I own its cousin - XH-A1, which is an HDV variant. Firewire and DV tapes are the way to with these camera types. These cameras are fantastic, smooth panning in 24fps, colors are superb, customizable cine profiles, fluorite glass. These are 15 year old gems.

This video was exactly what I was looking for, thanks for it!

You should film a few short projects with the XL2! I’d love to see that!

@Owlbot

3 жыл бұрын

I'll see what I can come up with! Might take a bit haha

Full frame XL2 is the dream! I love everything about this video!

I played with my parents XL2 back in the day and loved it. So funny, I was just thinking how an XL2 would hold up nowadays and sure enough, a video from not even 3 weeks ago showing footage and modernization techniques for an XL2. Must be a sign to dig it out of storage! Excellent video!

Very nice review. Got one and Im very glad and happy with it. Very versatile and complete camera. 4K is a little over the top for me. Thank you.

this is fascinating and came at such the right time for me

@Owlbot

3 жыл бұрын

Right on!

FIRESTORE! OMG! I'd TOTALLY forgotten about that thing!

That camera was such a classic.

Nice one! - I get a little bit nostalgic seeing MiniDV - reminds me of old homemade movies - I would be interested to see a deeper dive on the XL2.

I think what you're remembering is when Juan Pertiera made the Andromeda adapter for the DVX100 that intercepted the CCD signals and allowed it to record a pseudo-HD (thanks the pixel shift which I think the XL2 uses, too) 12-bit image to a hard drive.

@Mcskittelybiscuts

2 жыл бұрын

article says they were getting 12bit out of the 3ccd sensor, but at the time even 10 bit was difficult to run on computers.

@myownfriend23

2 жыл бұрын

@@Mcskittelybiscuts There was lot that made it less practical at the time but people still did it. That was before the times of GPU acceleration in NLEs, hard drives weren't all that large, etc. One of the advantages to something like the Andromeda was that you could still record to tape like you normally would so people could use the DV footage like a kind of proxy.

@oldrogue4247

Жыл бұрын

"Juan Pertiera" has a familiar ring to it, and I am not saying you are wrong about the DVX100 adapter, but there was definitely something specific for the XL2. The XL2 forums were full of chat about it.

I would love to see a cell phone camera sensor put inside of a body like this and using those lenses. It would be absolutely awesome to play with!

@imabigsandwich1292

3 жыл бұрын

AMAZING IDEA!

@directoradamg

3 жыл бұрын

@@imabigsandwich1292 thanks. I'm glad i have the support of the big sandwich lobby!

Yes i would be interested in a deeper dive. i still have a xl2, standard 20x lens, manual 16x lens, 3x wide angle lens, the ef adapter and I think x1.5 magnifier or what ever it's called and firestore. I'll have to get it out of the cupboard. In 2000 I made 26 episode 30 minute tv programs on three xl1 cameras and had them broadcast. I still use 3 xlh1s recording to Blackmagic Video Assist monitor SD card recorders. Connected through SDI which gives an uncompressed hd image. I have an old Canon super 8 movie film camera as well. You may have guessed i like Canon cameras. During the Hi 8 days i was all Sony gear but had a lot of failures with it so switched to Canon which seems to be more durable. I live in PAL land.

So cool

If anyone's interested in a deeper dive on the XL2, perhaps comparing it to modern cameras, or something to that end let me know! For this video I've got the XL2 plugged in to my Odyssey 7Q+ via a cheap S-Video to HDMI adapter, I'm on the 16x Manual lens at f1.6 and I've got a 1/8 Ultracon on there as well. This isn't the raw footage, I did give it a quick color pass in Resolve, but I haven't done any upscaling or anything it's just straight blown up from Standard Def haha Also, it says it's 60fps but it's actually 24 in a 60 container.

@imabigsandwich1292

3 жыл бұрын

can you please share the s video adapter used? I don't like the 4:1:1 color sampling out of tape so I would like to hook my xl2 up to a ninja v.

@Owlbot

3 жыл бұрын

I used this one -- amzn.to/3zclJuD I'm not sure if the chroma sampling changes out of the S-Video or how much the quality is changing, that's still kind of a mystery to me at the moment, but it's not bad. Pro tip though, don't plug in the yellow plug or it'll default to RCA which looks like ass and a half.

@kemalziya

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, yes. I loved thus camera! I shot a feature film on one back in 2005! Beautiful camera in its day and still has some amazing features. Great video

@diomedes003

2 жыл бұрын

We need the deep dive, Kenny! I have a similar S-Video converter setup with my XL2 going into an Atomos Ninja (shooting some test footage this week hopefully). Btw I threw this video up on a 55” 4K display, and the edge sharpness on your face is shockingly good for SD footage that’s been forcibly upscaled twice and then compressed for KZread.

i would love to see you do more with her i got a canon XL H1A for 360 pounds for my birthday and she is an absalute beast considering i brought a handheld small camcorder for 130 pounds previous to that their excellent bang for buck!

I support this.. 💯 percent

Just got ahold of this camera. Really cool, I wish the form factor would come back.

@Owlbot

3 жыл бұрын

Seriously!

@carldiamond4234

3 жыл бұрын

There is something about camcorders from this Era, a cool factor that disappeared during the HD revolution. It is hard to put into words.

@Owlbot

3 жыл бұрын

I think it's just a funk. Modern cameras feel more like clinical imaging devices, whereas these ones feel... More fun?

@carldiamond4234

3 жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot Fun is definitely the right word.

@carldiamond4234

3 жыл бұрын

I certainly hope it is a funk. The Canon Cinema line is pretty fun, but it could all be way more fun if it was more...elongated?

Love the xl2 I e got 3 of them

Great video! I have a Canon XL2, and I think it's a great camera. I would like to connect a Remote Zoom control, any idea which one is a good choice for this specific model? I also tried to check where the input would go on the camera, but I couldn't find. Anyone could give me a help in the case pls? Thanks!

Shadows being noisy was a thing back in the day too, XL2 and GL2 just have excellent lenses and sensors. Challenge accepted BTW.

I really loved to use my XL-2, but I have been thinking about mods (that I would never do, as I have no idea how to), mods like using a great phone sensor, to get 4K/120, but with the advantages of the XL2 lens and controls. A merge there would be kinda cool, but yea, the old-school look is still awesome.

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

I've always wondered how one would swap sensors in cameras but I assume it's impossible across the board just due to like... Differing pinouts and firmware and stuff.

I really appreciate this overview of “older” tech. I can’t bring myself to sell my Panasonic HPX170 for similar reasons! Features inc 4 ch of audio, 10b422, built in NDs, etc. No shoulder capability, alas.

@Owlbot

3 жыл бұрын

Ohh that HPX was nice. The P2 cards not so much haha

@lloydpdx

3 жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot yeah those cards and that card structure…ugh. Did you have a preferred transcode codec?

@Owlbot

3 жыл бұрын

For the HPX? I only shot with it I never edited. Obviously these days ProRes or DNx would be the move.

I have the canon xl2 still thinking to make it tapeless . Hmm

I’m messing with an xl1 and a powerplay in order to run it tapeless. Still tooling around and trying to figure it out but importantly - how did you yank the footage off tapeless without the insert tape sign/timecode/etc showing? Thanks in advance

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

I believe there's a toggle to turn the OSD off and on over S-Vide/Component so I would have just done that. I can't quite remember because if that is the case, it was already set to "off" when I plugged it in to the Odyssey.

Can you do the same thing with the Canon GL2 in what is the device you need to get to be able to hook it up to that apparatus that you just showed please let me know it might work on the GL2

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah a GL2 would work. It's an S-Video to HDMI adapter, and then the HDMI was hooked up to an Odyssey 7Q+ but you could use an Atomos or something like that obviously.

I have a xl1s!

I wish there was an EF-XL dummy adapter with no electronics. Can you imagine adapting a Takumar 50mm 1.4 onto a Canon XL2?

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

I mean you could still put it on the regular EFXL adapter (or 3D Print one I suppose) but 50mm would also be preeeeeeety zoomed in

@AsparagusVideo

2 жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot Using the big EFXL adapter would mean having features I couldn't use, and the thing looks to be cumbersome. Bahh, and I don't know the first thing about 3d printing things. I'm way behind lol.

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

@@AsparagusVideo the Canon one? As far as I'm aware it's only twice as wide as a regular adapter and only maybe half and inch or an inch thick.

@no15minutecities

2 жыл бұрын

I've seen passive adapters on ebay

Yeah, I remember that guy who came up with a physical hack to the XL2, and you're right. He disappeared overnight! I think there is a real possibility that Canon bought his tech for a satisfactory sum, and he went his happy way, right? On the other hand, we owners had spent thousand$ to buy the XL2, and didn't much feel like taking the risk of destroying it. I don't remember anyone ever saying they purchased his dongle, or whatever it was.

Where could I get a battery charger

Shot a tone of stuff on the XL1s.... was my first proper camera

As someone who was been in photography and video for 20 years. I remember when XL1 and XL2 was relevant. Today it is not. 3CCD is not more color acurate than CMOS. If anything it was less acurate because the splitting of the light was not 100% and there was a loss of light because of the prisms and induced extra optical aberrations. It was an old school way of doing things. It was abandoned for a reason, it was a terrible way of doing things. In theory if you had utterly perfect light splitting, perfect prisms and insanely sharp optics. You could in theory reduce color moire. But in practice motion picture cameras almost always have some level motion blur so eliminating that advantage and in the end 3CCD is not more color accurate. A bayers mask would be more acurate because it just has RBG pixels in a pattern and they pick up the colors without any extra optics getting in the way and no light splitting to add more color inaccuracies. And the only disadvantage would be moire. Which is not a problem with a camera like with an XL2 with it being more than soft enough the images to eliminate color moire. This would be more applicable to a cinema camera with crazy good sharpness and overall IQ. But software has gotten really good at mitigating it and they also have low pass filters to ever so slightly blur the image at just the right frequency to dramatically reduce moire as a whole. Not long after the XL2 era CMOS surpassed 3CCD and has been the standard since. And for good reason. It was just plain better. The only thing you could say was an advantage was the global shutter. But you are giving up everything for just one thing. But this MIGHT be it's only saving grace for some people. But you got to be really desperate to have that feature and have the crummy IQ this camera has.

@valkiron11

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, that was a dumb statement he made.

Have you had much joy monitoring the SDI out signal on the XL2?

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

Nope, but only because it's not SDI it's Analogue haha

I have a canon xl2 but not able to get dv tape to computer. I have windows 10 and windows 7, firewire wont work, suggestions?

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

FireWire would be a hardware issue not a software/OS issue (your motherboard would have to support it) but since it's an old tech that's why I'm suggesting doing the recorder method as described in the video. Much much much easier and looks about the same.

Plesse make more videos explaining how you shoot and operate it! Great camera, just bought one to shoot stylized music videos

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

I'll have to add that to the list, I've got quite the backlog of articles to write haha

@rickanthonyalvarez

2 жыл бұрын

Still waiting on this video man, I shot one music video on my XL2 with an adapted Canon FD, gives great soft 2004 footage, all on tape, please drop more content for this cam

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

@@rickanthonyalvarez I feel ya man, I'm just super busy right now. This channel is more of a hobby than anything so my daily work takes precedent.

I am desperately searching for an adapter to take this xl lens, and mount it to my canon eos mount camera. any help would be super dooper awesome 😁

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

That won't exist because the XL lens is a "Mirrorless" mount designed for a 1/3" sensor. You can, however, find an EF to XL mount adapter that Canon made

@sheldonmurphy6031

2 жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot OMGosh! Yooooo Thank You So Much Sir!! You are the only one so far, that has been able to respond to my question with the actual reason why!! Thank You Sir!!! Thank You & Thank You 😁

can I run my xl2 into a ninja 5? what cable do I need to buy?

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

If it has HDMI then the cable I linked should work -- amzn.to/3zclJuD

Which you had shown how to get the video output to computer

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

The Odyssey 7Q+ saves to SSDs, so you just pull the footage off that.

I just bought a canon xl2 help Me understand the record tapeless

What would happen if I put a 2x anamorphic lens on the XL2 ? For example an arri master anamorphic

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

It'd be a 3.55:1 image which is preeeeetty wide. You could use the 4:3 crop on XL2 but it is a crop giving you even less resolution which is pretty tough on such a small sensor. Also you'd only be getting like... The littlest middle section of the lens due to the aforementioned sensor size. So not a bad idea, just a difficult one.

@driven_films

Жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot Thanks for that info! Since from maybe 2012 and on, lots of filmmakers have been trying to recreate the cinema look by using vintage glass on modern sensors, well I have an indie project I'm developing where I'd like to invert that: use modern sophisticated lenses like a master anamorphic on a vintage digital camera. Imagine the image quality of Collateral, but shot natively in anamorphic. So I'm considering the XL2 for it's price, good features, and it would give me an early 2000s look, which would give me a nice hit of nostalgia since I was just a college freshman at the time. - If I get one, maybe I'll experiment with the 4:3 mode, think that would yield a proper 2.39:1 aspect ratio ?

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

Well a 2x anamorphic wouldn't, 2x on a 4:3 sensor gives you a 2.66:1 ratio. What I'd suggest is getting 1.3x Anamorphics, which will turn 16:9 into 2.40:1, which is what you're looking for. They also make 1.3x Anamorphics for 16mm film, which is at least closer in "sensor size" to the XL2, so it's a bit better suited. Those lenses would be smaller and lighter too. HAWK makes some, for instance.

@driven_films

Жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot Excellent! And one last thing, could you do a small tutorial on how to get record to an external recorder via S-video? I have a 7" video assist, was hoping I could use that

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

Oh no tutorial necessary you just get an adapter to HDMI and plug that in haha

Could you put the lenses on canon r5

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

No

A friend found two of these at their church and is asking me if these can be used for live streaming. Would that work? I wonder if they could sell them and buy a DSLR and use these kit lense on the DSLR.

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

No across the board 😂

@wackzingo

2 жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot so they're basically useless. lol

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

@@wackzingo Well not useless in general, but to stream you'd have to find a way to go from the S-Video connector to your computer (my solution in the video could work) and those lenses only cover 1/3" sensors, so not DSLRs. Plus the XL2 is "mirrorless" so even if it did cover, you'd need a camera where the flange distance could be matched (probably like some 3D printed solution since no one is making that adapter)

@wackzingo

2 жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot they have 2 working and a third. Think I'll see if we can sell them on eBay and buy them something else. Thanks for the info.

You should have shown us all how you set it up!!! Another 'look at me' video......

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

LMAO, buddy I'm not a KZreadr. I'm just sharing shit I find interesting. If you wanna see the setup here ya go: instagram.com/p/CPbdxP7hxAu/ If you watched the video I explained it pretty clearly. If you didn't SEE it it's because I didn't fucking care about shooting b-roll to force-feed you the information. Feel free to not look at me ever again.

I have an XL2, brand new, used once and it's been a pain in the ass ever since. It's laid idle for four years because every laptop I try to connect it to hasn't the right port. Tried many FireWire to usb cables and adaptors but to no avail. I give up. Gonna end up selling it. I paid seven hundred for it with no accessories at. It's brand new. Strange sale.

@Owlbot

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I don't think FW to USB has ever worked without some kind of intermediary hub (I've actually never heard of one working period, since they're different systems entirely), which is why I was testing out the external recorder. Tape just isn't worth the hassle since no one has FW800 anymore. Hell back in the day the reason I was using the Firestore recorder was because my PC didn't have a FW card lmao

@openhouseproductions

Жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot yes, sir. Such a good camera too. Thanks for your video and reply. Hope you're well.

Did i miss what the "tapeless" part was here?

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

I didn't use a tape to record it

@hisnibs830

2 жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot what did you use mate? I have a canon XM2 (GL2) what doesnt like tapes and i want to find the best tapeless option on a budget (not a FOCUS). THANKS.

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

@@hisnibs830 as I said in the video it's an Odyssey 7Q+

@hisnibs830

2 жыл бұрын

@@Owlbot cheers man. Sorry i was half asleep 🤦‍♂️😂

Video from my XL1 20+ years ago. kzread.info/dash/bejne/qWim27Wqm67bmNo.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/l5xpu86Ik6uulqQ.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/hnuN1MajoLeXeaQ.html

If you can direct me in the right direction please

Reporting from my phone. No grains are visible on this tiny screen.

Horrible presentation. Write down what you want to say. Not so much off the cuff.

@Owlbot

2 жыл бұрын

Horrible comment. Watch the entire channel. Understand the speaker.

@skeksi

2 жыл бұрын

Shush 🤫

@no15minutecities

2 жыл бұрын

Agree.