Hey all,
I'm going to shoot a short video for a manufacturing company. They want a 1-2 minute video showing the various things they do and build at the facility. The video will only be shown in a streaming format on their website. Using my trusty GL2, what settings should I shoot in? I was thinking 16:9, Frame mode, and 1/60th sec. Any advice or tips would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

Scott

The issue is less about camera settings than it is about how the piece is composed, how well it is lit, how well your control contrast and how carefully you control camera and subject movement. "Streaming" is actually all about compression and trying to avoid distortion caused by mistakes in the above attributes.

I'm getting a wide angle for my gl2 for Christmas.

I know the wd-58 is about the best, but I don't know if it's wide enough. It says it has to barrel distortion, but what about when it gets super close? I want a wide angle, that at extreme close ups fisheyes.

I can get a .5 or .3 but am concerned they may look too fisheye all the time and be sickening. Any advice?

I mostly film climbing, where the lens is no more than 2 feet away from the person, and the regular lens doesn't fit much in the frame. Thanks for any help.

-Ryan

the entire shoot for this wedding is done with a vitacom 0.5mm om a xm2.
http://www.hemadeus.com/marceulindra

In streaming, that is the key. The irony is that in streaming video, the less movement you have, the better. Of course you can't avoid all movement, and you wouldn't want to.

The way compression works is that it analyzes the frames for changes, and only modifies the pixels that have changed from one frame to the next. Every so many frames it redraws the entire frame.

This is the keyframe, and their frequency can be set in the compression settings. More keyframes means smoother video, but at the cost of a larger file size. In streaming this translates to needing more bandwidth to see the stream.

So, in addition to avoiding unnecessary movement, you also want to avoid overly busy backgrounds (where even a slight change in the background could cause a total frame redraw). Camera movement is the culprit here.

If you do a multi camera shoot, or edit the footage prior to compressing for streaming, you'll want to avoid dissolves and wipes. Straight cuts will serve you and the compression better than the fancy editing.

In summary:

- Carefully control camera and subject movement
- Keep backgrounds simple - all one color if possible
- use straight cuts when editing

Is the amount and quality of image stabilzation the same with both cameras? Thanks, Craig Hollenback

The Optical Image Stabilization in the XL1/XL1S is a different type than the GL1/GL2. However, you cannot perceive any visual difference between them in the video. Hope this helps,

My GL2 now only plays back JVC tapes. After using Maxell for a month I switched to JVC because I couldn't find Maxell tapes in bulk (which I needed at the time) and I've been using JVC tapes since, so it's been about 5 months.

So anyway, I put in an old tape that I would like to review, and it doesn't play. Well it plays, but the camera thinks it's blank. I know there's info on the tapes (I actually labeled them) I put in another older Maxell tape, same thing happens. And another, same thing.

So I put back in a new JVC tape which I had just played yesterday without problems, and it doesn't play either. After a few minutes, however, footage starts to appear. It looks like this (http://www.scifi-pics.com/images/gl2crap.jpg)

After awhile that goes away, and I can play back the tape normally. So I tried a Maxell tape again. The whole process repeats. I can't get any type of tape other than JVC to play on the camera.

Funny thing is, the camera just had its heads cleaned (or so Canon told me when I sent it in for repairs.) so I'm baffled at what could be causing this. Any ideas?

You should use a cleaning tape before you change to another brand of tape.

That might be the reason your Maxell doesn't work.

If that doesn't work, it is problably time for a new service.

Change of tape brands has been discussed in many threads here, so you might do a search to find more useful info.

Yes, the pic shows the typical results of dirty heads.

http://www.dvfreak.com/tape.htm

But they were just cleaned! Gah. Ok... time to purchase a cleaning tape.

With the tree lighting in NY happening tomorrow night, I've become inspired to use my gl2 to tape the tree and radio city music hall at night, sometime later in the week. What would be the best settings on the camera to tape these landmarks at night?

I would guess manual or spotlight mode. Probably best to leave
the UV filter off because it can introduce ghosting around images.

Ok, I do have the complete user manual.
Sure I have read it all, several times.
But do I really understand it all? .... nope.
So I am looking for a decent training video to tell me all about aperture etc etc. I came across this one:
"DMTS Shoot for the Cut: Mastering Professional Digital Video Techniques with the Canon GL2 (1 DVD) for $79,95 plus $44 shipping and thought that's a bit much.

Any suggestions here ?

I would bet that if someone here who felt comfortable enough with thier GL2 could make us (and others) a great tape/DVD to educate us. I could see a market for it. Come on guys...whose up for the challange?

I purchased the Paglight C6 at B&H PHOTO specifically for a Christmas ball I was hired to tape using my canon gl2. A good deal of my videotaping involved shots of the moderately lit cocktail hour as well as people dancing to a band on the dance floor. The paglight c6 was fully charged for the event. It helped somewhat at the cocktail hour, but was really useless during the dancing unless I was literally on - top of someone. I thought the light was supposed to be good for over two hours? At about 45 minutes the light was visably weaker than when I first turned it on. It was like taping in pea soup. The light didn't make any kind of noticeable difference, even during the cocktail hour. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to order more powerful bulbs other than the 6v 20 watt included one? The paglight c6 instructions seem to indicate that the light is designed to be used with lamps up to 6v 30 watt only? Any help you could offer would be very much appreciated.

Donald,
I used a PAGLight C6 on my GL2 all year for wedding receptions. I bought two batteries for insurance but I only had to change batteries twice using the 20W lamp. I think you must be leaving the light on continuously or it wasn't fully charged. Battery drain just wasn't a problem for us even through 5 and 6 hour receptions. But you do need 2 just in case.

Even in the most dimly lit receptions, the 20W light with diffuser was enough to get sharp images with good color at 12dB. You should expect to take most of your important shots within a 10' radius depending upon lighting conditions. You can use a 35W lamp but I think it drains tha battery twice as fast and is much more intrusive.

Hope this helps,
Bob

anyone want to trade gl2 for pd150?
my gl2 is only 2 weeks old. i think i would rather have the pd150 though. email me if so at

jjcorral@sbcglobal.net

Good luck, but don't get your hopes too high Joel. These are not equivalent cameras, as the Sony PD150 is closer in monetary value and performance to an XL1s.

i know, but i am maybe some has a older pd150 that wabts to try out the gl2

Oh man, when I saw the topic I thought you wanted a GL2 in exchange for a PD150, cause I would have taken that deal. :)

Is there any way I can tell if this camcorder has been used? If the dealer just checked to make sure the items were all in place before shipping thats fine....

Is there a "mileage" readout?

No, unfortunately there is no head time counter on the GL2 (or any Canon camera). Where did you buy the camera? Did you buy it as an "open box" special?

hello. will these batteries mess up the gl2? it said on the manual to use original oem canon batteries, or is that just some scheme? lol. i was also wondering if the higher voltage batteries will electronically damage or have an effect on the camera later on.

Thanks.

See this thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17385). It applies equally to the GL2's batteries.

Just looking for a quick response to what the main differences are between these two awesome camera's. Wondering because I want to know if I should consider moving up to the XL1-S.
Thanks. It was my understanding that the only difference is the interchangeable lenses?

Here's a few . . .

On our Forum:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3018

. .nice table here:
http://www.dvdirect.com/TSS/charts/CanonCamcorder.htm

. .review-type things:
http://videosystems.com/ar/video_canon_gl_camcorder/

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/canon_gl2_camcorder_review.htm

. . any good?

For what it is worth, I'm happy with my XM2. The XL!s is still minidv. Yes has inter-lens . . has more bits 'n pieces you can buy. But, the XM2 has 2 x manual audio AND 20x zoom . . oh yes the XL1 systems are more expensive.

Grazie

I'm having some trouble with my GL2's auto-exposure: while in any shooting mode (except AV) the camera will not re-adjust to low-light situations. For instance, when I power on the camera in "Easy Mode" a dark room remains dark. (I tested with a second GL2 I own and upon powering up it instantly adjusts to the low light).

I can crank the E-lock up to +11, and then release it to get the proper exposure, but if I then point at a bright light (thus shrinking the iris) and then back to the dark room, it cannot re-adjust to the low light and the scene remains very dark.

Interestingly AV shooting mode handles lighting changes fine. But no other mode.

Again my other GL2 manages these situations perfectly. Any ideas? Am I missing a setting? Or headed for repair?

thanks so much,

-Andy

Sounds like a trip to Canon service.

Okay, please have patience with me.

I've used auto WB with DV and this isn't a problem. But I've been told that using Manual WB and then going to another situtation and filming - ie outside to inside shooting - and then going to a lower format for the final product - ie VHS tape - would end up "blowing" or over exposing the white areas. Is there a way of comabating this within Vegas in post? Or should I treat WB with specific respect, and use manual WB for each and every separate WB situation?

Grazie

I think you must have a few things cockeyed here. White balance will normally have nothing to do with getting blown out highlights even if you go from one color temp to another. It may be possible that in some instances the color temperature shift might be -just- enough to bring something from legal to blown when you change your location, but it is much more likely the issue would be due to your manual shutter speed/f stop. If you are using manual controls and move to a new location you will obviously check your exposure and adjust it. Your manual color balance setting may not be correct if you dont' also adjust that, but if you have set your exposure properly, you won't get blown out highlights...you'll simply get the wrong colors. As for how it affects color or exposure going to VHS, I'll defer that to somebody else and invite an expert to correct me above if I'm wrong. :)

hi,
i have a few questions.
what other lense accessories are there for the GL2? and what are the best? why would in need any? are there any possible ways to change the lense on the gl2? and finally why is the lense on the xl1s longer than the lense on the gl2. I keep hearing that the images between the gl2 and the xl1s are very close.

There are several tele-extenders (1.7x and 2.0x) made by Sony and Century Optics. Any number of wide angle converters in you choice of angles made by a variety of companies. A 16:9 anamorphic converter from Century Optics. Matte boxes, lots!

I am considering purchasing a gl2 and have a few audio questions concerning microphones.
I've done some research and decided the Sennheiser ME66 microphone would be a good shotugn mic to have on the camera. My first question is this?
1) Is it better to run the Sennheiser mic with battery power from the microphone adapter or use phantom power? I read somewhere that using phantom power sounds better, is this true?

2) How is the quality of the Canon MA300 XLR setup as compared to some of the products from Beachtek? Does is affect audio quality by going through the accessory shoe? Doe the MA300 supply phantom power?

I'd love to hear what anyone with some experience with these products has to say. Thanks

NO phantom power from the MA300. Its sound quality could be slightly better than the Beachtek, but probably would need golden ears to hear any difference.

Per their specifications, some mics do have less distortion at very high sound levels when phantom power is used. However, the ME66 specs I've read do not reflect this sort of difference.