....I bent the smaller of the two plugs that connect into the camera's front mic jacks...I bent the plug back, and it seems to work well - but I was wondering if I could just buy a replacement plug and soder the new one on to avoid future problems...is this an option or am I being picky...where could I buy this original plug anyhow??
Thanks
Dean

The small plug is a 2.5mm sub-mini phone and the tip carries 5 VDC to power the mic, last time I looked Radio Shack had them. The other plug on the cord is a 3.5mm stereo mini phone, and the tip carries the left channel audio, the ring the right channel audio, and the sleeve carries the audio and DC power grounds.

Not very easy to solder because they are tiny and the wires are small with not much slack from the mic.

You mght be able to buy a replacement cable with the molded plug from Canon parts, but in the XL1 manual it appears to sold as a complete mic assembly.

My motto is if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it, things just might end up worse.

FWIW: the ZM-100 mic that came with the Canon L2 had a similar (but not identical) cord that was listed as a separate part.
Part # DY4-2963-000 000 for the curled cord and DY4-2968-000 000 for a straight cord. Do not know if they would work.

Xl1s filters (urgent)
 

I need a UV filter for my camera, and a polarizing one couldn't hurt either. Should I just buy a cheap one, I mean how complicated can a filter be? I was looking at ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/72mm-Polarized-P...QQcmdZViewItem)


Any suggestions? I need to buy one rather quickly as I have a project coming up in 2 weeks. Thanks.

You might want to check eBay for xl1 or 72mm lens cap.

Hama Lens Cap
 

Hi Andrew

Just had the same problem, as the company I recently sent my camera to for service helpfully lost the lens cap. I got hold of a bog-standard Hama 72mm lens cap from the Bristol Camera Exchange @ £4. I guess it's a standard catalogue item. It's a good replacement as the cap is tensioned from the centre, much like the Canon one, so it's easy to get on and off within the lens hood.

Retrieving Still Pictures
 

I haven't been able to figure out how to retrieve still pictures taken with the "still" mode of the xl1. Do I just capture using firewire in the normal fashion except capturing only 1 frame? If that's the case, why have still picture mode?
I have no preference to capture program, so please chime in. In the past I have just used the capture program that comes with Xp in dv (avi) mode.
JJ

Yep.

Beats me; I have yet to use the still picture mode, except by mistake. :)

XL1 still picture mode - good for out takes of still objects (or slow moving things that should be still), gives a nice 6 second clip with ambient sound if you need it. I use it frequently to set a framework for an event.

thanks Don!!

Can Vegas Movie Maker + Platinum do a slow-mo
 

I'm wanting to do a slo-mo montage of some clips, but not sure how to go about this...Can I take existing captured footage and add just this effect to those clips in the timeline WITHOUT altering the whole project as slo-mo??

Mapping sound in Vegas Movie Maker
 

I would like to do a "mountain pattern mapping" of background music over dialogue - lower and raise it in relationship to the dialogue without just lower the db of the whole audio wav - can I map the sound on the timeline so it can go down during dialogue moments and raise it up for non-dialogue moments??

digital zoom
 

hi gang,

i wonder if somebody has expirience with using the digital zoom option?

have theater shot and would like to use the option.

thanks

On ALL camcorders digital zoom results in resolution loss. On the XL series it is a bit better than on many others, but still degrades the image quickly as you add more digital zoom. Better to move in closer and stay optical than use digital zoom if you can. Also, the more zoom you use, the more likely you will get camera shake issues, even with a good tripod.

That said, give it a test before you use it for an important shoot to see if the results meet your needs.

hello don,

have the camera for about 1 1/2 year but never used the function....<G>
thanks for the info.

greetings

Final Newbie Question: Does any recomend a good UV lense 4 the XL 1S
 

Hi does anyone reccomend a good U.V. filter lense and/or other filter as sometimes during late afternoon when the sun is going down over certain parts of the track i have noticed upon editing the sunlight and its rays have distorted the filming the somewhat when the bikes hit that certain point of the track regardless of where i move to, too try and advoid it. Thanks again