I've had my GL2 for two days now. Everything is going fine, but now all of a sudden the buttons on the top handle (record, photo, zoom) are not functioning. However the playback controls still work...

Is there a setting that I'm missing that somehow turns off these buttons? I've tried the camera in all modes (easy record, auto, Av, etc) but that doesn't have an effect. The camera has not been dropped or exposed to any conditions that would have this effect on it...

Everything else works perfectly =\
Any ideas?

Thanks.

Hi Steve,
If the Record/Zoom/Photo buttons aren't responding, check the locking latch immediately to the right, and below, the Start/Stop (record) button. You have probably accidentally pushed this latch to its locked position, thus disabling those controls.

I suppose I should read the manual. hah. Yep, they were locked.

Thanks!

Thanks ken....mine stopped working about 6 months ago...and I was just about to send it in before the warranty goes...even though my lock switch was off, I switched it on and then off again and, by jiminy, now my zoom works.


Barry

I was recording recently and got a "dirty camera head" message when filming with my GL2. When I got home, the entire tape had this "mosaic" look to it. Is my tape ruined for good or is there some way to reverse it?

I am using Sony DVM 60-PR 60 minute tapes. I had used a Sont cleaning cassette earlier in the week and followed the instructions of running it only for 10 seconds. Should I run the cleaning cassette longer?

Hello Terrill,
I would run that cleaner tape again (per its directions), then try recording on a new tape. If the camera is still laying down bad video, chances are that something else is awry and that Canon Service will need to take care of it.

I agree with Ken. Something else may be wrong. However, here's a link about tape (with head cleaning info) and further links about tape.

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

Please continue the thread Ken indicated so that all questions
regarding this issue go into that one thread. With that I am
locking this one.

I'm glad your camera still works Miles. But you might want to
consider to get it fixed. Otherwise it might break down at the
least forgiveable moment (your familiair with such laws I assume)

Okay, firstly I'm not getting a problem, I'm asking the following as a means to '"clear-up" a question I've been mulling over for sometime now.

When I connect my XM2 to my pc I get a "DV IN" notifacation on the XM2 screen. Okay. There is an option within the Settings to select DV IN or not. If I'm Capturing surley this is DV OUT, and therefore why don't I dissable "DV IN"? My laptop allows for DV control and I can Preview/Cue/Fast F and reverse no problem. Is this the action of connecting to the laptop "forcing" a DV IN notifacation? On the other hand I can understand why the "DV IN" happens when I Print To Tape - this makes sense to me. - As I said all is working fine - I'm just a tad confused - no change there then!

I also get the "TV SCREEN" notifacation. I'm presuming this is because the XM2 having the f/w cable connected to the laptop, the XM2 thinks it is being used on a TV monitor - yes?

I'm really not wanting to continue to use my XM2 as a VCR deck. I'm considering a separate piece of kit - but that is a separate thread.

Thanks in advance,

Grazie

I'm really not wanting to continue to use my XM2 as a VCR deck. - really not a good idea, I know - I'm considering a separate piece of kit.

Any advice for my XM2 setup?

Choice piece of VCR kit? Good, Bad & Ugly considered.

Prices? Functionality?

Best regards,

Grazie

I currently use a Sony TRV-17 for my home projects. It is a lower-end miniDV cam. I am not sure if they sell it anymore, but any miniDV cam will work... afterall... a digital signal, is a digital signal.

For my studio work I have a Panasonic AGDV2000. Works great.

Hope this helps.

Thanx,

AH yes of course!

T just did a search for the "Panasonic AGDV2000" on Yahoo - could get any results. Just wanted to get a bview as to current prices?

Cheers for the rapid response,

Grazie

DV In - this is normal. Take it as "DV connection active" ...

TV Screen - Menus are not only displayed on the LCD, but also on a connected TV. This can be switched on or off. In PLAY(VCR) Mode and "Tape" selected, this function is mapped to the custom key, so i recommend you simply hit that button again and the message should disappear. This can be changed in CAMERA-Mode -> Menu -> Display -> TV Screen -> off


30°C here in Germany... great.
Chris

Thanx Chris. Cleared that up for me.

Yesterday we reached 28°C - excellent BBq weather!

Grazie

I press record and then it starts a countdown 1 2 3 .... and then if it goes on recording to long the camera turns off. Its a gl2.

Ian,
Are you saying that your camera stops recording after a few seconds? Are you sure you're not pressing the Photo button (which records a still for 6 secs)? Are you also sure that you are not just looking at the 10 sec timer? This is a handy short-term shot timer that appears initially but then vanishes. The camera is still recording after the 10 seconds.

Please give us more to go on.

Grazie, Yesterday it was 116F I can wait until July when it gets to be 128F. Isn't the desert great! =/

Thanx,

Nevermind it just goes to 10 seconds and still records. I don't know why it turned off that one time but its fine now. Thanks anyway.

I have read many many posts and articles about diffusion filters and how different ones work differently with each model of camera.

From my readings, and for shooting fiction with an XM2, I seem to have reached the conclusion of:

- Tiffen Black Diffusion FX 0.5 - for shooting indoors.

- Tiffen Soft FX (not sure which grade though) - for shooting outdoors.

Is this a good conclusion?

hi guy's
thanks for the feedback! It probably isnt worth posting any photos as you can only slightly notice the plug is a little bit wider at the bottom. We have been shooting all week using the fire wire cable so it looks like it still works ok it is just very loose. Tapeing down any cables you are useing to the tripode seems to work great.

Thanks
miles

What are you trying to accomplish with these filters? Are you
going to shoot in frame or interlaced/normal mode?

Sorry - I should have been a little more specific.

I'll be shooting in frame mode.

I'm trying to take the 'edge' off the image - to try and achive a bit of a (here comes that dreaded phrase) 'film look'.

Most people find that frame mode is already softening things up
quite a bit. Then there is also an extra sharpness setting on
the camera that you can turn up the other way so that it softens
the image. And there is post ofcourse.

What I'm trying to say is: make sure you really need those
filters before buying them. I don't have experience with them
but I think frame mode with a bit of post work looks nice enough.
But that is just my very humble opinion. Each has its own views
on things and if yours include the need for filters by all means
proceed.

Sorry I cannot answer your more specific questions regarding
the mentioned filters.

There is another thread on filters running here (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9953)

Had some Retail Therapy [ RT ] due to me . . . NO! I reeeeally needed it for a PubMuso thing I did last night, y'know! Honest!

It wasn't just the ease with which I can now zoom - to get THE shot - I got fed up with climbing all over the XM2, finding the Zoom lever etc when the cammy is sitting on a tripod some 7 feet up in the air, and then nudging everything out of frame! I can now have the lcd pointing down at me, fluid head lever balanced in my right hand with the LANC just above my forefinger - neat! - Oh and the LANC Manual Focus works great too!

I must say that the lcd is a bit far away - hmmm... maybe I should be thinking of extra external lcd bolted on the tripod OR better still, clipped in front of my spectacles? - oooh... now how can I justify some more RT - ;-)

From a tad more poor . . . .

Grazie . ..

"Buddy can you spare a dime - wife 10 kids and an XM2 obsession to support"

Hi! First of all would like to say thanks (especially to Hans Henrik) for the information about XM2, now it seems that I'm ready to replace my old Sony TRV35E (Vide8) with Canon XM2 or maybe with SONY TRV60. So, I'm interested if you have faced any problems on XM2?

1. I've read in many forums (DVI as well) that XM2 gives a vignette (but still some people say that it doesn't). Have you experienced this problem? If "yes", in what conditions (e.g. low light, zooming etc.) I've found some images (on French DV forum) http://www.repaire.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=21763

2. What about XM2's low light? From http://www4.big.or.jp/~a_haru/0208_3CCD.html it seems that it is good (in comparison with my previous Panasonic MX500), but the vignette could be seen. But there is no vignette on http://www4.big.or.jp/~a_haru/exknow2002au/night.html (Canon XV2). It seems that XM2 has too much yellow colour (vs Sony VX2000) + a lot of grain if compared to Sony TRV50.

3. Is there a really big difference between XM2 & Sony TRV60. Unfortunately, I'm not able to make comparison of both, so hope you'll help me:-)

4. And the last, but not the least, could someone put on ftp some video. If "yes", please inform me here in the forum or by e-mail: andris@unet.lv

Hans Henrik, are you able to set up FTP server again, I would be very happy to download some examples of XM2 videos (especially, if you have in rather low light, as I 'm going to shoot a lot of concerts). THX!

Thanks a lot!

Andris Andrejuks

I have a bunch of requests for FTP already, but unfortunately my main PC is down for repairs at the moment (motherboard defect). Will have it fixed soon, and I will put the FTP back up too.

Hans Henrik

Hi all:

I've had my Century Optics 2x for a few weeks now. I finally got a chance to play around with it at a Great Blue Heron rookery.
The first picture will show you the nests in the dead trees taken
with my wife's Canon S330. From the front nests to the back nests the two GL2 photos of the herons were taken in nests about half way back. This gives you an idea of what 40x can do. Both heron pictures were taken in Normal mode (I thought I had set it to Frame).

http://www.metrocast.net/~jsurban/

Once I repair the file structure on my hard drive I'll see how my heron video came out with the 2x and post a small clip.

The next part of this page contains five pictures (four taken to the memory card and one a frame grab) during a week on an island in the Caribbean in March. There are also a few short video clips.

Observations from Caribbean video stills and clips:
- GL2 auto focus on flying birds or anything moving is pretty slow
- Shooting on the beaches I used mostly Sand and Snow mode and it came out a little more natural than Auto mode
- I noticed than some beach/water clips (including "Snapshot" one on web page are a little blurry, don't know if this is the mist coming off the water/waves, heat off beach, or what
- Even when there were no waves I would still see a salt mist coating on my lens at the end of the day

I've had my GL2 for almost a year now and am very happy with it!

Steve

Excellent footage! - Gotta get me one of them Century x2ers!! NOW!!!

What did you use to encode to the web? Looks superb.

Grazie

Hi Grazzie:

I took most of the Caribbean footage plus herons in Normal mode.
Now, after reading many postings here I'm going to switch to Frame mode because all my output usually goes to the web.

I'm using Pinnacle Studio 8.5 on my pc doing the Capture, Edit, and then Make Movie steps.

When editing the still images or frame grabs from GL2 I'm using Photoshop. The only changes I make in Photoshop are:
1) Image menu / Adjust / Auto Levels for Histogram
2) Filter menu / Sharpen / Unsharp Mask
and that is it.

Steve

Framew mode Hmmm.... interesting, must experiment more. Thnx for the details - your work looks just great!

Grazie

Hi,

The official dealer of Lowepro in The Netherlands has lowerd this price of the Lowepro mini trekker with 50% costing now only 99 euro.

The problem is, this backpack is small (I just love a small bag) but does anybody know if my XM2 will fit in this bag?
The bag is now very cheap, but because there are only a few online stores who sell this bag, I can not test to see if it will fit my XM2?

Who can help me

Thanks for asking this question. I think this will be the bag for my new GL2. I stopped by a local shop that happened to have it in.

If you look at the picture here, you might be able to follow my description better:

http://www.lowepro.com/pages/series/trekking/minitrk.htm

When you pull all of the dividers going across the center, my GL2 fit great in the center. With the large 5700 mAh battery and the hood, it fits with a little extra vertical space. I don't have the wide angle lense yet, but it should fit that without a problem. I oriented the camera with the lense pointing up. With the camera in the bag, there is a bunch of space for batteries, charger, etc. on the sides. Then there is a nice spacious pack behind. The bag top closes and the hangle pushes just slightly into the back compatment. This should keep the camera from shifting. I was impressed with the support system in the straps and adjustment. It isn't quite as nice as my backpacking setup, but will work very well.

<<<-- Originally posted by Gabriel_Knight : Hi,

The official dealer of Lowepro in The Netherlands has lowerd this price of the Lowepro mini trekker with 50% costing now only 99 euro.

The problem is, this backpack is small (I just love a small bag) but does anybody know if my XM2 will fit in this bag?
The bag is now very cheap, but because there are only a few online stores who sell this bag, I can not test to see if it will fit my XM2?

Who can help me -->>>

I have the smaller Micro Trekker 200 and my GL2 fits fine.

I put my GL2 in a LowePro mini Trekker. I also take 3 BP945 batteries, an optex .3x fisheye, Century 2x teleconverter, DM50 shotgun, and the WD58 wide angle lens. Plus cleaners and stuff.

Tons of room in this little bag.

Is it possible to mount this hood on the Wide Angle Lens of Sony (VCL-HG0758) ? The lens is 93mm in diameter.

Hi, I am just now purchasing a GL2 for a wedding (low light) coming up soon. My wife and I have a GL1 with a 12-watt shoe light. I've been poring over this forum and have a massive several part question. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I have about $600-$700 budgeted for audio/light accessories (excluding batteries, I already have 3 BP945 style and one smaller BP brand for the shoe light).

Audio - I would like to buy a lavalier (wireless), shotgun mike, headphones, so I'm assuming I'll also need an XLR adapter too. Is there a combo setup that includes all of these options, or will I need to piece together the system? It seems like Sennheiser/Beachtek/Sony are recommended. Will I be able to attach both mics, using the XLR adapter, as well as use headphones, all at once (ie; one mic into each channel).

Lighting - The 12-watt shoe light seems very invasive and doesnt seem to "spread" very well, when relatively close (Lights up part of interviewee's face), I was planning on shooting in TV mode to capture as much light as possible. Does anyone have lighting suggestions or recommendations. I was wondering if anyone uses a "gel" to bring down the glare of their shoe, of if some sort of stick lighting separate from the camera works better.

Thanks again for any help or suggestions.

Hello to everyone!

I've just received a new GL2 and decided that it would be a great time to join in what I believe is the best community on the net. I'll probably have a lot of questions but I'll try to use the search feature to keep from being a repetive annoyance.

I'll be using the camera in my church and am looking forward to a time of "exploring" and learning what it has to offer.

Thanks for letting me a part of the family.

Welcome aboard and congratulations on your new purchase!
You've gotten a very good camera and am sure it'll produce
some nice images for you!

Good luck!

Welcome, Skip!

As Rob noted, you've got the goods! You're going to have some fun now. We're all here to support each other and you have plenty of company with the GL2 (and XM2). Fire away!

You may have read my previous post about my DOA GL2. Well, thank goodness the Zotz crew came through! The replacement arrived yesterday and works like a charm. [Thanks Brian & Tom at Zotz.] We're leaving Monday for vacation and it would have been a flop without the camcorder.

What do I think of the camcorder so far? Well, take our cat for instance. I personally think he's the best looking feline on the block. Last night I saw how the GL2 portrays him on TV. Good looking?. Heck, no -- he's a staggeringly magnificent beast.

Even the wife now thinks the camcorder was a good 'investment'. Now that's bonus I didn't expect.

It's always useful to get the spousal unit to see how valuable your hi-tech toys are, it helps when it comes to getting permission for more!

Enjoy your vacation...and cam! :-)

You're right Nigel. Nothing worse than a disapproving spouse. It can definitely take the fun out of life.

Thanks for the good wishes.

Have read posts about connecting GL2 to Sound sytems, sound boards when taping dance recitals, events etc.. How is this actually accomplished as in what gets plugged in where etc. This is probably a dumb question but I am a complete rookie. Also if i get hooked up to sound board am I correct in assuming that I will only get the sound from the stage performers but not the audience reaction??

I will respond to the audience sound portion. It depends on what's mixed. If the performers are using 'In Ear' monitoring systems, the sound tech, and most notably the monitor engineer will have audience ambiance mixed with the stage mix. This is very important for the performer as it gives them a more real-to-life mix in their ear monitors. With that said, they would have to have mic's picking up the audience reactions and will probably have them on a separate bus. If they have multiple routing possibilities on their board, they might have an extra 4-channel output that you could use. For example:

Bus1 output for Main Audio Left Channel
Bus2 output for Main Audio Right Channel
Bus3 output for Audience Left Channel
Bus4 output for Audience Right Channel

This would be a total for 4 channels of audio to record. My suggestion would probably be just to capture the Main audio into the camera at full audio resolution and rent/borrow a DAT that can get the Audience channels that you can later mix into the Shot.

I've never done this, but if I were to guess at how I would do it, this would probably be the way I would approach it.

It all depends on the setup at the sound board and how sophisticated the system is. Assuming a modes mixeer such as the Mackie 1402 There are many variations. On the some systems there will be RCA tape output jacks. These are probably consumer line output level so you may need to reduce the level before connecting to the mic input jack. A box like the Beachtek or Studio One can work nicely for this.

Best approach may be to contact the technician who runs the sound baord aand ask him.

Hi Tom,
Well, nobody's taken a swing at this yet, so I will get the ball rolling.

Audio Q: Yes, you'll need to select a wireless system and a shotgun mic seperately. An XLR adapter, such as the BeachTek or Studio One would be the way to connect both mics to the GL1 simultaneously. Each would be recording to a separate channel. (There's an encyclopedia of info on mics in "Now Hear This", so I won't try to get into that detail here.

Lighting Q: On-camera lights are, by their nature, "invasive" but sometimes necessary. You can, indeed, use some diffusing material to provide a more even light. Rosco and GAM make many such gels. But many folks use a much simpler material for such small lights, such as kitchen baking paper clipped or tapes to the light. Just be sure the material is somewhat heat-resistant and will not scorch or melt on the light.

I'd also recommend getting the hang of using manual exposure control on your GL1. Yes, it's more work and takes practice but it avoids amatuerish-looking auto exposure shifts (ex: the bride's white dress suddenly fills the frame) and unintentional grainy gain hikes.

Good luck!

Does anyone know if there is a reset button or reset setup for the Xm2? Thanx

What is exactly is it that you're trying to reset? What's wrong?

Just a continuation of a general colour preset fualt. Just wondered if anyone had come across a reset setup I could check before I send the camera back.