XL2 4:3 CCDs

G

Gnuyen

New member
After reading a bunch of posts on here I thought I should share

I went to the canon xl2 camera overview at DVExpo WEST last week, and learned much valuable information. It's probably already been declared, but the canon xl2 does NOT have native 16:9 CCDs! If you take the lens off and look at the CCD, you'll find it's shaped like a 4:3 CCD. Canon chose to go with 4:3 ccds in order to make it's price point of under 5k. They simply have turned off the top and bottom of the ccd, to get a 16:9 signal out of it. To get 4:3 out of the ccd, they mask off the sides of the already smaller area!

The skinny is if you shoot in 4:3 on an XL2, you're using MUCH less of a 1/3" CCD than on the XL1, and as such, you'll get a much deeper depth of field!

Just thought you guys might want to know.

I own an XL2 and think it's phenomenal. But a lot of XL2 users claim the camera is better than the DVX at 16:9 because of "native" 16:9 CCDs. It doesn't have those. I think it's better than the DVX for shooting at 16:9 because it's more flexible than the DVX with an anamorphic.
 
Re: XL2 4:3 CCDs

We already knew all of this. (Been covered in many posts.) It *does* shoot at real 16:9, so "native 16:9" is fair. Sure, it has the drawbacks you mention, but it's still a fair statement. I don't think anyone ever claimed they were 16:9-shaped chips.
 
Re: XL2 4:3 CCDs

Hi,

Indeed the XL2 has "native 16:9" capability. It uses an oversized 4:3 ccd and blocks of the top and bottom in 16:9 mode, as you stated. But if you look, you'll see that in 16:9 mode, it has a higher resolution (960x480). So technically .... Yes, it is better than the DVX in terms of 16:9 footage. 4:3 .... well to my eyes, they seem on par with each other although the XL2 does use less of a ccd space but also seems to use more digital sharpening in 4:3. Eeeewww ... digital sharpening :o
 
Re: XL2 4:3 CCDs

If the CCD's are 1/3" in size in the 4/3 ratio,how are they considered oversize? Maybe they are bigger than than 1/3"?

Greg
 
Re: XL2 4:3 CCDs

You're right, of course, they are 4:3-shaped and are a full 1/3" in size physically. But not operationally.

When you use 4:3, they only use a small portion of the center of the CCD. They're 1/4" in the 4:3 ratio.  They expand to 1/3.3" in the 16:9 ratio.  They never utilize the full 1/3" size.
 
Re: XL2 4:3 CCDs

Mgalvin had me confused. He meant it more like a regular CCD might be 1/4" but the XL-2 uses an over sized one to get the 16:9 image. I see it like you mentioned in that it is a normal sized 1/3" CCD but the top and bottom are not used in 16:9 mode.

No big deal anyway. I just wanted to make sure I was up on this.

Greg
 
Re: XL2 4:3 CCDs

sorry for the confusion Greg ... I see it how Barry sees it ... I should explain better ::)
 
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