You guys are awesome! I have learned so much here! I have some questions though. What is a fair price for the XL1. Where can I get it at this price. What is the best color lighting for the XL1 in indoor conditions? Iv'e heard about buying gels for tungsten lights, but what color is the XL1 optomized for?

-- Larry Feeley (thekrusha@yahoo.com), January 10, 1999

Answers

The lowest I've seen it at is at 888camcorder.com, they have the XL1 for $3125 the last time I checked. I've seen prices that range from that to $4000!!! Also, a house I've seen that has some very low prices is Smile Photo and Video (smilephotovideo.com, although the site doesn't have a whole lot of info.) Check them out.

-- Dan Seitz (Dansietz@aol.com), January 14, 1999.

Just so a bunch of folks don't think they're getting ripped off, I think you'll have a hard time finding a store that will actually sell you an XL1 for $3,125. I'd say that $3,700-$4,000 is the typical range. I've seen the occational reputable dealer at $3,500... but never lower than that.

If you're going to do any serious mic work, remember to also budget in the extra $100 or so for the MA100 XLR adapter (or convince them to throw it in).

-- John Windmueller (jwind@cais.com), February 02, 1999.

Hi Larry!

Can't comment on prices as I'm in the UK, but here's my two pence worth on lighting:

Most, if not all, cameras, are optimised for tungsten light. The reason for this is that daylight is usually brighter than indoor light, and as you're going to have to put in a filter (and thus cut down the amount of light getting to the imaging chips or the film) to convert from one to the other, it makes sense to use the filter on the brighter light source. So, most cameras are optimised for tungsten light and use a filter in the light path, or some form of electronic compensation, for daylight.

The only reason for using conversion gels on tungsten lights is to match them to daylight - for instance if the room you're shooting in has a window with light coming in through it. The camera can only be properly balanced for one type of light at a time, so you have to either match the tungsten lights to the daylight and set the camera for daylight, or vice versa; put orange gels over the windows and set the camera for tungsten light.

For all the reasons I gave at the beginning, the latter option is preferable, but may not be practical - the windows may be too big, or you may be fifty floors up(!). So most times, you'll be gelling the lights, but be aware that you lose about a stop from each light if you use full blue gels. My solution is to set the camera for daylight and use half blue gels on the lights. That way, you don't lose too much of your lights (which are fighting to keep up with the daylight anyway) and the lit parts of the picture have a not-too-unpleasant warmth about them.

The other solution, of course, is to avoid shooting with mixed light sources.

By the way, if you come accross a situation involving flourescent lights, all bets are off! These beasties are notorious for their weird colours, and in this case, you'll just have to do a manual white balance off a white card (or ideally, a Kodak gray card) and hope for the best. If you actually shoot a minute or so of the card itself, you have a reference for any colour correction in post-production.

Hope this helps.

Peter

-- Peter Wardley-Repen (pwr@builth-hs.powys.sch.uk), February 04, 1999.

888-Camcorder 1. Sells the XL-1 for $3795 and 2. Is out of stock.... I'm looking for one with the mic adapted shouler pad as well as any extras... 3x zoom, Optex stiuff etc... will pay cash

-- Josh Brusin (josh_brusin@frankel.com), August 09, 1999.

Beware of magazine adds that that say they will sell the XL1 for less than $3700. I tried to save some money by purchasing through a few of these companies. They lie. Talk about high pressure selling techniques to get you to buy the $800 insurance package. When I wouldn't buy it they told me it would be 10 to 12 weeks before I could get the camera with out the insurance package. I bought mine for $3850 from Bel-Air Camera in LA. It's the lowest I could find outside of mail order. I felt more comfortable.

-- Seth (raybrower@earthlink.net), November 09, 1999.

I recently purchased an XL1 from a place called Cameraworld in Portland, OR. I paid $3799 out the door (no sales tax because I live outside of OR and free ground s/h if you order via the internet) Their website is www.cameraworld.com

Good luck.

-- John Silva (jsilva@edusymp.com), November 19, 1999.

hey. all.. i got 10 kl1's hot off the truck.. in other words stolen.. that i'm selling for 1500, the only draw back is that you can sign up for the club.. email mme

-- steve (steven1977@hotmail.com), May 03, 2000.

Try ebay. They have alot of listings for the XL1.

-- Justin Haupt (c85airman@aol.com), September 24, 2001.

Hey steve don't you mean 10 Xl-1's? If so, do you have any left?

-- (dotcarey@mindspring.com), October 01, 2001.