Jeff,
Alex is right. The GL2's program modes can be handy. But to get a better feel for the camera, particularly if you're unfamiliar with iris, shutter speed and gain relationships, set it to "M" mode (full manual) and begin experimenting in moderate light conditions.

We have many articles on the content part part of DVInfo but, alas, we do not have a primer for the camera. It's a good idea, though!

I would suggest that Barry's recent post (now locked) touting $2299 as a good price is about $300 more than one needs to pay for a GL2 at this time. I just received my second GL2 from an online dealer with full Canon US Warranty for $1975. In the hopes of actually generating some discussion on the topic of GL2 pricing without having this thread locked up immediately by Chris Hurd, I won't mention the web site that sold me the GL2, but this is the second GL2 I have purchased from them (several months apart) and in both instances I was under no pressure to buy additional items and had no problems. That's a savings of 13% over the figure quoted above and it's like getting a free WD58 wide angle and a couple of filters and a few boxes of tapes thrown in for free.
Out of interest and fairness to our sponsors here I did drop them a line to invite them to match that price but they told me the price could not be from a reputable dealer and it had to be a grey market camera without a warranty, but that was not the case.
I respect Chris' decision to not advertise other web sites (hence you will notice my recent posts on this subject try to show some restraint) but from my experience it is clear there are much better prices out there from good dealers.
I respectfully challenge Chris' statement that "You won't find a better deal anywhere else." While that may be true of our sponsors in terms of "you won't find a better dealer for service after the sales", it certainly is not the case in terms of "better price for a US Warrantied GL2" with no high pressure tactics, which I think many people will accept as the definition of "best deal".
The first question becomes "how much are you willing to pay for service after the sale?
The second question relates to pricing and it really a couple of related questions. Does anyone know the wholesale pricing structure of the GL2? How cheaply can a large etailer actually buy a US Warranty GL2 for? What are the various tiers of pricing? Is there, for instance, a Wholesale price that some dealers like our sponsors might pay, and a "Jobber" price that larger etailers might pay?

Say I'm going to use a filter in front of my lens like a polarizer or a diffusion filter. Should I white balance before I put the filter on, or balance thru the filter? I'd think itd be balance before putting the filter on, but I'm not sure. Just something I've been pondering. Thanks for your help!

Devin,
Good question. In the case of a polarizing filter, you would only be using it outdoors in sunlight. So simply using the daylight preset would take care of that problem.

In the case of filters that do not alter color balance you can wb with them on. Be cognizant of whether or not you are using "warm" diffusers, that purposely lower color temperature, or neutral diffusers. If you wb with warms attached you will negate the effect you are presumably trying to achieve.

Ken, great advice. I hope others can benefit from this small, but informative post! Thanks!

Hello, can anyone tell me if i can use a sennheisser me 66 on a xm2 (canon) and do the audio ajustments with the camcorder??
I meen the audio rec level L/R (in manuelmode)
Do i use a xlr to plug (1/8 inch) and put it in the mic terminalon the rightside off the camcorder.
Has the senneisser a built-in power supple or can i use the dc5v above the mic terminal????

Have anyone a picture from a mic on a xm2?

You can connect a ME66/K6 combo to the GL2/XM2. You will need a XLR to miniphone adapter, and you connect it to the mic jack. Simple (transformerless) adapters work OK for short leads. Long leads can pickup noise if connected in an unbalanced system.

The 5-vDC on the Canon cannot power a mic that needs phantom power. It can [ower some specific Canon brand camcorder mics.

The K6 module for the ME66 can be powered by an internal battery.

I just bought my GL2 a few months ago and im in college for TV productions. In tv class I have learned how to white balance cameras on a vector scope and sync generaters for each camera. MY Qustion is how do you manauly white balance the GL2, since im still learning this camera? Its a wonderful product that canon has come out with. I like its crisp sound and picture it produces. Im going to use it to shoot a movie in frame mode to give it a real feel for the audiance. So wish me luck and any good advise is welcome to my ears. thanx and have a great day

Hello Richard,
See page 80 of the GL2's U.S. manual. It's nicely described there.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get the best quality picture on a cloudy, over-cast, day? With no other lighting available that is. Or any tips on how to angle the camera so your picture is not drowning in the glow of white clouds?

Thanks

Good question!

I am having a hard time deciding which camera to get. I plan on shooting short and feature films with the camera. I am leaning toward the PD100A (DVCAM, XLR adaptor, wide angel lens) but the GL-2 sound very good also. any help from people who have used these cameras would be great.


thanks,
brandon

I just came back recently from a business trip to Dubai/United Areb Emirates. While there, I went shopping for some lighting stands and a bag for my Canon XM2.

On my XM2 the WD-58H adapter (with hood) and the large battery pack are almost always attached. So I wanted a bag that's big enough.

The place where I was shopping didn't have much variety, but it was still heaven for me as I am based in Amman, Jordan, where, sadly, professional photo and video equipment/accessories are very hard to get by.

At first a Lowepro bag caught my eye (I am not sure which model). Then I noticed a bag from a company which I never heard of (Jenova) which was almost exactly the same size as the Lowepro, had very similar arrangement of pockets and seemed well padded.

Now I am new to all this stuff and I was in a rush. But a quick comparison and a look at the price tag convinced me to take the Jenova! It was almost 50% the price.

THe Lowepro bag looked much cooler (mainly becaise of it's color and "nicer" fabric) but for me, the price of the Jenova was very attractive.

It comes with a large assortemnt of velcro deviders, has a pretty hard shell and was large enough to take my camera with its accessories. It can be used as shoulder bage, backpack and waist pack.

Jenova turned out to be a Hong Kong based company. I was not able to find any resellers for them in the US.

Here is a link to the specs of my bag:
http://www.jenova.com.hk/diyhp/4053/xml/home.jsp

Has anyone else heard of this company?

Ahmad

There are advantages and disadvantages of an over cast day... An over cast day will have light everywhere evenly with no shadows... which is good in some situations, but everything is flat due to the light being even everywhere which is obvisouly not good in certain situations.

It really depends on what you want to shoot.

Jack

some things to consider. put up a large dark tarp or hang a large dark cloth to create negative lighting. Adding a large white sheet to bounce the existing light does very little, but a large dark sheet will cut down on the light from one side which may provide some minor directionality to the light. You can also use a split neutral density filter that is only dark across the top. That only works if your horizon is fairly straight but it can be useful in some limited situations. use light clothing and deemphasize dark skins so as to limit the contrast ratio. I've never had to do a planned shoot on an overcast day so these are simply things that come to mind; perhaps somebody with experience can provide real world answers.

I haven't used my GL-2 for anything in a long time. This afternoon, I decided to start editing some scenes for a tape I'm giving to some friends as a gift. I'm notoriously bad about labelling taes, so I knew I'd have to see what was on each of the stack of tapes I had in order to find the footage I needed.

The first tape I put in had my girlfriend and I giving a Christmas gift to my mother. The next couple I put in were blank. I kept putting in tapes, and they kept playing back as blank. I didn't think I had that many blank tapes lying around, so I put in a tape I knew for sure had something on it. It played as blank too! (I did try winding through to see if I was just in the rong part of the tape.) In a fit of desparation, certain that through some bizarre accident all my tapes had been erased, I put the tape of the Christmas present back in the camcorder and played it. It was blank too this time!

I've tried any number of settings; then I finally took out the battery and the small battery that saves settings in order to completely reset the camera's settings. When I put it back together it had lost the date and time settings, sure enough - but the tapes all still played as blank. I am in tape mode, not card mode. I am in VCR mode. Lock is not on. When I play any tape, all I get is the blue screen with the turning wheels indicating that a tape is playing but there's no image on it.

As an experiment, I opened a brand new tape and recorded a couple of minutes of footage on it. When I played it back, it appeared blank too.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do? I need to try to get this working as fast as I can because I have about a week before I need to have those tapes completed. I don't have access to any other MiniDV equipment, so I can't test for sure whether the tapes work properly on other equipment. Does anyone have any idea what I can try to get my tapes back?

-Paul

Try cleaning the heads - it sounds clogged.

Semi-OT here, but thought it'd get more exposure:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12758

In a previous post I explained that I live in Brazil. And I want to buy a new camcorder and it will be a GL-2 or a VX-2000, most probably a VX because of its low-light performance.
Since I live in Brazil (currently I live here in the US but I will have to go back to my country definitely in 11 months), and the camera I will buy will have USA warranty, and USA warranty will be only good while I am here in the US, I was think about the so-called gray (grey?) market.
What is exactly a gray market camera? According to what I have read and understood so far, it's related to camcorders that do not carry US warranty, they are probably made for Europe and carry an European warranty (or no warranty at all?).
Well, in my country the system is PAL, but not the same as in Europe, in Brazil it's PAL-M and the big difference between the Brazilian PAL and the European PAL is that in Brazil, since we have energy at 60HZ in the outlets, and not at 50Hz, the PAL system runs at 60Hz, with 60fps, interlaced - just like NTSC.
Also I have read that the PAL system has some advantages over the NTSC system, with sometimes better colors, etc, etc, (and minor disavantages) as discussed in some sites that I found in the Internet.

So, my question is:
- if the PAL since is, supposably, better than the NTSC
- if I don't care about the warranty because the camera, when I get to Brazil, will be Brazilian grey market anyway - Sony of Brazil does not offer warranty for Sony products bought outside Brazil and they don't sell the VX-2000 in Brazil, so any VX-2000 bought in Brazil will not carry any warranty - if a store says it has a warranty, it's a lie

Can I get a better camera (PAL) at a better price from buying in some cheap gray market store? When I say cheap, I don't mean cheap because the camera was stripped out of its original accessories, I want all the original accessories, but I mean without a US warranty.

Is it possible and easy to convert a footage from European PAL to Brazilian PAL without loosing quality by, for instance, capturing the original PAL footage to the computer, making the necessary edit - in original PAL - and then converting the final result to PAL-M? This is a crucial question because if I can't have my footage in PAL-M, the European PAL camera would be useless.

I guess that converting from PAL-European to PAL-M should not be a good idea because how come 50Hz will be turned into 60Hz? Weird,

Just out of curiosity, in Brazil all the VCRs - I am still in the VCR era, I don't have DV player and I won't have one any time soon - play both the PAL-M and the NTSC formats. But they don't play any other PAL system, only the PAL-M. The most recent television sets are also able to show PAL-M or NTSC video, although the air transmitted stations use only PAL-M, for this is the law.

If it's not a good idea to buy a PAL camera, is there any other disavantage of buy a camera in the grey market besides not having a US warranty?

Thanks.

NTSC cams are used in Brazil. The PAL system they use is 525 / 60 fields. So don't go with a PAL cam. I would just buy a USA model with its USA warranty. The USA prices are good (better than Canadian prices even). :)

Grey market cams usually do not have a warranty. However, Pana cams come with an international warranty. I don't think that Sony does.

I just purchased this mic and it won't pick up sounds once you get 5 ft away. The onboard mic pics these sounds up very well although a bit noisy. The xlr to mini plug adapter looks like a stereo. I thought shotgun mics were mono? should the mini plug be a single mono type? If thats not the answer Maybe I'm missing something in the settings that I don't know about. Any tips on how to get this working right? It sounds great when you speak directly into it, such as a voice over narration though.

The mic is balanced, thus the three conductors - one is +, one is -, and the other is ground. It is mono (but you can buy a "stereo" shotgun AT815 series mic).

The adapter cable you have could be one of several configurations - it could be balanced which can cause some issues if used with the mic adapter (out of phase channels); it could adapt the balanced to unbalanced and feed the same signal to each channel of the GL2 and that should be OK, or it could do something else.

Could you describe the setting you are using, and details as to the sound close and at a nominal distance. If it works well close, moving out should not cause sudden problems.

Most of my shoots are outside, and some of our best footage have come from on the fly questions with people, with just the on camera mic. Which we realize later is usually terrible and can't even use it because you can't really hear what they are saying.

I have a shotgun, but hooking it up quickly is hard, so I bought a wireless plug-in for it and I am hoping this will allow me to roam with the mic and get the best audio. We have been using it, but it would be pluged into the adapter with the XLR wires and we would always have to people connected to each other with the wires.

I think the wireless will help but can anyone think of any other ways of getting better audio on the fly outside.

When using a shotgun, make sure you haven't got any solid walls directly behind the subject; the subject doesn't have anything noisy behind; have the subject stand in front of non-reflective surface - leaves, foliage, soft drapes, soft partition wall, try and use the subject as a "baffle" for sound . . . can't think of anything else at present.

Grazie

Usually it isn't a situation where I can place the person in a certain spot and be sure to have everything just right. I am usually standing next to the person as they are in the middle of something, or waiting to do something. So trying to get the best sound in diverse situations is what I am looking for.

Thanks

I don't know if this has already been posted here or if this is trustable info, but I found this page interesting:

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/7385/dvheadlines.htm

A month ago:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11605
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11628

So it was trustable info but old info.
Sorry...

Took a couple pics from my film, A Matrix fan film, and decided to post em up. Anyways, I used the GL2, and I absolutely love it! I am Smith, and I am also the one flipping...

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289454465

I have one more, just click next on the lower right hand corner. Let me know what you think. This film will be my first GL2 project...

I'd like to see the movie of it, can you post it somewhere?

-Bo

Oh, the film isn't done.

The animator just wanted to make a poster...

Anybody have any experience with both of these cams? I would like to shoot a couple/few feature indie films. Which would be "better" for this purpose? Thank you.

I have a GL2 and a fellow filmmaker of mine has the trv-900. If cost isn't the issue, I can't see any reason why you'd want a trv-900 over the GL2.

Color and balance settings, low light capability, audio capabilities... all seem way better on the GL2. But of course, the GL2 costs more. But well worth the extra money!

I'm sure someone out there will have issues with these statements. ;)

I will add though, that when handled well, the trv-900 can produce very good footage. There was a music video posted around here somewhere not too long ago, which although was tweaked alot in post, the video did look great. For anyone else that might remember, it was the one with the people doing the nasty in bed while some cute girl sings. I can't find it right now for some reason. The individual who made it said it was playing in taxicabs in New York.

Bought my XM2 and I got a dead pixel on the Lcd, nice bright blue one. But that's okay says the manual. And worse, a spot on every photo and in all the footage, sometimes red sometimes white, might even be a cluster of pixels. So that's a dead pixel on the CDD I would say. Anyone have this fixed and how long long did it take?

I live in the Netherlands.

Erwin.

Eh, welcome to the forum...

Eh, yes it sounds like it's a dead CCD pixel(s)... Call up Canon, they will fix it for free, obviously, since you just got it, but I can't really say how long it will take. It shouldn't be all that long, i'd say 3 weeks at the most...

Your best bet though, is to take (send) it back to the place you bought it and have then exchange it, since you just got it (i'm assuming)...

What Alex says. Return it to where you bought it from or contact Canon.

(What's the deal with these dead CCD pixels all the time?)

Recently I've been wondering about something. I use my Gl2 to upload all my footage onto my pc even though I don't want to. (I haven't gotten another mini dv cam yet to do it) I have a 3 year MACK warranty I purchased for the camera when I got it. If the heads start to go bad and the motor starts to wear out eventually, will my warranty cover this. As long as I don't screw anything up on the camera. So far everything is working fine and I love the camera. It's just everytime I hit play, rewind, fast forward, etc. I get scared about the day it will fail on me. Any answers would be great!

I don't know the terms of the MACK warranty, so I do not know the answer. But I'm going to guess that you would be covered.

Head wear (not to be confused with head breakage) may or may not be covered. Check the fine print and call them to verify. Head replacement is a normal maintenance item for camcorders and VTRs, typically around the 2000 hour point, give or take.

I decided on the GL2. Now I have all the standard questions of someone who has done a lot of digital photgraphy (Canon Pro90), but has not done any DV -- and no video for a long time.
I've browsed through the postings and found bits and pieces of info., but wonder if there is a single site/resource/posting which answers many of the standard questions:
I want to make (non-commercial) nature films to put on DVD, what accessories should I get, besides extra batteries, media, etc? I think I'll need a wide converter and a raincover (KATA?), possibly the DM-50 microphone?
But my big question is about the software. What editing and browsing S/W comes with the GL2? Do you recommend something better for the more serious prosumer? (everybody who got the Pro90 preferred another browser, and most recommended the full Photoshop).
Would appreciate getting pointed in the right direction. I'd like to get most everything I need up front, if possible.
Thanks a bunch.

What type of nature flms? Would it be about all things in nature, or more about animals or more about plants?

Have you ever shot out in nature before? If you are planning on shooting animals, you'll love the 20X optical on the GL2, but you'll still need more reach. Sssshhhhh! Don't let those hungry bears see you...
http://www.centuryoptics.com/products/dv/2x_tc/2xtc.htm.
Normally I would recommend KATA - but in this case, I suggest you blend,,,
http://www.camkote.com/gl1.htm

If you are planning on focusing more on plants and flowers, then perhaps you will want to get real close
http://www.centuryoptics.com/products/dv/diopters/diopters.htm

Will you be out and about solo?

Tell us more about your goals please.

- don

Thanks for the response, Don.
I'm just finishing a field guide to the plants of a private nature preserve. But plants are relatively easy; they don't move much. I expect to be out by myself taking lots of DV (scenics/animals/plants) then blending them in with the stills I already have and adding sound in editing (a la Burns).
Now I'll look at some of your links.
Thanks again.
Roland

Has anyone had any luck (or know if it is possible) to use a USB Memory Drive to extract stills from the GL2's SD/MultiMedia card without using a computer?

For example, would you be able to stick a USB Memory Drive (for example: http://www.drivebuddy.com) directly into the GL2's USB port and extract the stills, rather than downloading to a computer?

My interest is because I will be traveling extensively with the GL2, but do not want to bring the laptop with me to download the stills. And I'd rather use the SD memory card than capturing stills to tape. A small USB Memory Drive would be much more practical to keep large numbers of high-quality stills.

Thanks...

Hello, everyone!

First off, I am a new member but have been lurking around here for some time. I must say that this site is very informative and I have learned alot during the relatively short time that I have lurked here

Posters here have been very helpful in answering questions and the threads do not degenerate to heated discussions and hurling of unprintables at each other.

Having observed all this, I thought this is a safe place for me to hang around and learn about videography which is my hobby along with digital photography. Along the way, I hope to be able to contribute but for now I just want to learn from you folks.

My first question: I have been enjoying my newly-purchased GL2 and I have read from the manual that it has color bar. Of what use is it? Is it used to set up your monitor to make sure it shows accurate color? If so, how do you do it?

Thank you in advance to anyone who would bother to answer.

Sam

Take a look here:
http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm

It explains just what you wanted to know.

Ok, what are tips on making a shallow depth of field besides zooming full in from far away? I noticed Hollywood flicks use very shallow DOF alot. I like using wide angle lenses but every now and then I'd like a nice and shallow DOF.

Open up the iris and zoom in from afar. That should work a little with small CCDs. How much? Don't know. With my 1/3" CCD cam I can get a shallow depth of field with this method (zoom in with ND 6 in sunlight). I shoot a lot of birds (with the cam).

This is an extremely well-covered topic. See Jeff Donald's article (http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/optics/dofskinny.php) for a technical discussion. There are also at least two really long threads on the topic around here. Use Search to locate them.

I like to post this once in a while-

Edmond Company has made another lens available for this project, so the page is now updated

See
http://www.neilslade.com/lens.html

Thanks for the link, Gary. That site is resource-rich.

I think I can figure out how to use the SMPTE color bar to tweak my TV set. How about my computer monitor, how do I do this?

Sam