I borrowed the XL-2 for a test run last week and couldn't figure out how to do this. Is it strictly automatic?

My friend has one, and I don't get it either, I've seen alot of videos were people make some cool shit with the XL2, I can't figure it out. we shoot and it always just looks like we shot with a handicam. type in FCRabbath on youtube. bug him and try to get him to tell you his secrets. they look like films but they're all XL2 videos...its crazy

well, I know people use a ground glass accessory to acheive a film look. Maybe the camera just sets the ISO as low as possible based on the settings and conditions its in?

In electronic sensor terms, it's called "gain". The ISO is fixed, based on the gain setting you choose. If you want the sensor to be more light sensitive, you bump the gain setting up to it's next setting, which increases sensitivity but also amplifies noise. The camera has an ISO equivalent at each gain setting, we just don't know exactly what it is, and I'm not sure it would be very useful, if we did.

You could figure it out with a gray card and some tests.