Does this new camera give you the option....

[J.R. Hudson]

Does this new camera give you the option of using the variety of lenses one can use with XL1? (Zeiss, Primes, etc)

[David Jimerson]

I believe it has the same mount.

[J.R. Hudson]

Just curious. This element is the area I'd like to see the NEXT Gene DVX go. Not that I currently afford those lenses but forget the P and S Tech Adapters for like $15,000. Know what I mean?

But you know what? Im not overly concerned with all of these technical innovations as I am in just making a quality film; no matter the format!

[Barry_Green]

You can use all the old XL1 lenses, yes. But for the mini35, apparently they need to mill a new plate because there's like a 4mm overlap or something -- something different on the front of the body that makes the existing XL1 mini35 mount not quite a perfect fit. Once ZGC/P+S Technik address that, you'll be able to use the mini35 with the XL2.

[iml]

oh man...probably not good to say on this forum but I really want an XL2 bad

I have over $10,000 of Canon L glass that I use for photography...this camera is exactly what I want. Only reason I never went with the XL1s is because I really wanted 24p support.

I have a month old DVX100a too heheh.

[David Jimerson]

No problem with saying it . . . you’ve got compelling reasons to be very interested in the XL2. $10K worth of them, apparently. Sounds like you can take advantage of the open architecture, which +/- 90% of XL users never use . . .

[Barry_S]

oh man...probably not good to say on this forum but I really want an XL2 bad

I have over $10,000 of Canon L glass that I use for photography...this camera is exactly what I want. *Only reason I never went with the XL1s is because I really wanted 24p support.

I have a month old DVX100a too heheh.

Is it really exactly what you want? Keep in mind that your pile of 35mm SLR glass will *all* be telephoto lenses on an XL-2--mostly long and ultra-long telephotos at that. If you shoot bird behavior and nature documentaries, you've hit the jackpot. Otherwise, that glass may not be as helpful as you think.

[Barry_Green]

About that "telephoto" thing... I think people get confused over that because they worry about "multiplication factors" etc.

Ignore what the lens looks like on a 35mm camera. Think of it in terms of the XL2's stock 20x lens. That lens has a focal range of around 6mm to 120mm. So any still-camera lenses that you have that are less than 120mm will give the same field of view as you'd get on the XL2 by setting its lens to that setting. If you have an 8mm Peleng, for example, that would give you about the same field of view as the XL2 on its widest (6mm) setting... a little more telephoto, but not much. If you have a 120mm lens, it'll deliver the same field of view on the XL2 as the XL2 lens would on full telephoto.

People get hung up on this because they try to compare it to still-camera lenses, but that's not really relevant. MM is MM. a 35mm, 50mm, 85mm lens... those will all work fine with the XL2 and fall within the normal zoom range.

(same can't be said for the DVX, which tops out at 45mm, but for the 20x reach of the XL2 it should be directly applicable).

[iml]

Is it really exactly what you want? Keep in mind that your pile of 35mm SLR glass will *all* be telephoto lenses on an XL-2--mostly long and ultra-long telephotos at that. If you shoot bird behavior and nature documentaries, you've hit the jackpot. Otherwise, that glass may not be as helpful as you think.

Barry,

I think I read it does a great job with fish-eye and super wide lenses too.

P.S. I won't be giving up the DVX100a, it is a great camera.

[iml]

Barry_Green,

From my reading my 400mm lens would be great for surveillance work heheh.

[Barry_Green]

That would be quite telephoto, yes. You should be able to make out craters on the moon with a lens like that!

[Barry_S]

Barry,

I think I read it does a great job with fish-eye and super wide lenses too.

P.S. *I won't be giving up the DVX100a, it is a great camera.



Well, I'm sure it works fine, but the Canon fisheye is a 15mm lens. *So you're going to have the equivalent of a 110mm telephoto fisheye lens on one of your Canon bodies--a funky effect to be sure--telephoto compression with spherical distortion. *:). *Even an ultra-wideangle like the 14mm is still going to be a telephoto on the XL-2. *However, if you've got some long glass, you could probably shoot footage of the mars rovers--and count any small birthmarks on your neighbors.

[Barry_Green]

The "fisheye" 15mm probably won't look fisheye on an XL2, because the XL2 will only be looking through the very central portion of the glass.

I have an 8mm Peleng that looks like a 180-degree fisheye on my 35mm still camera, it looks like a very wide angle pseudo-fisheye on my 35mm movie camera, and on a 16mm camera it just looks like a wide-angle lens, almost no "fisheye" effect.

[David Jimerson]

Fisheyes are very popular. Why? Or am I the only one who doesn't like the look?

[Mike_Donis]

I'm with you David...I don't like the look either.

[boo]

the only time i'd use a fisheye is for extreme sports or music videos.

[dsleep]

Really? I can think of a whole bunch of very cool uses for a fisheye. It is like everything else, in the right hands it is beautiful...

If you haven't, check out John Frankenheimer's SECONDS. Incredible cinematography (James Wong Howe, i think) and atmospheric use of fisheye. It that movie, that fisheye look is central to the film, thematically and visually.

Yes, I tend to overuse wide and fisheye lens. That is not the fisheye's fault!

[iml]

fisheyes fisheyes, rollie pollie fisheyes, fisheyes fisheyes, eat them up yum

[Barry_Green]

(with apologies to Billy Mumy)

[J.R. Hudson]

Fisheyes are very popular. *Why? *Or am I the only one who doesn't like the look?

I agree.

Although I see its uses (Sports Videos; abstract possibly) and even can warrant a certain stylized shot using this lens I thin kit looks like shite.

To put it mildly.

[Neil Rowe]

ditto.. they are pretty out of style.. even in the extreme sports arena they are very old schoolish to the point that it it could be called just "old and dumb" but i suppose its all personal preference.

[Bsmith]

I don't know if this has been discussed at all but does anyone have any idea as when to the new model for the dvx (dvx200 or whatever it will be called) might be annouced...is it anytime soon? Or do we have a long wait still? I was just wondering b/c I want to upgrade..but once I upgrade it will be the last time for awhile and I have a feeling if I buy a dvx now...two days later they will announce the new model. And I just wanna know what might the differences be.

[Mike_Donis]

The DVX100 was around for about two years before they came out with the 100A...the 100A has only been out for seven months. Taking that into consideration, your guess is as good as anyone's...

[Bsmith]

2 years!!! holy crap..and I also thought that 100a has been out longer than that. Well then I guess I have a long wait.