Canon XL1

I work at a TV station in Rochester, MN and have had the opportunity to play with the latest in broadcast equipment. We went on the air only about 2 1/2 years ago and are completely digital. We work with DVCPRO about 99% of the time and can run the station unattended during taped programming and live programming with predetermined hit times for local breaks. I spent about a year doing research looking for a DVcam and finally settled on the XL1 despite some of the negative features highlighted by other users. I brought it in to work today and a large number of the crew were impressed by it. We use the Parkervision system for our evening news which is a robotic automated system and we swapped out one of the cameras with the XL1 to see a comparison, their jaws dropped. The quality of the image was as good as a $30,000 Panasonic DVCPRO fieldcam and as good as the robotic studio cams. Needless to say I had a huge smile on my face when they asked what it sells for. They shook their heads and said imagine what that would do for our budget.

Interchangable Lens, Fantastic Picture, DV format, Firewire, Lots of cool accessories available, did I mention Great Picture

Awkward to use with standard shoulder mount. Get the optional MA-100 from Canon or other.

Panasonic DV800, Sony VX2000

Not needed yet

The XL-1 is the bottom line in Mini-DV quality.

So many... Mini-DV is great format, and the XL-1 makes the most of it. The camera's 3 ccd imagimg chips render extremely accurate colors. The interchangable lens mount is great - I currently have a 100-400 mm zoom lens on one of my two XL-1's, paired with a 1.4x teleconverter, and I really love the distance I get with it. The shots make my photo-only friends drool. The camera also looks great, and is mighty durable and lightweight, with its magnesium alloy housing.

The camera is could be weighted better, and I had a sun-damaged viewfinder.

Sony V-101 and V-801 Hi8 Cameras. They were nice, but not in the same league.

Excellent. They fixed the viewfinder, no problem, and also offer a once in the camera's life complete refurbishing, for only 100 quid - for a camera this complex and expensive, that's a great deal.

The Cannon XL1 is, in my opinion, an excellent camera for its price. Not only is it a fully digital camera using mini-DV and firewire technologies, it also includes a removable lens for greater flexibility in camera use. I have used this camera to make short films, and have been involved with others who have used it as well. Never have I heard a bad thing said about the Cannon XL1. Of course, if you are just beginning and mainly need something to get things on tape in a hurry, this is not neccesarily the camera for you. In the case of a beginer or a student, a less expensive model would be sufficient.

Removable Lens Firewire capable Mini-DV Manual/Auto focus, white balance, exposure Understandable manual LCD Audio meter

Heavy case Slightly awkward without a tripod

Sony Digital Camcorder (cannot remember model name) Various "handy-cams" and VHS cameras, as well as high end SVHS cameras for TV broadcasting