Dave Jones

I shoot action/wildlife photography and video as a hobby. I have the opportunity to get a EF 70mm - 200mm 2.8 lens at a good price. I know it will be a great lens for my DSL camera. I would like to know the pros and cons of using this lens with my XL2. Currently, I have a standard XL lens and a 3X wide angle. Will the EF lens give my video a more "film-like" appearance? Will it seriously upgrade my video quality for the money?

I recently purchased an XL2 (quite a step up from what I have used before) and had planned to do a lot of experimenting over the Christmas holiday to get acquainted with the camcorder. Needless to say, a friend of mine needs a mini-doc (5 - 10 minutes) completed in a few weeks for charity and, with our schedules, not a whole lot of time. I will be spending the next week learning as much as I can about the XL2. I plan to shoot something fairly simple. The film will consist of few interviews with a boom/mic combo with action shots edited in as the interviewee is speaking. The scenes will be shot in both an office and school setting. Lighting, of couse, would consist of what you would find in a typical office or classroom. I will be using Liquid Pro for the editing. Considering the filming environment stated above, what settings should I use (wih practice) for a quality, film-like picture? My biggest concern is I won't have much, if any, control over the lighting. Also, I will be using a shotgun mic floating over the head of the person being interviewed. Any basic words of advice. I would like the sound quality to be good enough to be able to put a soundtrack beneath the voice. Lastly, although I shouldn't have many problems with the editing, are there a few suggestions concerning how to improve the picture quality during this phase of the project? Again, I will be practicing and going through some practice runs with volunteers (family?) during the next 5 days and could use a little direction. Advice would be so much appreciated!

Thanks for the link, Jack. Very interesting thread.

Gearing up for a nature shoot this summer... Will adding a Panasonic anamorphic lens to my XL2 give me the same aspect ratio of a 35mm camera? This guy is saying so.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgs9pkf6khs...ted&search=

Thanks Adrian for your summary.....much appreciated. Great point about the 35mm format lenses, Patrick. Yes, the bears have become more visible in recent years. Can't wait to film them.

After years of making home movies with a consumer camcorder, I am ready to make the jump to the prosumer arena to make documentaries. At the moment, I have two diverse interests - the Rocky Mountains and motor sports (well, I live close to Indianapolis!). I would like a camera that can capture the beauty of mountain scenery in the Fall and be versatile enough to cover live, fast-paced, sporting events that require minimal set-up times for shots. I have narrowed my camera selection down to four cameras. I think I would prefer the "film-look" in most cases and also wish to have as much "wide angle" capability as possible for mountain shots and racing track shots. I would like to stay within a $3000 - $3500 budget. I can go higher, but I need to justify to myself the extra expense.... The four cameras I have identified are the following: 1) Panasonic AG-DVX100B - Overall, my first choice after some research. The two things that bug me about this camera is no 16:9 capability and cannot change out lenses. When I think of shooting mountains, I think of wide angle shots and wide screen to capture their full glory. NO PANNING! Is my thinking flawed? 2) Canon XL2 - True 16:9 format, interchangeable lenses (although the lenses are pricey!). Doesn't look as user-friendly as DVX100. 3) Canon XH G1, Panasonic HVX200 - Better picture quality than the previous two, although a lot more expensive. One last consideration is how well these cameras perform in low light. Will their performance drop significantly for sunsets/sunrises and night racing shots? For the subjects I want to shoot, are there other things to consider? Advice would be much appreciated...