Canon Xl1s Mini DV Digital Film Making Camera
Canon xl1s mini dv digital film making camera. Professional camcorder 3ccd 16x zoom video camera. A camera that revolutionised indie film. During their six and a half years of existence, the xl1 and the. Have had a greater effect on the low-budget independent filmmaking community than any technology since the invention of digital video. From its unique design to its image acquistion system, canon engineered the original xl1 to be a versatile and special camcorder from the ground up.
The versatility of the xl1 and xl1s have allowed them to be developed, adapted, and used like no other consumer or prosumer digital video camcorder in the entire history of digital video. On july 12th, 2001, canon announced the successor to the popular xl1, the. The camcorder had an almost identical body with a few minor upgrades. Canon apparently improved the signal-to-noise ratio of the ccds by 4 db. They added an interval recording option, a clear scan mode for shooting computer monitors with the ability to adjust the scan rate based on hertz, smtpe color bars, preset zoom speeds, and a variable setting for the ire level of the zebra pattern.
Canon also added the ability to adjust color shift, picture sharpness, color gain, and black level plus or minus six steps each. They added two more gain settings of +18 db and +30 db, as well as the ability to save preset white balances. Canon included audio dubbing for 12-bit audio mode, video insert for the sp recording mode, and two custom preset keys. The xl1 and the xl1s were immediately adopted by the independent filmmaking community as the affordable digital camera of choice. Thousands of independent filmmakers, students at film schools, and just individuals with a creative spark have used the xl1 to turn their projects into reality. Filmmakers worldwide turned to the xl1 and the xl1s as an affordable alternative to film. The xl1 enabled new filmmaking projects that would otherwise have been unfeasable. Acclaimed director uses canon xl1s. Possibly the most famous use of the xl1s was in director steven soderbergh’s feature film.
Soderbergh is an acclaimed director who has directed many feature films, including. And won an academy award for directing. Is a comedy set in los angeles about the people in the movie industry. Soderbergh didn’t pick digital video for its low cost; rather, he wanted the dv look for his film and explored many digital camcorders as options.
Soderbergh picked the xl1s partially because of its optical image stabilization, which enabled the filmmaker to shoot the entire film handheld. To use any other camera to shoot. Would have been an unthinkable compromise, said steven soderbergh. The xl1s continually expanded my ideas of how to stage and shoot scenes. Equally important is the fact that we experienced no technical downtime whatsoever.
All in all, i couldn’t have been more pleased. 28 days later shot with xl1s. The xl1s was also used in danny boyle’s horror feature film.
Director danny boyle explained that one of the reasons they chose minidv as a format was the quick set-up for lighting when compared to conventional film. In the film, there are multiple wide shots of a completely deserted london. The police and authorities limited the amount of time that they would give boyle and his crew to film these shots because they required shutting down all traffic in certain areas of a very busy city, so they needed to do it as quickly as possible. They used multiple cameras, six in one shot and ten in another, and filmed them in as few takes as possible. Boyle said that it would not have been possible to film the shots which made london seem abandoned without the dv camcorders. A starring role in feature films. Cinematographer claudio chea used both the xl1 and the xl1s for his independent films. Chea used an xl1 for. Staring benjamin bratt, and an xl1s for his most recent work. What i saw from the tests was that the (xl1) color is a little warmer, stated chea.
The canon xl1s camera uses three separate 270,000 pixel ccds (one for each primary color) for the best picture quality. The xl1s records digital audio, with two channels of 16 bit/48 khz sound or four channels of 12 bit/32 khz sound. The body is based on a magnesium-alloy frame for maximum durability. With an optional adapter, you can use canon ef (eos) still-camera lenses–some of which also feature optical image stabilization. There is a 16:9 shooting mode where electronic lines draw are displayed through the viewfinder so you can compose your shots flexibly for later conversion to hdtv, where 16:9 is the standard. Smpte color bars help establish a proper color reference for shooting and editing. Interval recording lets you shoot time-elapsed motion video with intervals from 30 seconds to 10 minutes.
Zebra patterns help you determine overexposed areas in your shot so you can adjust the aperture and shutter accordingly. Digital video format and ieee 1394. The xl1s is a consummate professional creation tool that supports the established industry standards, minidv and ieee 1394 (firewire). Support of these standards make the xl1s a flexible video creation tool that interoperates with standard dv equipment and computer editing systems as accorded by engineering, scientific and broadcast communities.
The xl1s maximizes the capability of the dv format by using a 3 ccd (charge-coupled device) system with a separate ccd for each primary color (red, green, blue). A beam-splitting prism separates light passing through the lens into individual color components and each is sent to its own ccd. Compared to a single ccd, the 3 ccd system achieves outstanding detail with highly accurate color reproduction suitable for the demands of high-end video production - wide dynamic range, low color noise, high-contrast detail, natural color resolution and low-aliasing.
That means you won’t be able to do. Style rack focusing with the supplied lens, because there isn’t any one set distance to turn the focus ring each time to produce the same adjustment. The xl1s is a control freak masquerading as a camera.
There are 27 iris increments from fully opened to fully closed and 12 exposure-compensation offsets. You have to want that kind of control to appreciate this model.
16 x canon optical zoom xl 5.5-88mm lense (pictured on the unit). 90 minute original canon battery. Compact battery charger and ac cable.
Canon microphone (not pictured here). The condition of the camera.
It’s in perfect working order. The rubber eye piece has some regular slight wear and there’s some scuff marks on this camera but otherwise it works perfectly. Feel welcome to ask any questions.
This camera will be professionally packed & boxed very securely. A full foam wrap, bubble wrap & polystyrene foam will cover the camera which will be packed at a pack & send centre. At the checkout to receive. This item is based in australia.
