Canon XL1S Digital Camcorder

Canon Updated: 2007-08-01
Canon XL1S Digital Camcorder

The Essence of Professionalism
Canon's XL1S makes it possible to truly customize your shooting experience. Its unique open architecture design, full manual control, and extensive list of dedicated accessories allow the camera to become an extension of your creative spirit. Superior image quality and pro-oriented features make the XL1S ideal for those with discriminating taste.

The Canon XL1S is not one, but many different cameras. Interchangeable lenses and viewfinders allow the XL1S to be tailored for optimal performance in any shooting condition. Incorporating high precision optics, full manual control, and features found only previously on top-end professional gear, the XL1S raises the standard for others to follow.

Canon offers a full range of accessories to complement the open-architecture design of the XL1S. Optional lenses, viewfinders, and microphone adapters allow you to customize the XL1S to your specific style and application.

Features

3 CCD with Pixel Shift Technology
The XL1S maximizes the capability of the DV format by using a 3 CCD (charge-coupled device) system with a separate CCD for each primary color (red, green, blue). A beam-splitting prism separates light passing through the lens into individual color components and each is sent to its own CCD. Compared to a single CCD, the 3 CCD system achieves outstanding detail with highly accurate color reproduction suitable for the demands of high-end video production - wide dynamic range, low color noise, high-contrast detail, natural color resolution and low-aliasing. The 3 CCD system also makes advanced Pixel Shift (for increased image quality) and Low Light Recording (for increased flexibility) possible.

Pixel Shift
Because human eyes see green more clearly and readily, the green component of a video signal contains 60% of the picture detail whereas the red and blue components together comprise the remaining 40%. With the advanced Pixel Shift on the XL1S, the green CCD is physically shifted the equivalent distance of 1/2 pixel horizontally from the red and blue CCD, and the green signal is electronically shifted 1/2 pixel vertically. This shifting of the green CCD increases the sampling points, resulting in a system that is comparable to 410,000 pixel CCD systems in terms of resolution. With a larger pixel size and the process of Pixel Shift, the Canon XL1S gives wider dynamic range, better low light recording, reduced vertical smears, and high quality still images without sacrificing the highest resolution DV available.

Super High Resolution and Super Low Light
The three CCD image sensors in the XL1S, each with 270,000 pixels, were specifically designed to capture as much image detail as possible and for shooting under extremely low light conditions. The size of each pixel is 72 square microns - 150% larger than the pixel-size on comparable DV models. The result is an approximate 4 dB improvement in sensitivity. This improved sensitivity means that each CCD can capture more information at all light ranges. In super low light, the XL1S still captures crisp and clear digital data. Under extremely bright conditions, the Pixel Shift capabilities of the XL1S greatly reduces vertical white streaks and smears, making it a consummate field recording device for all conditions.