American Cinematographer - September 2004 - 40

Total
The Canon XL2. Puts the control of your
it

belongs. You've got the

way you want.

power to

vision in

your

hands, where

manipulate the image just the

Start with white balance, shutter speeds and aperture

For Your

l\
Clreative
Vision

control. Create

a

cine look, with

the nuances, from gamma
and hue.

control of all

and knee to coring

Adjust the setup level, skin detail and

gain. The XL2 is designed to deliver creative image control when
want

Image Control

you

it, how you want it. The XL2: ready, willing and able.

Master RGB Gain

Set

The Master RGB control offers 13

For

Master Pedestal

Skin Detail

The Master Pedestal, which is

You

the

and Y level to determine the skin

Up Level

steps of adjustment to each of the
red, green and blue components

professional fine tuning of
the image, the IRE setup level of
the XL2 can be adjusted in

of the video signal.

13 steps.

starting point of the gamma
curve, can be adjusted in 13 steps.

can

area

Gain

adjust hue, chroma,

The

following video gain
settings can be selected: -3,

area,

and soften detail to reduce

0, +3, +6, +12, and +18 dB,

the appearance

of skin imperfec¬
tions. A zebra pattern identifying
the skin area appears, which alter¬
nates with the normal picture.

as

well

as

automatic

adjust¬

ment.

XL2 Cine

Gamma

Knee (H/M/L)

Black

Color Matrix

Vertical Detail

Sharpness

Coring

Noise Reduction

Color Gain

Color Phase

Film Grain

The gamma curve

The

highlight area level is
adjustable (High, Middle,
or Low) using the XL2's

Control the

depth of black

You

There

Adjustable in 13 steps,
from off to oversaturated,

image. You

can

knee circuit.

contrast in the video's

an

dark

"Low" for

picture artifacts such as
those commonly found in
low-light images-without
hurting image detail or
creating motion artifacts.

Adjust the Color Phase of
the image towards red or
green for exact control.

To simulate the

areas

Helps decrease image
"noise" by reducing fine

Remove video noise-non¬

in the dark

Change the degree of
sharpness in the
image. Images that do
not require a lot of

of the
image can be adjusted
independently for a "video
look" (Normal) ora "film
look" (Cine).

areas

"Stretch")
°'g n

With

(by selecting
or

deepen

or

area

are

2

settings:

"Normal" for vertical detail

optimized for playback
interlaced monitor,

scan

a

progressive

monitor like

a

PC.

on

detail

such

can

detail information that is

major contributor to
the picture detail.
not a

be softened,

imperfections
during close-ups.
as

this

adjustment will let you

graininess
normally experienced
when shooting on film,
you can use the XL2's film
grain effect.

shoot in black and white,
for example.

(by selecting "Press").

increasing emphasis

placed

on

delivering the

cine look to video, the
XL2 offers you

Exposure Control & White Balance

the ability

to customize your

recordings using

video

a num¬

ber of variables, each one
can

an

emphasize

enhance the dark
c°*o

of

change from a
video (Normal) look to a
film (Cine) look.
can

be

adjusted inde¬
over

the "film-like"

appearence

ofyourvideo.

Using AE Shift,
you can

provide automated,

advanced

pendently, giving precise
control

Programmed Auto Exposure
Modes

recording settings for

subtract

professional results in various

bit of expo¬

shooting conditions. There

sure,

variety of AE

are a

Auto, Shutter-Priority, Aperture-

ments to the

Priority, Full Manual, Spotlight,

sate for

Light and Easy Recording.

an

camera

image brightness to compen¬

Lock, you can hold the exposure at a

particular setting, preventing unplanned
exposure changes with a moving subject,
for instance.

a

(including

fully automated

indoor mode and

an

outdoor

also

gives

you

the option of set¬

ting and saving up to three white balance

backlighting or for scenes that are
being rendered slightly overexposed. With
AE

Automatic White

Balance

mode), and manual white balancing. The

making

slight adjust¬

programs

The XL2 offers you

mode,

a

available:

Low
nuowtt

or

add

presets that
can

be

reused for
non-sequen-

tial

shooting.
American Cinematographer - September 2004

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2004
