3.FRAME MOVIE Æ this is useful for high‐resolution stuff. In this mode the picture is non‐ interlaced but is very sharp. (This setting is good for big scenes, e.g. a sunset; or if you printing to 35mil

There are basically five modes, Auto, Manual, VCR Tv and Av of which Tv and Av are new modifications. All of these (barring VCR which is for playback), offer various degrees of manipulation for the user. Depending on the mode you can change certain things on the camera. These settings are all changed by turning the round black dial on the camera

In the Tv/Av mode certain things are automated, but: in Tv you can select the shutter speed and the camera will automatically set a matching aperture (the aperture has to do with the amount of light coming into the camera; with the Av mode you can select your aperture and the camera will automatically set a matching shutter speed.

In the Auto mode most things are automated, but you can still control the white balance and your focus

In the manual mode you are able to manipulate everything

Cool stuff to play with and use:

Slow shutter: There are settings you can use to slow down your shutter speed: this is good for when you have varying degrees of light (such as low‐light situations) as it allows you to have better control over the colour and light

Flash photography: you can attach a separate flash for flash photography (but I don’t think we have these?)

Zebra Pattern: This highlights contrasts, allowing you to see where there’s any over‐exposure or bad reflections so you can change them. It is displayed literally with a zebra‐stripe pattern.

Four‐Channel Digital Audio System

There are three digital audio modes and this camcorder can record on all four channels, at the same time! This is a very complicated thing because there are many channels and many things to plug in and is elaborated on in the section on sound

The channels do affect the sound quality though: When it’s on two channels, you get 16bit sound which is of a better quality and what you would normally use. When it’s on four channels, you get 12 bit sound which is of a lesser quality. It all depends on how many microphones you want to use.

Time Code: The cool thing about the time code here is that it identifies each individual frame, not just the whole long recording, so it is super useful when it gets down to editing. The XLR uses a drop‐frame system which means it’s very accurate.

Data Code: But, you can also hide the cool date and time thing and rather display other features such as the shutter speed or exposure settings

Wide Screen mode: here you can switch to the 16:9 ratio for a big‐screen effect

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Canon XL1 3CCD manual Cool stuff to play with and use