Canon XL2: First Impressions vs. the XL1

[Kim Welch]

Has anyone done anything with this camera yet to speak of? What do you think of the performance? How are the ergonomics? Do you see image quality improvements over the XL1?

Update, November 2026
The Canon XL2 brought 16:9 and 24p to Canon's popular XL line. Today, Canon's Cinema EOS cameras, such as the C70, continue that tradition for indie filmmakers.

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[DerekEastham]

I have not used the XL2 yet... however, I do have a few comments based on what I saw of it at the workshop with Roy on Saturday.

It appears that they've done very little with the body design, sticking with their slightly dog-legged design... a design which I did not enjoy the few times I actually had to work with an XL1.

There is a noticeable change in image quality, for the better... and the addition of 16x9 CCD's are a nice change... however, to me it's a small improvement over the XL1 series.

It has been suggested by others, and I would tend to agree with them... that the changes made for the XL-2 would have been better on the XL-1s. It certainly would have been nice to see Canon come out with much more to boast than the 20x lens, 16x9 CCD's & higher pixel resolution... perhaps, however, I am being too hard on them... as the development & implementation of new technologies is somewhat of a rocket science... Though, with Sony's announcement of their HDV camera boasting 1080i compressed onto Mini-DV tape it makes me want to wait and see what Panasonic will release next so that all three front runners can be compared directly.

 

[Jared Isham]

I've heard or read a lot about this camera as well as looked at it once, at the workshop.

For the design they've added a shoulder pad that comes standard on the camera, I believe that you had to get it as an accessory before. They made XLR inputs standard, those too you had to hook up a separate device on previous models. There is the big thing with the 24p and the 16x9 chip and stuff. It would be interesting to see the Panasonic AG-DVX100A compared to the Canon XL2. I'd like to see the image comparisons between the two cameras: Panasonic's CineGama settings compared to Canon's separate image control features they've added onto the XL2. I think the big advantage with the camera is the fact that you can mount some decent manual lenses on the camera for the cost of an EF adapter which runs about $650 - $700 as opposed to the P&S Teknik adapter running a few thousand - and putting that into perspective would probably mean cheaper rentals too.

I read somewhere that the reason Canon didn't go with an HDV model of the camera is they are waiting for there to be more support for it before they jump into the market. Right now there are really no NLE systems for it and they have just gotten into realtime DV editing. It's not quite there for HDV. I've shot two different projects using the JVC model of an HDV camera and I would have to say that it was probably one of the worst cameras I've worked with. No exposure control, no true XLR inputs, no ability to monitor audio in HD mode, looked like the camera would drop frames when something moved too fast in front of the lens, image create green streaks or blow outs when the sun hit it or there was a slightly hot spot in the frame - not just small streaks but a green bar that would take up an entire 1/3 or even 1/2 of the screen. These might be resolved in a 3 CCD version of the camera but in my opinion we will not see really good HDV for another few models although the Sony professional model might be good, and probably the ENG style JVC one that is supposed to come out.

With all that said, Canon normally is one of those wait and let someone else do it first and if it doesn't flop jump on board. I wouldn't be surprised if the Canon XL2s is an HDV camera.

I am going to the Birns and Sawyer seminar on the camera so I will be back to post anything else I've learned about the camera.

 

[Kim Welch]

Roy has XL2 test clips

Roy has XL2 test clips

Roy made some test clips with the XL2 he showed at the Digital Revolution Workshop we had in Burbank. Maybe we can get him to upload them to the server so we can see them here online. He said the images were good and he could tell a story with the camera.

Kim