Hi, I have a quick question for the group...

I find that the slowest zoom on the GL2 is not quite slow enough for my taste. Not only that, but when it starts, it starts abruptly. What I'm interested in is achieving a very slow, almost imperceptible zoom. This seems impossible with the GL2 out of the box.

Would an external zoom controller give the GL2 that ultra-slow zoom effect?

Thanks, DV gurus!

- Kurt

Hiyah! - There are only 3 settings on the XM2 - correct? Okay, I've got the ZR1000 Canon Lanc controller. Others can conform or deny, but this controller has not 3 but 6 settings. The slowest is 1 - this is a real crawl. This might get you the crawl you're after. The 1000 has other superb controls: Focus; On/Off; Zoom 1-5 plus a Variable setting; sleep mode; search facility of next piece of blank . . . here's the same thing shown with the XL1:

http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article63.php

It says there setting 1 takes 60 secs to go through Zoom - any good?

See if you can get a go of one of these babies at your local Cammy store - yeah? Maybe there are other Zoom controllers that can get you a low crawl. - Ah the pleasure of a manual zoom!!

Grazie

The Canon Xl-1 series has servo motor zoom on the stock lenses and the 3x wide lens. Unlike broadcast lenses (which cost as much as my camera) which have a variable speed zoom motor, the XL only has 8 zoom speeds. Im assuming the GL-2 is similar in this regard. Eight speeds is enough to give the "illusion" of a smooth zoom accelleration and decelleration. A zoom controller will only give you a more exact control over which particular zoom speed you want to go at. It will not let you do things that the zoom rocker cannot do (as far as zoom speed is concerned).

Josh, on the XM2 there are 3 set speeds. On the ZR1000 there are 5 speeds. Are you saying that the "Low" on the XM2 is the same speed as setting 1 on the Lanc controller? In this case 60 seconds to go from wide to tele? If this is the case then a Lanc controller will not get your zoom motors to go slower - yes? As you say it is "set" by the Zoom rocker itself.

Grazie

As I said, On the XL, the zoom controller will not make the motors go slower than they can go (or faster). This is just the nature of the servo motors. On a broadcast lens, you could choose to go nearly any speed (with limits), that you would want to go. Im pretty sure that the controller only gives you speed options based on the capabilities of the zoom motor. Are you sure the GL2 (XM2) only has three speeds? I find that a bit few. As I said, I have experience mainly with the XL series lenses.

I think Graham is referring to the three menu-selectable speeds if you don't want variable zoom on the rocker, whereas Josh is referring to the camera internals, i.e. the ultimate capabilities of the servo motor, which he states give a max of eight speeds.

I would have to doubt that the external controller can go beyond the physical limits of the servo motor. Ah well, guess I got spoiled in my youth working at the campus TV station on those nice big pedestal cameras with their fantastic slow zooms!

Thanks guys, for your help!

-Kurt

Kurt is correct. LANC controllers cannot make a lens' zoom servo motor move smoother or slower. It can only send commands to the camera to increase or descrease speed. Consumer and prosumer cameras' zoom servos have a limited number of fixed speeds.

Kurt, I ran a quick test and found that the LANC controller is slightly slower than the on-camera zoom control. The first shot is done with the GL2's handle zoom set to "slow" and lasts about 20 seconds. The second shot is done with the ZR1000 set to "1" and lasts about 30 seconds.

Click here for the vid... (http://www.geekdreams.com/viddy/ZOOM.wmv)

(P.S. The vingetting comes from the filter on my wide-angle adapter and is not recommended for professional video production. Thank you.)

Hi Andreas, thanks for the vid! I see now that even the slower speed available with the LANC is still not what I was looking for. I appreciate the effort.

Andres -- from your video, I guess you're a fan of Walter Carlos? Or is that Wendy Carlos, I can't keep track. Nice work on that simple video clip... all you're missing are Alex and his droogs. Many thanks for putting that together,

Okay - I didn't check-out/time the "1" setting with the XM2. I took the data from here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article63.php

. . where it says 60 seconds - Now this must be for the XL1 zoom motors? Not the XM2 zoom motors? THIS must be the difference. However, at the bottom of the article the writer does say, "although the zoom times are a bit different."


Thanks to Andres and Ken,

Grazie

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Hurd : Andres -- from your video, I guess you're a fan of Walter Carlos? Or is that Wendy Carlos, I can't keep track. Nice work on that simple video clip... all you're missing are Alex and his droogs. Many thanks for putting that together, -->>>

Hehe... Just a Kubrick fan, actually. I tried to render the clip without sound but apparently you can't do that with Windows Media, so I searched my MP3s for something that would match the wide angle lens and slow zoom.