I had my Canon XL2 serviced in April, and after not using it for about 3 months, I tried to shoot something. It told me to clean the heads which I did, but the lines are still appearing. Weirdly it mostly seems to happen whilst I'm panning, or between cuts, it seems fine on locked off shots. Thanks in advance.

This is a known problem.
Broken loading gear, Example: canon zr65 replace broken gear
Canon XL2 and ZR65 uses same tape drive system.

Hi there,

The most common cause of this is dust, debris or contamination on the heads.

Firstly, it's extremely important that you use only DRY LUBRICANT type DV tapes on the Canon branded camcorders.

Different manufacturers design their heads to be used with either Dry or Wet (coating lubricant type) tapes - NEVER BOTH. Canon is DRY type.

Consumers are led to believe that they should be using well known branded DV tapes, such as Sony. This is fine, if your camcorder is a Sony. However, you should NEVER use Sony tapes in your Canon - Sony tapes are of the WET type.

So, the question is, "Are you currently using Dry or Wet type tapes, or a mixture of both?" If you have used either a WET tape, or a mixture of both in your Canon, then this may have contaminated your heads.

If this is so, then don't panic - simply run a special Head Cleaning cassette (for Dry tapes) in your Canon for no more than 5 secs. Note: your heads are very delicate, so only run the cleaning tapes for a few secs at a time.

Also, try to avoid recording over the cassette too many times, as the quality will sometimes degrade each time.

An example of the Dry tapes are the Panasonic ones (Myself and other Pro Videographers often use Panasonic Prof, Studio or Master Quality tapes, as these are some of the better quality Dry tapes on the market).

As your XL2 is a Pro Camcorder, I recommend you stick with Studio quality (or higher) cassettes.

See this link for Dry DV tapes: http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-mini-DV-digital-video-cassette-AY-DVM63SQ-5pk-/170645949017?pt=US_Camcorder_Tapes_Discs&hash=item27bb4a8a59

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-Panasonic-Master-HDV-HD-video-tape-HC9-Mini-DV-/220519311691?pt=US_Camcorder_Tapes_Discs&hash=item3357f9a94b


See this link for Head Cleaner cassette: http://cgi.ebay.com/MiniDV-mini-DV-Panasonic-Head-Cleaner-Cleaning-Tape-/220683036059?pt=US_Camcorder_Tapes_Discs&hash=item3361bbe59b


If the problem still exists after head cleaning, then suspect either a faulty cassette (most likely) or damaged heads requiring service.

Let me know how you get on...


Scott



"If this has helped you, please be kind enough to leave a testimonial"

that is could be the cassette in switch or door swith inter mitent contact, or the mode switch for the mechanism position....
or a good clean up of the mechanism...
hope that will help you
regards allan

Canon XL series will indicate "remove tape" sign when the head does not read the data when inserted. You probably have clogged head and probably needs cleaning. Depending on the condition of the clogged head, you can try by running head cleaning tape for about 10 sec. If that does not resolve, it shoud be cleaned and adjusted by trained technicians. Good Luck. If need a professional help, go to www.camerarepairjapan.com

Sorry to hear your situation, usually when serviced by a technician, head and tape path is cleaned and adjusted. During use you will encounter pixelation problems occur and most case tape cleaner should resolve the problem. Your condition is where if all the system is ok and have a heavy clogging on the heads, requires technician to clean each head manually to bring it back. so look for a camcorder repair facility locally and get cleaned. If you cannot find one, the service is provided for around $100 at www.camerarepairjapan. Good Luck

From point of techinician, the noise may caused by the setting of video gain and other settings by the user and also make sure machanically sound by keeping video heads cleaned and functioning well. Check all the setting to defauld and clean video head by using head cleaing tape for about 5 seconds. see if this helps. -James. For further assistance by email, go to www.camerarepairjapan.com

Dirty heads...

Before you send GL2 camcorder to any service facility, make sure to call Canon. Here is the link to Canon service for XL2 -James

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=SupportDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=227&modelid=10350

You have a heavy clogged condition on the heads. Manual cleaning of video heads and tape path by trained technician is $99 at www.camerarepairjapan.com. Once cleaned by technician, you can continue maintain head cleaning with tape cleaner for once in a while when needed. Run the tape cleaner not more than 5 seconds. -James

Take the camera to a reputable camera shop, there is honestly no way to do this at home, if you touch the video heads by accident, or accidently move something, it could spell big trouble. Also I to have an XL2, and canon might be willing to fix this for free from what I understand about their customer care plan (Best Regards)