Ryan,
Unlike professional video cameras which track their head hours, there's no reliable measurement of prosumer cameras' usage hours.

Here's a recent thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6706&) basically on this topic that you might find informative. The concensus seems to be around 500 hours, but who's counting? <g>

Good luck on your prospective purchase!

with the 16x9 anamorphics lens attachment you can pan , run , move camera , zoom but not full zoom ... you might only be able to use 60-80% of the zoom depending on the F stop ... you loose a little on the close focusing on med/long shots .. say with zoom at 50% ( long) it can focus at 5 ft then with the anamorphic it might be 8ft ...

you have to work with their limitations and the 16x9 image is very good ....

Is $2000 CAN, a good deal for a GL1?

Ken -

thanks a lot for the reply and the link to the other thread!!
i should have searched the message board first. DUH!
the thread did give me some general info and that's just what i was after. thanks again!

ryan

Used model? Depends on the condition and amount of use. Check prices on Ebay, especially completed auctions for an idea of what the market is. Also, keep in mind that Ebay prices tend to be a bit on the high side.

Yes, if it's in good shape, that's a fairly good price.
I find Ebay prices on electronics tend to be lower than what things sell for in a local market. People tend to pay less for expensive stuff they can't buy in person.

I'd say 250 hours means it is fairly well used. I don't know if I'd pay $1200 for one with that many hours, as used GL1's have become considerably cheaper since the GL2 was released. I'm pretty sure I've seen GL1's with less than 100 hours selling for a similar price. I'd rather pay $1400 for a GL1 with 50 hours than $1200 for one with 250.

Well I've tried the Optex 0.3x single element aspheric on my VX2000 (also has a 58mm filter thread). I was disappointed with the price but most of all with the barrel distortion. If it's worth grinding aspherical surfaces, surely it's worth removing the barrel distortion? If not, we'll all use spherical elements and save ourselves a lot of money, thank you very much.

The Century is very expensive but makes no pretence about distortion, selling itself on the fish-eye look. I have a Raynox 0.66x converter and that is one of the very best (and least distorting) wide-angles I have, though it's too mild an optic for you I'd guess.

tom.

thanks dylan.

i like to err on the ULTRA cautious side when i buy used gear. actually, if it has moving parts, i generally won't buy it used. i take immaculate care of my gear and i know not everybody does. i guess i would agree with your logic about paying more for one with less hours. i should just admit that i'll probably end up springing for a new GL2, 'cause that's the way i am.

thanks for the reply!

ryan

250 hours is like 250 tapes put through it-

If it were 250 hours with a tapeless solution- it wouldn't be that bad.....but 250 tapes through it is alot- transports will have taken some wear

....that's 24 hrs a day on constantly for 10.4 days!

For $1199- order a Panasonic EZ50 from B&H
3CCD cam new at that price.

Good luck.

thanks for the feedback tom i really appreciate it,

I have a GL1 that is a little over a year old. It has developed a very large white spot in the lower left part of the screen. The edges of the spot have a slight flicker to them. It appears that several adjacent pixels "died." I have an extended warranty through Mack--has anyone had any experience with them? How long might it take to get it fixed and returned? Could the symptom I described be caused by something else? Is there anything I should know or do before sending the camera off?Thanks.

Les

The problem is correctable at Canon Service. As for how long it will take, that's really up to the Mack warranty. Please let us know how the procedure goes. Best of luck,

guessing 4-6 weeks for repair if you have to send it to mack and then mack subs the work out to canon ...

3-4 weeks if send direct to canon and you pay for it ...

my GL took 3 months but that was the fault of the repair place .. they were paid by the GE extended service within 1 week of looking at camera ( they then sub-contracted the worked out to canon) but they didn't pay canon till 2 months later ...

I just bought a used GL1 with a hot pixel in the sensor. I have to send it into Canon for repair. Does anyone know if Canon can upgrade the sensor to the GL2 sensor for improved low light abilities?

Richard,
I assume that by "sensor" you mean the CCD block. No, Canon will replace your GL1's CCD with the same model of CCD. The GL2's is different and incompatible with the GL1's.

Okay, I know I'm dreaming, but wouldn't it be great if you could? I'd love to have a camera that I could ugrade in pieces, adding a better viewfinder, CCDs, and mike without having to hang a bunch of ridiculous looking accessories all over. I guess its the same reason they make cars more and more disposable. There's more money in selling a new one than selling parts.

Can you connect 2 lapel mics to the mic input on the gl1 with some kind of adapter? I'm looking for the cheap way to do this so i'm not interested in the xlr connector box. Thanx much in advance.
-Kris

What mics are you planning to use?

Kris, I would assume that your lapel mics are mono. I am also guessing that the mic input on the GL1 is a stereo minijack. With a simple adapter from 2 female mono minijacks to one male stereo minijack you should be able to get one mic in each stereo channel. I am sure you can get such an adapter in Radio Shack or equivalent.

Is this what you meant?

Hans Henrik

Yes, Hans that's exactly what I meant. Thanks so much for the help.
-Kris

I recently bought a used GL1, but I couldn't get the manual. There are two things I'm still wondering about, and I hope someone can clue me in.

First, the camera always defaults back to +12dB video gain when I turn it off. This seems, to put it mildly, insane. Why on earth wouldn't 0dB gain be the default? Is there any way to change this default? I can't find it in the menu.

Second, is the zebra striping set at 100 IRE or 70 IRE?

Thanks for any help.

Stu

Hello Stu,

You can download the GL1 manual (in PDF form) from the Canon DV site (http://canondv.com/downloads/manuals.html).

I don't own a GL1 any longer, but I believe the zebra is fixed at 100 IRE.

I don't recall the gain resetting to +12dB unless the camera was switched to manual from a low-light condition in an auto setting (Tv, Av, Auto). Are you, perhaps, turning the camera on with the lens cap on, then switching to manual? Just a thought.

Hope this helps.

GL1 zebra is fixed at about IRE95 per the specs. You can check your specific camcorder if you have access to a vector scope. other appropriate meter.

Well, I downloaded the manual, and of course it doesn't give the specific IRE or the zebras. Wording suggests it's set at 100, but I think I'll try to track down a WFM to check it out.

As for the video gain, I did some experimentation based on Ken's suggestion and basically discovered he was almost right. It boils down to this: If you open the lens cap before turning the camera on, it sets the gain to 0dB. If you have the cap on when you power the camera, the gain sets to +12dB. Weird thing is, it does this even when you're only using manual mode, no automatic exposure controls at all. I still think this is bad design, but at least I know what's going on now.

Thanks,
Stu

IMHO experimentation is the best way to learn! Get to know your cam. You will be glad that you did!

Thanx,

From the "Performance and Functions" section of the GL1 service manual: "The portion of brightness over 95 IRE is displayed in the form of black & white zebra pattern." There might be some variation among individual units based on factory setup and aging of the analog output.

Hey Guys...
I'm wondering if there is a way to disable the automatic standby/shuttoff that happens on the GL1. I want to use this camera with iChat AV, but it keeps shutting off on me! Please let me know.
Thanks!

Do not load tape in the camcorder, then it will not shutdown when in camera mode.

You can change it to shut off the tape instead of the power, that's another way of doing it, just in case u like leaving your tapes inside. I have done that.

If you use the power adaptor instead of the battery it shouldn't power off...

Jack

This is a very general question but has anyone experienced a general problem (audio hiss and crackling) when using their GL1 and a wireless mic? A friend of mine called me with this problem and asked me to check it out. I’m going to look at his set up in a few days and wanted to know if there were any people who have had this problem. (sorry for the lack of information) but he's using a Canon GL1 and a Azden dual mic setup.
-pat

The output of the wireless mic may be too high for the GL1 input at MIC setting, try MIC ATT.

Most economical wireless mics do have a high noise (hiss) level.

We had a 2 channel azden and found it to be unaceptable due to it's hiss...we've since swithed to 2 samsons with sony mics are use it with an XL1 and DV500 with good results.

I am wondering what the average cost of sending a 3 year old GL1 in for a checkup/cleaning/minor repair(battery release broken)?

Ben

It's very hard to say. They're pretty good at calling you with an estimate before they start work, so perhaps you could report back to us and let us know how much it is. Thanks,

I recently had my little ZR10 repaired after i dropped it. They said it would be $250 minimum and that's what they charged me in the end. This may not apply at all to the GL2 but a quick phone call to Canon may turn up some generalities like this minimum charge. I would guess that for a standard clean and adjust they have a set fee.

Hi every one i need a little help?

I have a Gl1 and gl2, the cl2 works great and stays on if you put a svideo into it. My qustion is how do you keep the gl1 running when your not taping and your only plugging a s-video to it for use with a switcher. the gl2 works great and doesnt shut off. can any one point me in the right direction here.

The GL1 pre-dates the power saving features of the GL2. So it will automatically power-down.

Try opening the tape door. I've not owned a GL1 for quite some time but I think this might defeat the power-down.

This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but if you record to tape during your shoot, it won't power off. This has the added advantage of giving you a backup for switching mistakes.

I used my gl1 for shoot to a betasp deck 2 hours, it did not shut down at all, if you have the manual there should be info about it in there, i don't remeber but i did not have a tape in the gl1 as teh shoot was two hours and it was uninterrupted..

Hi,
Was wondering what kind of filter can i buy for my gl1 that will help soften the image to make it appear more film like?
thanx,
-Kris

Tiffen, and others, make a variety of diffusion and contrast control filters for this purpose. See the Tiffen site (http://www.tiffen.com/sfxpics.htm) for examples.

Ofcourse you can also soften an image by turning down the
sharpness in the camera or do it in post (longer rendering times,
but perhaps more control).

What NLE are you using? If it's Final Cut Pro then have a look at Joe's Diffuser (http://www.joesfilters.com/joesdiffuser.php). It really gives you a lot of control and can produce some very nice effects. It's true that you will have to do rendering, but the problem with physical filters is that it can be very difficult to see what they're doing on location unless you're using a good monitor. The viewfinder and flip-out LCD aren't high enough resolution to really show that kind of detail. And if you don't like the effect, you're out of luck. That's why I personally prefer doing this sort of thing in post.

I was a strong believer in Canon quality for the longest, despite reading about the problems that some people had with their GL2's/GL1's. Then my friend's GL1 failed to playback tapes correctly. Eventually he replaced it with a GL2 that also had to be sent into Canon's repair factory twice for similar problems.

Then just last week my LCD screen quit working on my GL1 (unless you flip it all the way to "portrait mode" which is when the LCD faces the lens - which is of little use unless you're cheesin'). The reason for this? I have no idea. I've taken care of my camera like it was my own child. It always resides right side up in my dry kata bag when not in use, and is never lent out to anyone.

So, my point in this thread is to ask: has anyone else had this problem?

Sounds like an issue with the two ribbon cables that connect the LCD to the rest of the camcorder. Pivoting stresses the cables, may have loosened one of the connectors.

Your freind's problem sounds a bit like his video life is star-crossed. One or two problem could be mgfr. defects, but three times implies his use of the gear is unusually severe.

I figured it was only a loose connection. Unfortunately I'm now at the mercy of canon repair. My friend did treat his equipment well, but he did lend it out to some fellow students - that's the catch 22. I figured it got man-handled out in the field. Anyways, thanks for the post!

We have a GL1 on permanant loan which I've been using to tape our dance company, so I'm using it only in theaters with theater lighting. There was one particuar lighting setting we used recently that caused what I would cause a bizarre color shift. In summary blue areas shifted to purple as the blue intensity increased to overexposure.

I'm gained up 9db and shooting nearly wide open. As you know there is huge dynamic range in theaters so where the footers hit the white cyc there is an overexposed hot-spot.

The Let's go to the examples:

1) The reference, a far shot from a PD150
http://homepage.mac.com/bowenmccauleydance/farpd150.jpg

2) The same shot from the GL1 http://homepage.mac.com/bowenmccauleydance/fargl1.jpg

3) A close-in from the GL1 shot earlier that day http://homepage.mac.com/bowenmccauleydance/closegl1.jpg

4) A close-in from the PD150 http://homepage.mac.com/bowenmccauleydance/closepd150.jpg

Those purple spots should be overexposed whites. All settings in the GL1 for color shift are default (no CP in the viewfinder). Unfortunately, I can't easily set up tests to see if the color shifter will help as these theaters are not readily available. But it doesn't seem to me that the color shift adjust has a huge latitude.

So my questions is dose this GL1 look normal or at least "yeah, funky, but GL1's do that?" I probably need a VX2000 but hate to give back this freebie GL1.

I shoot dance and theater with a GL-2 and sometimes additional Optura Pi's, so your shots sure did look familiar!

I think the shots will match up fairly well once you do color correction. Notice that not only the blue cyc but also the skin tones are dramatically different - warm and golden in the GL-1.

Using the 3 color wheels in Vegas, my own "Warm Corrector" preset is 310 degrees with setting with darks at .150, midtones at .300 and brights at .600. Try applying this to the GL-1 footage.

The GL-2 (and the GL-1 as well) seems to run quite red. Try rolling down towards Green on the custom preset by one or two notches. Also try using the tungsten white balance rather than automatic white balance or setting the white balance.

Hope this helps.

-Tom-