I just received my GL2. Unfortunately, I see a small but irritating smear on the inside (looking at an image through the viewfinder).

The smear is not on the lens, as I can't see it when viewing an image through the LCD screen. It is not on the outside glass of the viewfinder either.

I believe the smear is on the magnifying glass inside the viewfinder. The dealer I purchased the product from seems to think there is a way to clean this and that I should contact canon before returning the camcorder.

Any advice would be appreciated as canon technical support is closed for the weekend and I am trying to use it this weekend.

Many thanks.

Get it serviced or return it. It is, afterall, a new cam. It shouldn't be like that.

There is, indeed, a way to clean part of the inside of your viewfinder. It's documented in your users manual. (I don't have one handy to give you a specific reference.)

But I agree with Frank. If you've just purchased it in the past week or two just return it as defective. This is a workmanship defect, not a repair issue. Your dealer should replace it immediately, not tell you to send it to Canon.

There is an access panel under the viewfinder that allows you to clean the viewfinder screen as well as magnification lens. You can use a Q-tip, but be careful, apparently these elements are easy to scratch. However if this was indeed a new product, it makes you wonder how these areas of the camera got smudged.

Are you sure you're not seeing abberations from the sharp edges around the viewfinder. I noticed these while evaluating the GL2 to purchase. It would appear that the eye-relief is very short on this cam and sometimes I noticed streaking around the edges of the viewfinder, unless my eye was positioned just-so.

While you're at it follow the link below to the GL2 Defects topic to see if you have the "loose" viewfinder. I suspect there was a batch of cameras showing this symptom as some users of older cams do not have the "symptom".

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13162

I decided to exchange the camcorder. I figured having paid 2 grand and change I should not have this kind of problem right out of the box. Thanks for the replies guys.

Amen! That's why I returned two of 'em. Canon actually suggested I buy a GL2 and send it to them for repair! I suggested they make 'em right to begin with, and watch their quality.

Hope your replacement is up to par... You might look at the Panasonic DVC80