Here she be, Predecessor to the XL H1, XL2 & XL1s, The Canon XL1 is my new baby. Aging slightly these days, the XL1 is a beautiful camera for online internet and DVD video production. Complete with interchangable lenses, lovely depth of field (DOF, My favorite) progressive scan, and a look that makes the local old codger tremble in his hi8 handycam boots, its an all round prosumer joy to use. Although slightly on the weighty side, the size of the XL1 makes it shoulder mountable (I find it more comfortable without the shoulder pad), and the lack of an LCD flip out screen forces the user to revert to oldschool film techniques (not a bad thing). However Ill be mounting my 7″ LCD screen to the hotshoe this week.
Used for such films as ‘28 days later’ and Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Full Frontal‘ The XL1 is an oldschool master piece of engineering, and for a mere AU$1500 (US$1200) the Canon XL1 is a steal.

(original retail price AU$15,000 in 1998)