CANON XL1 USER MANUAL By Lindsey Thorpe 1
Canon XL1 Manual • Mounting and removing XL lenses Mounting 1. Remove the dust cap from the lens and the body cap from the camcorder. 2. Align the red dot on the camera body with the mount positioning point (the red dot) on the lens, then turn the lens clockwise until it clicks and locks into place. Removing 1. Slide and hold the LENS RELEASE switch and turn the lens counter-clockwise until it stops. Then, remove the lens from the camera body. 2.
• Loading and unloading a cassette 1. Make sure that you have inserted a power source. 2. Slide the EJECT button across to release the cover. • Wait a couple of seconds for the cassette compartment to open automatically. 3. Load or unload the cassette. • Insert the cassette gently with the window facing out. • Remove the cassette by pulling it straight out. 4. Press the mark on the compartment until it clicks. 5. Click the cover back into place. • Selecting from the menus 1.
• Using the various recoding programmes The camera provides you with a choice of six recording programs. They use different combinations of camera settings in order to adjust the exposure and other functions to match the recording situation. The name of your selected recording program appears constantly on the left of the display, with the exception of the Easy Recording program whose mark is displayed and then disappears after 4 seconds.
Giving priority to the aperture (Av) Use this program to let you select the aperture (iris diameter) to give you maximum control over the depth of field. A large F number (a small aperture) gives a greater depth of field. Av F2.8 Use this program to let you select the shutter speed. The camera sets the appropriate aperture (F number) automatically to give the correct exposure. When you turn the POWER dial to Tv, the current shutter speed is shown in the viewfinder.
• Using AE Shift By controlling the level of the automatic exposure (AE) function, you can lighten or darken the image slightly. This allows you to compensate for backlit subjects or subjects with predominately dark or light tones. 1. Turn the POWER dial to the Auto, Tv or Av recording program. 2. Turn the AE SHIFT dial to adjust the AE to your desired level. • To make the image brighter, turn the controller towards the + settings. • To make the image darker, turn the controller towards the – settings.
1. Turn the POWER dial to any recording program (except the Easy Recording program). 2. Press the white balance selector knob so that it pops out. You can now turn it to choose between A for auto white balance, indoor lighting, outdoor lighting, or turn it to the right to set the white balance manually.
Sound Equipment Manual - SHURE MIXER FRONT PANEL CONTROLS AND INDICATORS 1. Pan Control 2. Input Level Bi-Colour LED 3. 1 kHz Tone Oscillator Switch 4. Link Switch 5. Slate Microphone 6. Meter Lamp/Battery Check Switch 7. Output Peak/Limiter Bi-Colour LED 8. Slate Button 9. Power On/Off Switch 10. Power On LED 11. Input Gain Control 12. Input Low-Cut Filter Switch 13. Master Gain—Right Channel Output 14. Master Gain—Left Channel Output 15. Output Peak Limiter Switch 16.
INPUT PANEL CONNECTORS AND CONTROLS 1. Channel Inputs: 2. Mic/Line Level Input Switch: OUTPUT PANEL CONNECTORS AND CONTROLS 1. Mix Bus Jack 2. Main Output 3. Headphones Outputs 4. Monitor In Jack 5. Tape Output Jack 6. Mic/Line Level Output Switch 7.
Rifle mic – put yellow cable (Female) into Male. Insert the opposite end of the yellow cable into the Shure Mixer. Turn Shure Mixer on. Plug headphones in by inserting the big jac. Use channel 1, turn channels 2 and 3 down in order to avoid a hissing sound. To check tone, turn tone button on, use the master switch to set it to -4. Insert green plug into Shure mixer and the camera which must be set to 12. If the green lights flashes red, the levels are too high.
16-bit stereo = highest quality sound, produces CD quality sound, 2 channel sound on one track 12-bit stereo (2 channels) = records on 2 of the 4 available channels, leaving the other channels available for the addition of sound, music, narration, etc. 12-bit stereo (4 channels) = used for simultaneous recording on four channels which means audio can be outputted as four independent channels. Audio quality is slightly lower.
Stereo 1 for output at Stage A, Stereo 1 (L&R) will be sent to RCA jacks labelled Audio 2 (L&R) & Stereo 2 (L&R) – RCA jacks labelled Audio 2 (L&R) = 4 independent audio signals Mixed the balance at Stage A, combination of left channels from stereo 1&2 sent to left channel of Audio 1 & combination of right channels will be sent to right channel of Audio 1. L/L Only left side signal is output to RCA left & right jacks. For reproducing only main voice of bilingual information recorded on other equipment.
Normally, the camera sets the audio recording level automatically, as long as the REC LEVEL switch is set to A. You can set the recording level manually: a. Slide the REC LEVEL switch of the AUDIO 1/Mic controls to M. (MANU appears in the audio LCD panel). b. Turn the LEVEL dial to adjust the recording level and BALANCE dial to adjust the balance between the 2 inputs. Check the levels in the audio LCD panel. Note: you can not adjust the volume level independently for the left and right channels.
b. Turn the LEVEL dial to adjust the recording level and BALANCE dial to adjust the balance between the two inputs. Check the levels in the audio LCD panel. Note: you cannot adjust the volume level independently for the left and right channels. We recommend keeping the level below the 12 point index mark, and monitoring the sound using headphones. You can adjust the headphone volume by rotating the PHONES LEVEL dial.
b. Turn the LEVEL dial to adjust the recording level and BALANCE dial to adjust the balance between the 2 inputs. Check the levels in the audio LCD panel. Note: you can not adjust he volume level independently for the left and right channels. We recommend keeping the level below the 12 point index mark, and monitoring the sound using headphones. You can adjust the headphone volume by rotating the PHONES LEVEL dial.
3. To set the input for Stereo 2: Connect a device to the AUDIO 2 RCA jacks on the handle.3 From the Camera Menu, select Audio 2 INPUT, then select the appropriate option for AUDIO 2 IN: a. LINE: To record sound from a VCR, CD or other line-in devices b. MIC ATT20: To record high-level sound using a microphone c. MIC: To record sound using a XLR microphone attached to the MA100 Microphone Adapter/Shoulder Pad. 4. Select the recording level for 4 channel recording.
• Unlike selecting the audio output in VCR mode, you cannot mix the balance at this point — even if VARIABLE is chosen at the VCR menu, it is fixed during camera mode. Depth of Field Shallow vs great DOF Manipulating DOF = iris Focal length (zooming in) - long focal length = shallow DOF (zooming out) – short focal length = great DOF = all in the same focal plane Camera to object distance (focus) Cables 1.
5. S-video cable – aka YC cable - calculates values/changes by different algorithm - between composite and component - inside camera kit - cleaner than composite - video only PATHWAYS: Composite – noisy, slow, analogue, only takes video information Component – only video, no audio capacity 6. 9 pin Remote cable – allows to stop/start/record/eject - no audio or video - aka RSS control cable protocol 7. XLR (audio) – 3 plugs: i. neutral ii. left iii. right - can take stereo - audio only 8.
Frame types and compression You can reveal many fundamental concepts of compression by looking at the kinds of frames in a file. Depending on the codec and options used, one, two, or three kinds of frames may be in a file. A key frame, or I-frame, is a complete image that is compressed using intraframe compression. An I-frame isn’t based on any other frames in the file. The first frame of a movie is always an I-frame.
distribute 8-bit audio anymore. Modern 16-bit codecs provide better quality at a smaller file size than 8-bit codecs were ever able to. • 16-bit sampling This bit depth is the current standard for audio distribution. Most modern codecs and all audio CDs use 16-bit sampling as well. • 20-bit sampling This bit depth is used for professional audio recording to provide a better dynamic range than 16 bits. Codecs that support 24-bit audio can effectively take advantage of 20-bit sources.
There are other techniques which can have as much effect on compressibility as the above mentioned techniques. Because these techniques occur later in the process, it is often possible to adjust them based on the results of test compressions, making finetuning much easier. • Static versus moving images As in production, superfluous moving images aren’t appropriate for content that you plan to aggressively compress. They are not that important for DVD, but they are for web and CD-ROM.
common to professional and broadcast video equipment. As the quality of the RCA or BNC cable that is used increases, the noise and attenuation decreases. • S-Video The introduction of the S-Video format was a major advance in quality for consumer and professional video editors. S-Video splits the luma and chroma channels into two separate wire pairs, which eliminates generally half of the composite noise artefacts.
broadcast television. Because it is digital and uncompressed, it can be edited and copied many times with no detectable loss of quality. • Digital audio There are many different digital audio formats. Consumer-grade digital audio is carried on electronic (such as S/PDIF) or optical (such as square TOSlink or round Miniplug) connection cables. Digital video carries an embedded digital audio signal with the digital video signal.
Choosing whether to preprocess or to avoid rendering The first question that you should ask is when to apply preprocessing (described in the next section): during the rendering phase or later. Preprocessing during rendering generally results in a smaller file, but adds more rendering time. It also means you can’t use an encoding tool for special operations, like inverse telecine. Basically, to avoid rendering, you use the same codec and file format as your source video.
safe areas. The safe areas exclude the edges of the screen, which may be cut off or distorted on some televisions (especially older ones). In some digital video editing applications, you can crop an image using a filter. In others, such as After Effects, the easiest way to crop an image is to scale the video up so the unwanted edges are no longer part of the frame. If you want an asymmetric scale, you can move the anchor point of the video as needed.
