First pro shoot with XL2!!!

[Evro]

I used my new XL2 on a professional shoot (a wedding) for the first time last weekend together with my trusty DVX. (Both cams were setup for 25P @ 16:9 and tweaked to obtain the best cine-film emulation I could get.)

After my experience on the day and now having reviewed all the footage, I can make the following observations:

1) XL2 has much higher res at every setting - no contest for my DVX!!
2) The XL2 just cannot acheive the filmic cadence, colour & look of the DVX - I'd love to be proven wrong!!
3) XL2 footage slowed down on time-line seems to have an inherrent<sp> motion blur which looks great!! Whereas the DVX has the typical stuttery motion that you get with a real 16mm camera. This may have something to do with the way the XL2 CCDs capture and process progressive images - I don't know?
5) The DVX is fantastic for shooting live bands and folks dancing because you can get in and out with snap zooms, crazy dutch tilts, wild dollies and into peoples faces really quickly without freaking them out or causing injury.
6) The XL2 is rock solid (with 910charger + 3x NB945 batts + mic Rx all strapped to the rear bracket) for shoulder mounted shooting and also great for handheld ultra slow dolly or tracking movements & pedestal shots - you can't do that with your DVX handheld...!!
7) DVX low light performance not as good as XL2 (both were used at +12 gain on low lit dance floor) noise was really evident on the DVX.
8) But best of all... ammongst a mass of wedding guests with palm-corders competing for a shot at the happy couple the The XL2 says get outa my f*cking way!!! I'm the professional here!!

Because the above observations were made with event shooting in mind they may not apply to the ind. movie maker - "horses for courses."

However, for all you guys & gals out there shooting events the answer is simple - buy both cams!! I'm so glad I got the XL2 instead of another DVX or FX1 - I'd say that I now have the best tools an event guy could ask for.

[lairhair]

Question for you. I own both a dvx100a and an xl2. I will be shooting a wedding in the near future and doing a multi camera shoot would be ideal for me but I found that the image looks completely different between the two. Can you tell me how you made the image identical. thanks!

[Evro]

I wish I could give you some good news but since that first wedding, I then shot another two using the XL2 - DVX combo. The result was many hours of wasted time trying to match the output of the two cams in post.

I gave up and convinced the boss to buy another DVX, which we did and since then I've been able to spend more time being creative with the edits than creatively trying to match XL2 - DVX footage.
The XL2 just never cut it in low light with faces & skin tones turning into a mushy pink that no manner of tweaking could correct. :furious3: Also the 20x end of the zoom is useless indoors unless you've got lots of light.

The XL2 in good light is fantastic with superior resolution but at the end of the day the DVX is the best all rounder.:smile:



Back to your question...

The only thing that will save you for your upcoming wedding is to keep the XL2 on sticks at the back of the room/church with the lens at the wide end and your DVX focussed on all the CUs & inserts.

Our XL2 serves as a wide-angle B-Roll camera.

Good luck!

[eibr]

8) But best of all... ammongst a mass of wedding guests with palm-corders competing for a shot at the happy couple the The XL2 says get outa my f*cking way!!! I'm the professional here!!


Hehe, that is my experience too. I recently got my hands on an XL2 for making a documentary from an abandoned Russian mine-settlement on Svalbard (North Atlantic islands). In addition to this project I have been asked by a local freelance journalist to help her make newsclips from Svalbard for TV-stations on the Norwegian Mainland.

On my first "job" with the XL2, trying to keep my head cold and my camera settings correct, the interview object said to me: "It is good that this is done by people who knows their business". :undecided

Luckily it turned out well.

[egproductions]

Could this "motion blur" you talked about be do to different shutter speeds selected between the two cameras?

[Evro]

You're not that far off EgP, (it was 2 years ago I when did my initial review) and the reason why the motion blur was more pronounced on the XL2 was because the shutter was set to 1/25th and not the normal 1/50th (or shutter off position) hence why the XL2 footage looked to have more motion blur, I'm sure if the DVX was also shooting in 1/25 it would probably exhibit the same motion blur. The fact is that both cameras exhibited the same judder when the footage was slowed down.

Mystery finally busted! :)

Since moving into HD we went for Canon XH-A1 & JVC Pro-HD cameras but I gotta say, although I hated the XL2 the Canon XH-A1 has restored my faith in Canon camcorders.

[egproductions]

Wow, I didn't realize this post was from 2 years ago! I still love my XL2.

[Evro]

Wow, I didn't realize this post was from 2 years ago! I still love my XL2.

I don't know... I just didn't click with the XL2. But I'm certainly a Canon fanboy. I recently picked up a Canon HV30 and also our three Super 8mm film cameras are all high-end Canon models.

My experience with Canon is that they make some of the best Glass in the industry :)