Learn How to Make Better Videos

The XL2: A Surprisingly Good Camera

Recently, I was able to fly out to San Fransisco for some freelance video production work for a big conference being held in that city. The company provided the equipment and everything, which is very nice, but always nerve racking, because you never really know what kind of equipment you will end up with. Luckily, this company provided a Canon XL2, which was a nice surprise.

A Videographer’s Dream
Today, most of the consumer cameras out there don’t have much to offer in the area of manual control. Automatic control seems to be in, especially for those dads out there who just want to point and shoot. However, once you have dug into shooting video for a little bit, you will see the limitations to automatic settings. You can’t focus on what you would like to when you want to. Most of the time there are a couple presets for lighting (inside and outside), which don’t really hit the color perfectly. Automatic cameras are like a on-size-fits all deal; good in on sense, but bad in another.

Canon XL2 has done a good job in kicking the consumer cameras up one notch. I love how everything that I would want to be able to control is at my fingertips. I can focus on what I want, when I want. White balancing is possible. Shoot (no pun intended), I can even set the f-stop and shutter speed to whatever I desire. Canon’s XL2 is truly a videographers dream when it comes to giving the freedom to be as creative as they would like.

Here’s a cheesy ad for the camera, but it highlights some of the XL2’s features.

It Gets Even Better
The Canon XL2 not only gives a person freedom with focusing, f-stops, color temperature, etc. But this camera doesn’t hide all it’s features deep in a menu somewhere. Oh this is the best par: every one of the camera controls are tangible with nobs or buttons. To focus you turn the lens like you would a professional camera. Everything is easily accessible and very intuitive. Push a few buttons and you can total transform your footage. The XL2 really looks and feels like you are using a real professional 40,000 dollar camera where everything is manually set and operated. There is so much more freedom, and as I said earlier, it was a very good surprise at the San Fransisco conference.

What If You Want It Easy?
Well you’re a camera pansy. Just kidding. Most freelance videographers don’t need to control everything all the time, so Canon’s XL2 gives the user the ability to set which controls they would like access to and which ones they would like automated. A person can go from controlling everything to controlling nothing and hit every stop in between with Canon’s XL2. So if completely manual operation isn’t necessarily something you are really interested in, this camera is still good for you as well. However, I would recommend at least trying to get to the point that you can really begin shooting video manually. Honestly, it will make for better footage.

My point in all this is to recommend Canon’s XL2 camera. I don’t work for Canon. I just enjoyed the equipment and would think it would help for making better videos, so I recommend it’s use. I’m sure it isn’t the only camera out there and there are great sites with good camcorder reviews you will probably get more information from, so you will probably do well to read some reviews from other people on the Canon XL2 or other cameras.