Big Thanks to everyone who's helped.
 

I just want to say that this is a fantastic forum, with even better people. In just two months, I've gone from knowing nothing, to knowing a little bit more than nothing, but at least now I'm a bit more confident in what I'm going to do. thanks for everyone's continued assitance in my education and purchase decisions.

My goal is to have an instrucional DVD which will be filmed primarily two places: my basement and in the orchard at our farm.

Since Dec 1, 2005, I've bought:

Canon GL2
H58 Wide lense
polorized lense
biggest battery available
pro tripod
sennheiser headphones 280 pro I think
quality bag
instructional DVD by Greg Salman
and I've just ordered: Rode shotgun mic, DXA-6 audio input, condenser lav mic, XLR cable, etc.

I've got my space lit up with 5 of the 10 inch "home depot" clamp on lights with two lower 250 watt halogen shoplights. I've even tried the standard incandescent flood lights versus the flourescent econo flood lights. the flourescent (corkscrew) style flood lights are whiter and give off less heat.

I'm really excited to get started next week. I'm trying to get my brother more educated in Sony Vegas Movie + DVD, as he's attending USC Film production school.

thanks again for everyone's help. I've done a lot of research and may post photos sometime soon.

Cheers,
Joel

I must agree, this forum is a great place. Imagine forums like these didn't exist. Where would many of us be?