I use a Luxmen 100 watt and it works fine for me, but I am no export and have only had my new XL1S afew weeks.

David, I don't know what is your budget, but I have used the Canon VL-10li in similar situations and it does quite well for me. This little lamp is cheap and use the same type of batteries than your XL1.

Sure, if you have more money to invest, a 50 or even 100 watts lamp with a dimer and barn doors will be better

XL1s in the NYC, PA or NJ
 

I am shooting a graduate thesis in NJ in october. I current live in california and know all the rental houses out here but have no idea about them back home.

I am shooting it on the XL1s and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good place to rent equipement for it. I think i am going to use the servo lense and the anamorphic adaptor w/ the 16x9 mode so I can make it 2:35 and I need to rent a matte box.

Also if anyone knows any good places to rent sound equipement that would be goood to know.

Thabnks for your help.

I've never rented video equipment in the area but I looked on ZGC's website (www.zgc.com) and they are a stand up company and they have a list of rental houses that they have sold to on their site and here are the ones listed for NY, they didn't have anyone listed for NJ or PA. Personally, I would probably try to find a rental house in PA or NJ, I would think it would be cheaper but I might be wrong.

Only thing I can say is keep looking around, I'm sure there are people on some board with personal experience with a shop.

Sorry can't be more help:

New York

Hand Held Films, Inc.
315 West 36 Street, Suite 2E
New York, NY 10018
+1-212-502-0900

DuAll Camera
231 West 29th Street, Suite 210
New York, NY 10001
+1-212-643-1042

TCS - Technological Cinevideo Services
630 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY 10036
+1-212-247-6517

Tape Playback...head Damage??!!!
 

How you guys playback tape after recording? Direct playback on Xl1s camcorder? Will it damage the Camcorder head? Every time I recorded more the Six hour tape and rewind by tape rewinder and playback thru Xl1s Camcorder…Is this normal or right procedure to playback and capture to computer!?

Beside getting another Xl1s for playback only...:)

Professionals and sophisticated amateurs use decks. Some folks use inexpensive miniDV camcorders as decks. But most consumers and probably prosumers use their cameras for capture.

Certainly there is some wear-and-tear involved using the camera as a playback deck. But the fact is that the majority of owners of prosumer cameras will (a) lose their interest in the hobby, or (b) upgrade/discard their cameras long before they come anywhere near end-of-life wear on these transports and heads.

Transfer FOOTAGE BACK TO XL1s???
 

Have anyone experience transfer back (RECORD) edited footage from computer (Edius or Premiere) back to Xl1s Camcoder thru Firewire? Hows the result ?

It will look as good as your editing. I've transferred back from Vegas and it looks great. The areas that have had no changes at all should be an exact duplicate.

whoaaa!! That sounds like hard work! my initial thoughts:

Using a polarising filter on your XL1-s will dramatically cut down the amount of glare you get from the water. Generally you attach the filter, then rotate it while looking thru the viewfinder until you like what you see. Rotating the filter is how you control how much reflection from the water is reduced.

the pf will also reduce your exposure somewhat, but it sounds like you're ok for light.

The smaller your aperture the greater your depth of field, so choose your shutter speed (u prolly want to keep it fast as your shooting a fast moving sport eg. 1/125 - 1/500), and then stop down the aperture as much as u can.

Hopefully u can then stick the camera on manual focus & u will have enough depth of field to keep your rider in focus. But it sounds like you tried this already?

keep pushin it...

Hagop

Can fisheye distortion be corrected?
 

Hi, I'm a Newbie, don't hate me for asking a silly question but . . .

If I put a fish-eye lens on my camera (3mm-ish) on my EF adaptor, does the 7.2 magnification, bumping the effective mm up to 21.6, increase the fish-eye warping or correct it?

Any info is appreciated.

- James

It does neither. All FE's lenses have 100% Barrel Distortion. In other words all straight lines will appear to bow outward (except those that pass through the optical center of the lens.

The 7.2X mag./crop factor will reduce the angle of view to a more moderate WA lens, but the barrel distortion will still exists. The resulting images will need to be "de-fished." There are plugins for Photoshop and standalone programs to accomplish the mandatory de-fishing. The required work for the 30 FPS video produces may make the images not worth the effort. The barrel distortion is not always noticeable if straight lines (horizon for example) are placed through the center of the image.

Replacement Xl1s microphone
 

Hi !

Does anyone have, or know where to get a replacement xl1s mic?

I've just had a little mishap with mine, and I need to get it replaced.....


Any ideas?!!

Thanks

Yep, with the amount of glare and the various objects (sea spray, foam, twigs, jet ski's jumping the wake, etc.) you need to put a polarizing filter on the lens to cut down on the bright outdoor light and the glare reflecting off of the water.

Shoot at a fast shutter speed as Hagop suggests and reduce the arpeture settings until the drift on your focus is bearable under manual conditions. Auto-focus can't handle it. I learned this when filming fireworks displays on the beachfront at night.

Also, a raincape wouldn't be a bad idea to protect the camera. Ewa-Marine makes good ones and they also make underwater bags that act like dive housings up to 33 feet deep. I use them with smaller cameras but they make one for the Canon XL-1 series of cameras. Then, you could take the camera snorkeling or shallow water diving, or jump in the water and film. Check out www.ewa-marine.com for more info.

My XL1 lens is a bit Loose- cuts the connection .. HELP!
 

Hi... I have just invested in an XL1.. and when I tilt the camera down, the lens wobbles slightly, and the connection breaks from the camera and the picture is lost. When I connect the lens, it slots in nicely, but with a slight wobble... I can see a trip to canon is probably coming my way, but wondered if anyone had encountered this problem? It is like I need a washer or a small rubber band to plug the slight gap..or something... can anyone advise me on this worrying problem...cheers!

If you have warranty from where ever you bought it send it in
directly. This should NOT happen. If you are sure the lens is
securely and properly connected and don't have warranty then
send it in to Canon. You should not attempt to fix this yourself
or work around with it by putting anything between it or something!