Others say...

"Heavy and image quality not as good as i thought"
I looked at this and the DVX100. I plumped for this because it had better low light support and interchangeable lens.

PLUS: Its beautifully and solidly made and the delivered lens is amazing

For frames without moving components the image is immaculate.
The sound is great.

It looks cool.

MINUS:

Its heavy and big . Needs a strong tripod and a big dry cabinet.

The remote zoom only has one speed and you cant change it. If you dont have a really big sturdy tripod the camera will shake if you touch it particularly at maximum zoom so the cool multi speed zoom cant be used easily.

But my big beef is......
The general point of video cameras is to capture motion and if there are straight vertical lines moving (like those on a fashion model walking down a catwalk in a silk dress ) the vertical edges have fringes which looks kind of ugly. If the models are dressed in green or in greeen light its even worse. Just had a shoot rejected for this reason.

I am not the only person to see this issue and there is much debate on the internet whether this is a "real" Canon problem or not. My view is this. You can buy a camera for 1/3 of the price that does not show this "feature" - therefore its Canons problem. If the quality of the cameras capture, exceeds the delivery capability of the format it supports and makes things look worse because of it there is not much point in paying for the extra capture quality.

There are a lot of glowing reviews for it but definitely try before you buy. Do not buy unseen based on reviews (I did). I realise now all the examples i saw were of stills not motion. Take some motion videos and see what you think. I now regret my purchase.


"Good thing I read the reviews."
Had I not read all your reviews, I would have been the unhappy victim of fraud. Everything was going great until I was asked to Western Union the $700 to Rome, Italy. Even though the product supposedly ships from New York. Thanks to all of you who posted your warnings. Another type of scam I encountered was the guy who listed a used one for $200. Then when I because interested, the price was $2,000 because he "listed it wrong." Watch out!

"The real story from someone who uses the camera"
O.K. I have been taking a beating from camera rental houses this past year, so when I needed to finish a project that was dragging on and forcing me too shoot on many different days, I said "what the heck", and put down the money for the XL2. I was a reluctant buyer not excited at all about buying a DV camera. I was ready to be disappointed by another crappy and expensive DV camera.

Two months later, I'm glad I bought it, and I'd say that it is the best prosumer DV camera out there, period.

Here are some of the positives and negatives about the camera based on experience.

Positives:

1) Clean signal: While not as good as something like the Sony DSR 500 its a cleaner signal than the VX2000, PD150, and the Panasonic DVX100a. Of all the DV cameras I've shot on I like the XL2's signal the best.

2) Interlacing: I've shot a great deal on Sony cameras. Especially the DSR 500, and The Sony image is always funky, the interlacing is always visible specifically in details like hair and what not. Even with all the menus set properly by a great DP the Sony cameras always have a very hard and interlaced look. Even When shooting in 60i mode The XL2 does not have this and it handles fine details better than the Sony cameras I am used to.

3) Buttons and menus: The design of the button lay out and menus is very good. If you have shot on the Panasonic DVX100a you will really enjoy how the canon is laid out, you don't have to go deep into the menus for every shot on the XL2. The one really bad decision was putting the film grain and color bars on the same button. THAT was a mistake. Why they hell does this camera have a film grain button anyway?

4) BNC output: A small but really helpful addition to the XL2 is that it has a BNC out. For anyone who knows how those BNC to RCA adopters tend to fall off or get lost its about time that a pro-sumer camera included this simple thing for people who use an external monitor.

5) The custom menus:
For professionals: If you have shot on pro cameras you will naturally look at the custom menus as a joke, a pro-sumer "toy". I won't try to tell you that they aren't a "toy" But they do actually work! Which is a great surprise. I have used the camera on sets and on outdoor documentary sports shoots. I find than things like the black stretch and the knee work and are helpful, they are not like what you find on a Beta camera for example but they are a lot better than what else you can find for the money.

For Consumers: This camera comes with a lot of features that you won't use if you are a point and shoot, "Let the camera do it for me" kind of person. However, if you are willing to learn or interested in videography, you will find these features interesting and with a little practice down right useful.

6) Color features:
To the professionals: These work too, you don't get very deep control of the color gain and the RGB settings but you get some and they work pretty well, which is saying a lot for a camera under $5,000! I am developing a preference for shooting with the color gain and RGB settings set pretty high and then pulling them down in color correction, if necessary. Desaturating in post using after effects gives great results, but it has not been necessary all that often, and I'd rather take the color out rather than trying to put it back in.

For the consumers: The color controls are better than on any other camera you are thinking about, most of which will have none. The XL2 gives you noticable control over the saturation of the colors as well as how much red, green and blue you see in the image.


7) Sound: I don't know what it is, if its the mic or the signal processing but the XL2 has better quality sound than you would expect from a DV camera out of the box. Use a real mic and the results are great.

Negatives:

too many rip off artists trying to sell this camera. Purchase the camera only from a trusted and well known retailer, no exceptions, you will get ripped off.

1) The lens:
For Pros: You don't want this lens since it has no witness marks etc. Buy the body without the lens and put on the 16X manual servo zoom. It will cost a bit more but it will be worth it if you need any percision in your shooting.

For consumers: The standard lens is better than any other lens out there, I think you'll find shooting with it a good experience .

2) The eyepiece:
For consumers: If you are a consumer don't worry about it, its fine. Its only an issue in specific cases that pros encounter because of they way they shoot.

For pros: Its REALLY hard to make focusing decisions with the eyepiece that comes in the box. Its not so bad for run and gun doc work but if you are doing dramatic work or pulling focus you'll want to Upgrade or always use a monitor.

3) Its still DV: This is a really great camera for what it is, but you are still shooting DV, and you can run but you can't hide from all the inherent problems of the format.

4) Using the FIRE WIRE: WARNING!!!!! if you use Lacie external firewire drives, among others, the XL2 does not place nice with other devices in the fire wire chain. To log footage from the camera onto your computer you may have to turn off your external drives to do it. This is a for sure with Lacie drives. For many users this will mean either buying larger internal drives or capturing footage to an internal drive with the externals turned off and then transferring the footage later.

The professional should keep in mind:
1) The 24 and 30p frame rates: Naturally the XL2 does not output a true 24 or 30 frame rate. The camera gives you the choice of pull-down you want and then you can remove it in post. If you are going to true 24p output you have the option of 2:3:3:2 pull down, which seems to work without problems with Cinema Tools.

2) All the weight of the camera is at the front so its having a shoulder pad is not that helpful, since most of the weight is on your hand anyway.

3) It may be user error but on the last shoot I directed that used the XL2 there were some strange time code things happening. The DP (who I trust completely) was pre-setting the TC as is usually done but on some tapes the TC changed from the pre-set hour back to hour 0 at some point in the tape. Was this due to battery changes or something else? Who knows? The TC should never do this so I have no Idea why it happened but it obviously effects postproduction and makes generating an EDL impossible.

4) Assuming that you don't have the cash for an Anton Bauer upgrade, The BP-945 batteries are good, they last a long time. So with two of them, the battery that comes with the camera, and the 910 charge you are in great shape and will be able to shoot continuously no problem. If you are shooting in the field you will get 10+ hours of camera time out of these three batteries before you need to recharge.

5) The Pelican 1600 case is a little small if you want to break the camera down all the way. A bigger case is not a bad idea.

"Please Read This:"
Please Please Please read this: Don't believe the lowest Price on Amazon.com. And never/ever doesn't send money directly to the seller or doesn't contact seller directly for any kind of correspondence because: (This is biggest SCAM going in & around Amazon.com) and Amazon.com may known that particular seller doesn't have anything to sell that price.
(For Example:
Sony HDRFX1 HDV High Definition Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom - List Price: $3,999.99 - 12 used & new from $999.00.
Canon XL2 3CCD MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom - List Price: $6,499.99- Buy new: Click for price - Used & new from $500.00)

(Because I tried so many items for Lowest price but never received any item)


"Top-shelf Camera, Top Scam Artist Target (mjbstucki)"
The XL2 is truly a beautiful and desirable piece of machinery. It won't turn any aspiring filmmaker into a new Scorsese, and some of its onboard editing features seem superfluous in the age of advanced desktop editing, but for any filmmaker with a fair budget this should be a target.
Unfortunately, as many other reviewers have pointed out, there are many scam artists and scoundrels populating the Marketplace section of Amazon.com. Some match the exact profile mentioned by honest reviewers here on Amazon.com, like cumatru_urs (props to past reviewers for the heads-up). Most deals truly are too good to be true, especially the ridiculous ones, like those priced under $400. Some sellers use Amazon.com Marketplace to lure buyers, then hitting them with an email later saying they will have to pay a much higher sum and outside of the Amazon guidelines if they want to get their product.
Mbjstucki is one seller who uses this practice, and extremely rudely.
Basicallly, buying these cheap items is just an expression of interest to these sellers, not a real purchase as intended on Amazon.
BUYER BEWARE! Amazon will cover a substantial amount of your purchase, more than you'd ever buy, if you go through the official channels of Amazon. But if you conclude your purchase anywhere else, Amazon will only cover $250 of your purchase, which is understandable.
Don't be fooled by some sellers who have high feedback ratings. They can just as easily be fraudulent. Since you can only leave feedback to sellers once they've shipped your item, you have no recourse against these frauds except this review service. Your purchase will remain in limbo and these sellers will not receive negative feedback, an unfortunate flaw in the Amazon system. So ask a lot of questions, and don't allow a hint of doubt into your final purchase, as your own gut is the best radar for detecting frauds. BE AWARE