Response to Pulling Focus

I've been using the XL1 for about eighteen months now mainly on non- broadcast corporate promos and short films. Last year we picked up a project at short notice requiring 5 five minute mudules to be delivered in four weeks. Due to the resource hungry nature of the script, the project devoured material. So we bought the XL1 to enable a second unit, compliment Beta SP and hopefully try nd get ahead of the gruelling schedule. I was able to literally fly from location to location on a motorcycle picking up material to fit the script. Due to the cameras size, those in your face and p.o.v. shots were a breeze and the result was heaps of natural looking pix. The XL1 is great in low light, pin sharp and no glaring artifacts bar a few highlight problems here and there. By the time the whole lot was colour corrected, tweaked and mastered onto Digi-Beta, you couldn't tell the difference between DV & SP. In fact in places the DV looked technically better than SP. Without the XL1 we simply could have not complied with the clients wishes. It enabled us to source valuable additional material quickly and efficiently. As a second unit this product paid for itself in the first three weeks of use and in our situation, I can't recommend it enough. Sure it has limitations, but in my opinion the benefits far outweigh the idiosyncracies. With all the third party accessories that are now available, the XL1 is a tidy piece of kit.

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