The good folks over at Videomaker Magazine have written some of their impressions down after using the new Canon XL H1 to shoot a documentary.

Here is a blurb:

Get the full poop here:

I need to see more reviews before I decide to buy one but this camera actually looks like it may be "the one to get" if you are looking to step up to the HDV plate and be serious. It does seem expensive though...

__________________
-NewsHound
...the dogged reporter...

Thanks for that review. I already thought the Canon's 20X lens had better glass than the fixed lense HDV cameras from reading other reviews, but this sort of confirmed it, at least with the stock lenses. Yeah, I would like this camera, even though its more expensive than the rest.

have you ever thought of the hvx100 at all?

Yeah, the HVX100 or HVX200 is the other camera I have been considering, especially with the lower cost than the Canon. The over and undercranking sounds great, and I have heard from a company that owns the Varicam ($70k) that they love the HVX100 because they can intercut with Varicam footage with very little noticable difference. To me that was a pretty impressive statement comparing it to a $70k camera. The same company told me they had soft focus issues with the Sony Z1, which is what I had read too, even though I LOVE Sony.

At first the camera I wanted the most was the Jvc GY-HD100U, becuase nothing beats a shoulder mounted camera in my opinion. Years of shooting with the Sony VX-2000 and a Varizoom Shoulder Brace have made me drool about having a shoulder mounted ENG style camera. Shoulder Brace and similar methods still can give that small camera feel, where as a camera that moves with your bodys center of gravity doesnt. However, after reading reviews in DV magazine about the HD100u, it appears the stock lens isnt that great, and they have comparison shots of shooting outdoors, with alot of wind blowing in the grass, trees, etc., and the shots turned out soft on the JVC and Sony, but not on the Canon or Panasonic. It seems like for everything else it was fine, but with tons of small outdoor details it didnt perform well. They thought at first it was just the codec, until images turned out sharp with the XLH1 and HVX100. The Sony Z1 images were also soft on this outdoors shot, and unfortunately I shoot alot of outdoors, "Picture Postcard" type shots. Evidently the problem for both the JVC and Sony was the quality of the stock lenses.

I guess for now I am waiting on the reviews of Sonys new cameras, the FX7 and JVCs HD200. I havent seen reviews for these yet. If the lens quality for these type of shots hasnt improved, I will probably go with the XLH1 or HVX200.

What I wonder though, is does this Canon XLH1 shoot like other ENG style cameras? Is the center of gravity over the body? It looks like its infront of the body, whereas the JVC HD100 looks like it is over the body. Anyone have experience with shooting with this camera?

The xl-h1 is very similar to the xl2 in body and weight distribution. The lens is quite heavy compared to the rest of it. But the quality of the lens is sweet. On my last project, we threw on the p+s technik mini35 adapter and corresponding leses, and the image quality was better on the stock lens (but focus shits are nigh impossible).

So is this the best HDV camera for the money? What's the price tag?