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#811 |
Regular Crew
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Posts: 30
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cheap 2nd camera with XL1S "look"?
I remember someone asked this question a while ago and the answer was to look for a discontinued Canon... I think. We are in Haiti so don't have the possibility of scouring used-camera shops, sites, etc.
We need a 2nd camera we can afford -- $1000 or less? -- to do some two-camera shoots. We'd like to match the "look" of the XL-1S at NIGHT or in low light. Impossible? We would love any advice. |
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#812 |
Outer Circle
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Hope, BC
Posts: 7,524
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The XL1(S) has 1/3" CCDs, and plays back 460 lines. If you want an older 3 chip miniDV cam with similar resolution, LUX requirements and color saturation, look for the Panasonic AG-EZ1. This cam also has 1/3" CCDs and a big lens.
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#813 |
Obstreperous Rex
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The sub-$1000 discontinued camcorder mentioned on this board in the past is the Canon Optura Pi, which is very hard to find now. Be aware that it is a good match for the older XL1 only in broad daylight, but not the XL1S under any circumstances. The best match for the XL1S would be the Canon GL2, however you'll need to spend about $2200. One option available to you if you're on a limited budget is to borrow or rent the second camera. Hope this helps,
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#814 |
Tourist
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Greenwich, CT
Posts: 4
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Canon Stock Microphone Wiring
Dear People of DV Community --
Would anyone happen to know the wiring layout of the stock Canon XL1s stereo microphone inputs? I would like to build an external microphone to utilize the balanced inputs not otherwise available. There are five pins - has anybody identified these? I gather than there is one ground, two positive, and two negative signals to feed the stereo channels. I just don't know which is which. Thank you! |
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#815 |
Warden
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Clearwater, FL
Posts: 8,287
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I don't follow what you're trying to do. Can you elaborate a little more? Are you using the MA-100/200 adapters?
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#816 |
Wrangler
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 4,487
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The standard stereo mic (supplied with the XL1/XL1s) is single ended (unbalanced) as is the mic input.
There is a 3.5mm stereo mini phone jack/plug that provides the audio connection and ground. Tip is left channel, ring is right channel, and sleeve is ground. There also is a 2.5mm mono submini phone plug/jack that provides ~5 VDC power to the standard Canon mic. Tip is +5 volts, sleeve is nothing. The ground return is via the audio conenctor. (This reduces the chance of shorting the powersupply if someone accidently inserts a conducting item such as a nail. wire, pin, etc.)
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dpalomaki@dspalomaki.com |
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#817 |
Major Player
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 484
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Power Outage Sensitivity?
Over the weekend, I experienced a few power outages, twice with my XL1S running off the power adapter while connected to my PC.
I'm concerned about the possible damage this may cause. I suppose it's technically no different from just turning off the cam, especially in my case since I did not have a tape in the camera at the time. What kind of damage would this do to an XL1 if a tape was running in the tape transport?
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Andrew | Canon XL1s, ME66, Vinten Vision 3, GlideCam V16 (for sale!) |
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#818 |
RED Code Chef
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Holland
Posts: 12,514
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Usually power outage is not a real problem with electric levels
because they will fall instead of rise. However sometimes there can be some spikes that in theory could damage your equipment. Now the tape transport would be a more difficult question to answer. In theory the heads would still be on the tape and only get off when you power up the camera again. But then again they might have some circuitry in place that detects a power loss and then quickly turns the equipment off. I've never had this problem or tested it so I can't tell you what the camera will do exactly. I'm not gonna test it out either.....
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#819 |
New Boot
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Mt Laurel, NJ
Posts: 17
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left channel disappearing
I'm shooting theatrical productions (constantly zooming from long shots to close-ups) using an XL1 with a Canon FU-1000 Monochrome CRT Viewfinder. I used to use it with the dual battery pack because you supposedly can't power it with AC...however recently I have been running it with AC power using a Canon CA-910A Compact Power Adapter MB9. Everything seemed to be doing fine until recently when I noticed that the left channel of my audio (using standard on camera mike) kind of drifts in and out. The right channel is fine, but some sort of ghost or goblin seems to be playing a cruel joke and turning the left channel soft or even off and then back on again. It doesn't just click in and out like there is a short it just drifts in and out. I though for a while it may be somehow connected to one of my many zooms because at times when I'm zooming in for a tight shot the left channel comes back in...but this doesn't consistantly happen. Does anyone have any ideas? Could it be related to powering the monochrome viewfinder with AC...am I doing something wrong...or is it time to send it into the repair shop? Thanks.
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#820 |
Wrangler
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 4,487
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AGC or manual audio mode?
Does it happen with the standard viewfinder or standard battery pack? Loud aduio signal induced in one channel might cause a similar effect in the other channel if using AGC mode. But that may not be you rcase.
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dpalomaki@dspalomaki.com |
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#821 |
Regular Crew
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Rhode Island
Posts: 82
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Anamorphics got me confused
I was watching one of the documentaries in the "Dancer in the Dark" DVD and saw how they used anamorphic lenses (which they made themselves) on thier shoots that consisted of 100 little sony's linked together for the musical parts. I always heard that this can be a real distortion issue around the outside of the frame but this stuff didn't look that bad. Does anyone have any experience with the anamorphic adapters for the xl1 series?
Secondly, I'm new to shooting DV and possibly using an anamorphic adapter so I'm confused about something: If your forcing all the light information of a 16:9 image onto a 4:3 CCD with an anamorphic aren't you still restricted to the maximum information a 4:3 CCD can handle? So when the 4:3 image is stretched back out to 16:9 on a screen wouldn't having only the info a 4:3 chip provide result in degraded image? If the above is true, would one get more resolution just cutting the image down to 16:9 in post or is going from 4:3 to 16:9 less of a loss of resolution? |
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#822 |
Wrangler
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Mays Landing, NJ
Posts: 11,790
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You're right that the DV will only give you 720 x 480, no matter how you stretch it. To be true 16:9 you'd need 854x480 (with square pixels), but that's not an option. Actually it's even a little worse, because your camera will only give you about 500 horizontal lines. But such are the limitations you have to work within.
But your logic fails in the final sentence "would one get more resolution just cutting the image down to 16:9 in post". To do this you will be throwing away an area of 720 x 120 pixels to end up with a 16:9 image that's 720 x 360. So in other words you've thrown away 25% of the image data which the 4:3 CCD is capable of capturing. That's why the anamorphic lens gives you better results. Even though you must stretch it out, you're working with the full 720x480 frame. But anamorphic lenses have limitations too and are expensive. I gather they're especially problematic on the XL-1 due to the 72mm size. You can't zoom through the full range, they vignette at full wide, you need expensive matte boxes for a lens shade or filter holder, you can't add a wide adaptor to them, etc. Several new cameras offer "real" 16:9 by using higher resolution CCD's, like the Sony PDX-10. This camera overcomes all the shortcomings mentioned above with anamorphic lenses, but is a smaller camera with smaller chips. And even in this case, your image is still anamorphic 16:9 at 720 x 480. Unfortunately, you need to spend some big bucks to do any better than this... |
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#823 |
Regular Crew
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Rhode Island
Posts: 82
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Thanks Boyd,
I'm just going to hope that in six or so months Canon comes out with 16:9 native XL series camera that's under ten grand. You can probably spend half that just getting an adapter setup with a matte box and filters. |
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#824 |
Regular Crew
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Seattle
Posts: 58
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Any advice on Achromatic Tiffen filters?
Hello,
I am looking to purchase some close-up Achromatic filters for my XL1s and I can't afford the Century Optics filters. Has anybody tried the Tiffen set of +1, +2, +4? What I'm hoping to do is not have to open the lens all the way so I can achieve super soft backgrounds on extreme close-up shot images. Any advice is welcomed. |
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#825 |
Wrangler
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 4,487
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I've used the Tiffen lens for shooting small items; e.g., color slides on a light table and closeups of small items, stamps, coins, etc. Works well for the price. I mainly have used the +1 and +2.
But the modest cost Tiffen's are not achromatic. Not sure if they will give you the depth of field effect you are seeking.
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dpalomaki@dspalomaki.com |
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