Forgot to ask this in my post below

Which MiniDV Tapes are best for use in a Canon XL1 ?

I know people say you should use the same make of Tape, but i am not aware of Canon Mini DV Tapes ?

Also, one i find which make of tapes to use, would i benifit from using High Definition Tapes in a standard camera ? ive heard stories about them being better and having less faults and tape stretching etc ( which of course could be rubbish )

I have recently been using JVC tapes, and have found they have some bits on them that jump and have faults, previous sony tapes have been better, but is there a perfect one ?

cheers

A tape is a tape is a tape.
I benefit from a paranoid friend who only uses a tape once (!). Aint paid for a tape is eons.
I also dont keep stuff on tape so I use mty tapes over and over - some are 5 years old and still going strong.

My adivce is dont obsess about tape as in my expirience it is of little relavence.

One dropout per hour is about par for the course.

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Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Yeh , i re-use tapes, dont have a problem doing that

The sony tapes are ok, just wondered if there was anything better

The JVC had more than on drop out per hour, a whole 10-15 minute section of one tape has them on it, and another tape has a couple of drop outs at least every 10 mins throughout the tape

All from one weekends stuff

Obviously will just move back to sony if theres nothing in it really

I have never noticed much difference between tapes tbh.

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

The key is to stick with one brand. There are differences in the emulsions and if you keep changing this can be deposited on the heads which leads to drop-outs. I use Fuji and use the tape only once - mostly.

The Canon's have a fickle tape mechanism and having had to send my XM2 back to Canon for a £250 repair, I strongly recommend buying a cheap single ccd camera and using that to rewind tapes and load them onto your computer.

I use Sony tapes aswell and find them very good and reliable. It took a few trials of other tapes which gave varying results until I started using the Sony brand. Look up the Hama website for a Mini DV tape rewinder, I got one from them about 3 years ago and it is a great little gadget.

Some details you may find useful when searching their site in case it is difficult to find are:- it's listed as Mini DV 6mm Rewinder, Item number 43047. You can run it off batteries if you are out on a shoot or a separate mains adapter can be purchased Item number 46591, again from Hama.

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Better than a poke in the eye with a pointy stick any day...

Cheers for that, i didnt even know they made something like that to be honest

The camera "head" whizzes across the tape at an extraordinary speed and to stop head wear tapes are (or should be) lubricated. There are two kinds of lubrication: Wet, which Sony tapes use and a dry powder which Panasonic use. Without this lubrication the camera heads would be useless within a few hundred hours.
Like all things, the more you use the tape, the less it lubricates, so the re-used tapes may look okay and record okay but they're slowly starting to wear away your tape head, which can be very, very expensive to replace.

Apparently in the past mixing the wet and dry tapes led to the powder and liquid mixing to form a gunge which clogged up the heads. This is less likely nowadays since the formulas have been changed to avoid this , but it could theoretically still occur so the perceived wisdom is to stick to one brand. If you do switch brands then you should briefly use a head cleaning tape before changeing.

The actual tape is manufactured in a wide (several feet wide) roll and then sliced up along the length. The outside is used for the lowest quality tapes or sold to other firms, then comes the "standard" tapes and the "premium". The nearer you get to the midddle of the roll, the more even the coating and the top quality hdv tapes come from the very middle of the roll.

If you're working in SD you'll probably find that there are a few drop-outs which you don't even notice, however in hdv or formats which involve inter-frame compression, a drop-out can cause a few lost frames. Personally I reckon that a new good-quality tape costs less than a fiver but a new tape-head is a couple of grand. A missed sequence due to drop-out is unrepeatable... It's your decision, I know what I do.

Edit: I think it's important to point out that the brand of tape makes no difference to the quality of the final image. Unlike colour film, it doesn't matter which tape you use, it won't be brighter, have more contrast or be sharper. The only differences are (a) the number of drop-outs and reliability and (b) the wear and tear on your camera head.

When you start to film - new tape or not - it is a good idea to shoot a bit - have a look -carry on. I do this and have nver got home to find a problem.

Dunno if this is mentioned above - but avoiding the first 30s to min of tape is wise as this is often where drop outs appear.

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

I always use the first min or 2 to set up the camera anyway, not for the reasons above, but it does make sense