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Canon has expanded the variety of accessories it offers for the XL1 miniDV camcorder over the past year. I field-tested these accessories over a period of several months. Here are my results:
Canon's XL 14X Manual Zoom ($1,799) is a 5.7mm to $80mm f1.6 lens and uses 72mm diameter filters. In contrast to the Optex manual zoom lens that I field-tested last year, this lens has the electronics needed to exchange information with the camera body. In practical terms, this means that you can use the aperture priority exposure shift, auto white balance, and exposure lock features and won't see the "no lens" message flashing in the viewfinder display.
The lens weighs three and three-quarters pounds (about the same as the standard lens) so there isn't a major shift in the balance of the camera. The lens has a back focus adjustment and a macro focus feature. The macro focus offers a very limited range of motion. In macro, with the lens full wide, the minimum focus distance is 50mm. Otherwise, the minimum focus distance is one meter.
I compared footage shot with this lens and the 16X standard zoom that we had transferred to 35mm film and projected in a theater. The manual lens was sharper than the standard lens in our tests, primarily because it's far easier to do critical focus with a mechanical lens. We used the lens handheld and on a tripod with follow-focus controls.
The Monochrome Viewfinder FU-1000 ($1,999) is a one-and-a-half inch CRT with a resolution of approximately 500 lines. It looks like a standard ENG viewfinder with contrast, brightness, and peaking controls, tally switch, and diopter adjustment ring. The FU-1000 weighs just under two pounds. A special battery adapter, required to power the viewfinder, adds another five ounces to the overall weight.