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I already mentioned that the new menu navigation system
is a great improvement. Thanks Canon! But wait! There are also many features
ADDED TO the menus.
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This is the main menu
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A whole new menu for setting
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This is the system menu
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One of my favorites is the time-lapse feature. You can now set the camera to record a little bit every so often. For example, you can set the camera to record for a half second every minute. This is a nice feature for flowers blooming, motion studies, and my specialty; sunrise/sunsets. Without this feature, you can do this same thing in post, but you waste a lot of time capturing footage. This is another feature that I did not play with much but it will be in a future story.
I can truthfully say the biggest reason I decided to purchase the XL1S
was the Power Save/VCR Stop feature. The old model would drive us crazy
by shutting off after 5 minutes of no activity. It takes quite a while
to setup a shot - between lighting, blocking, framing, set decoration,
and problems - WELL five minutes is not nearly enough time! And we are
Rapid - it must take other companies even longer. So now we can set up
the shot and have the camera on, with the director watching on the monitor,
without it going black. This will be a big time and frustration saver
for me. |
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Other nice features include being able to set the zoom
speed on the top handle zoom button. And with the XL1S you can select
the zebra level to your preference - in the old model the zebra level
was hard-coded.
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The viewfinder arrangement of the information has change
noticeably. I think I like it better but I need to use it for a while.
When you first turn the camera on, it displays the time zone, date, and
time.
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After a few seconds, it disappears. The mode of the
camera, like "Auto" and the audio setting also disappear. I
guess Canon figured that once you set the mode, you want to forget it
and see more important, transient data instead. I agree. The settings
for white balance and gain are now at the top of the screen.
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There is a feature that will personally save me some
frustration. The exposure override now shows in the viewfinder. I have
forgotten to set that back to zero so many times. . . . well, that's why
there are "take two's!" Having a reminder in the viewfinder
means I will get to "print" more "take one's."
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For those of you who do living switching or if you shoot
with a monitor all the time, Canon added extra functionality to the EVF
button. The button cycles through different viewfinder display options.
For example, if all information is currently displayed, pressing the button
once eliminates all data but the timecode and battery. Pressing the button
again gives a clear display, pressing the button again brings you back
to all information. This also changes the external monitor. This was possible
on the old model but you had to use the remote the came with the camera
or Canon's optional wired remote.
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