advice and question

Hello.


On and off throughtout my life I've used my parrents cameras ect to make movies. Starting at action figures to fake fights, then trying to make action movies in jr high..

Ive always loved it, but now I want to take it to another level.

Ive thought up many movie ideas, and to me, making a serious movie would be fun and exilarating, aswell as stressful. But I figure it will pay off with the finished product.

Ive been thinking to buy the Canon xl1, mostly because its Canon, and 4 different audio channels. And yeah, the price really makes me think its a high quality camera.

*I dont want to start with a cheap camera and move up-i want the best. start at its basic use then through trail and error, reading manual, fiddeling around i will eventaully use it at its maximum capability.

*Dont tell me I'm wasting my money buying a nice camera and low experience~if i dont like it i can simply ebay it off. losing a few hundred is worth trying it out.

is it worth the money?
is this camera good for my purposes?..
are there key assessories that dont come with it that you suggest purchasing?
ect, ect, i need **all your input, negative and positive~and/or any *tips you think will help me.

Just because I didnt ask a question, does'nt mean I dont want an answer.

*excluding tips from the corrisponding subjects.
**all excluding tips from the subjects corrisponding with '*'

There is no doubt that the XL1S is a top camera. The only feature it lacks is the ability to film in widescreen. i would keep looking, there are other cameras on the market that will offer you as much and more than the XL1S. Find out where your nearest pro video store is by looking through the phonebook or checking out a production magazine. bear in mind that a good film is not only the camera, but a good tripod and lighting etc. Just to let your know i am not sure if you will need it, but the mini dv tape format is the lowest quality digital "braodcast" format around. the other formats are dvc pro, (variation on the mini dv format comes in about 3 varieties) Digi beta dv cam and HD cam are all superior (although more expensive formats) also dvd cams are lower quality (marginally) than mini dv