XL2--NTSC or PAL?

[Jason M Silverman]

I'm looking to buy an XL2 shortly. I'm living in Ireland, but will most likely buy it in the states, since they are much cheaper, and the Euro is stronger. B&H is the only american retailer I've found willing to sell the PAL version and it costs more than the NTSC. I think I want the PAL for two reasons: 1) Ireland uses PAL 2) the 25 rate should be better for transfering footage to film. Do you all think it is worth the extra cost?

 

Also, I was wondering if I move back to the USA, will having a PAL camera cause me problems?

 

Peace

 

Jason M Silverman

[Alvin Pingol]

I would recommend PAL over NTSC as it will give you a slight increase in resolution as well as better color subsampling (4:2:0 vs. 4:1:1).

 

Because the NTSC XL2 is capable of shooting 24P, a transfer to film from either region camera should be equally simple.

 

>>Also, I was wondering if I move back to the USA, will having a PAL camera

>>cause me problems?

 

Only in the fact that you'll need a converter box to view your footage on television; 60Hz sources (fluorescents, TV screens, etc.) may flicker slightly if using PAL standard shutter speeds, like 1/50th, 1/100th, and so forth.

 

Additionally, an NTSC to PAL conversion will never look as good as PAL to NTSC. Hope this helps...