I want to buy a 3CCD camera.
I need a camera which has many manual controls (focus, zoom, white balance, etc.)
Budget is about 4000$
Which camera can you reccomend?

Since your budget has jumped to four grand, in my opinion, it's the Panasonic AG-DVX100a, no question. Check it out on cnet.

Sony PD-170 is pretty good too. Its worth comparing.

And what about Canon XL1?
I`ve heard many positive opinions on it...

The XL1 has been replaced by the XL2... you should be able to find a used XL2 for under $4k.

For $4k, if I had to have a video camera, I'd look at the Sony HDR-FX1 or HVR-Z1...

i agree your best bet would be two save an extra grand (If you Can) and go for the XL2... It's flippin amazing.

Save an extra grand? You'd be lucky to find it for four. And Evan, do you think HDV is worth loosing 24p?

that why I said save an extra grand so he would be up to 5000 and can get an XL2

Ah, thought you meant save an extra grand for himself from the four. Gotcha. If extra money is obtainable, I agree.

My buddy went on vacation for the christmas break, so me and some pals broke into his empty basement suite and hung out there for a few nights. One night, while I was kind of drunk, one of my friends started searching through some ****, which I tried to stup untill he happened to stumble across a, what do you know, XL2. It was my friend's dad's girlfriend's brother's camera. Oh god I was tempted.

it's cool ...Context can be confusing sometimes

lol i read that wrong too...but i thought it said save up an extra two grand for some reason....