Hey guys,
I was wondering how much a difference does the external mic for the GL2 make? Is there a really clear sound difference, and does it pick up vibrations from the camera? I'm also wondering, if I film in wide screen, and then edit the footage in Adobe Preimere, if I export it to a DVD would it play wide screen with the bars on normal TV's or would the image be squeezed? Anyways, thanks for your time!

Glen

Glen,
The type of mic you use probably depends on the application. If you're using your GL2 for vacation, use the built in mic. It's omni directional and does okay but picks up sounds you wouldn't expect or want. For more serious applications, use a quality shotgun mic. I've never noticed ours picking up any camera noise but then again, I've never taped in a coffin.

If you use the 16:9 setting, it's not letterbox but squeezed. I tried 16:9 a long time ago and I captured the images into Premiere with the 16:9 presets. It should play a DVD wide screen with no bars. Others might have better information but why don't you just experiment?
Bob

I originally bought a Sennheiser MKE300 (the D model did not exist then), but had to have it modified by Sennheiser to the D version due to induced noise. Mounted on the hot-shoe it still picks up too much mechanical noise, so I use it in a Beyer EA96 anti-shock mount. The sound is a great improvement on the internal microphone for my sole use of the camera - wildlife photography.

An even greater improvemnt is achieved by moving up to a Sennheiser K6/ME67 combination mounted off-camera using a modified flash bracket attached to the tripod.

That's close to what I use, a Senn ME66/K6 mounted in a Beyer EA86 and then secured to a Y-bracket from Cool-Lux.