I have returned two new GL2's and am waiting for my third. I hope it's a good one. The first one had bleeding and overblown reds. The second turned yellows to lime green with a bright boost to all the other colors. Neither had true color and I was very surprised and disappointed. Anyone else hear of this problem with new GL2's?

My XM2 (PAL of GL2) has bleeding reds AND turnes yellows to lime green. I think you should have stayed with one of your cams because it won't get any better.

Sad but true.

Wow, you either have a bad vendor or some pretty bad luck. I had a GL2 for a while and know several others who have bought one, and none of us had the problems you mentioned. It was a great cam.

Anyone else have this issue?

We have had occasional reports of red bleed but, in my memory, none of the other problems you noted. In fact, the GL2 is generally characterized by its relatively neutral imaging particularly as compared with its predecessor and some of its Canon peers which have a slightly warm color.

Most users attempting to peg a partcular "look" will adjust the camera's color settings.

My new GL2 in auto is also too bright on the red side. Not bleeding just too red. I have adjusted the settings to compensate for this thinking it was a camera peculiarity.

I have a XM2 and have notice the same with footage from my first tape, the reds are very strong using auto mode. I guess I will have to get proficient with the manual settings.

Yes, manual settings is the only way to go with this and any other DV cam. Auto is seldom good for anything, whether it's white balance or focus.

Some of those responding seem to say that a camera selling for over $2000 has a major problem with showing and recording true color in auto mode and this is acceptable. I just sold my Sony TRV-17 which originally cost me around $680. It showed decent color and recorded what was in the view finder. I was hoping to move up to a better quality camera, not settle for something less.
Before I took the plunge and layed down the money to buy this camera, I did the research and read every review I could. Every one raved about the GL2 and its high quality color picture. No one mentioned the poor presentation of color on the view finder or its inability to record true color.
Did I just get two bad cameras or is this the expected quality of a semi-pro camcorder.

I think mostly what you're hearing is that if you run the cam on auto, you might not be happy with the results. From first hand experience I can tell you that if you just learn all the manual controls of this camera, as with any camera, you'll be very satisfied.

Remember, red is a troublesome color for all miniDV cameras, and requires care and consideration.

Bob,
You're received quite a bit of response to your original post. As I indicated earlier, Canon's imaging system has always leaned toward red. Sony's has always leaned toward blue. So what exactly are you trying to ascertain that you've not already learned? Your penchant for kicking what seems to be a dead horse, coupled with your new membership status, is making me suspicious.

If you find the GL2 unacceptable just get a different brand of camera. It's as simple as that.

Hmm... How can you tell if a new GL2's color reproduction or anything is usually off or producing errors? I mean, I haven't really ever seen Sony's color on their cameras so I can't tell if it would be an opinionated bias view on a certain color you dislike or something like that. Does anyone have to any pictures that show what an error imaged looks like? Would this only appear just after you open the camera or does it only appear during playback/record or taking stills...or what?

Thanks to all of you that have shared positive and friendly input. I have been reading the forum for about a month and this was my first post. I am looking forward to receiving my new GL2 and spending some time mastering the manual controls.

my gl2 is fine i dont have any of these problems?
Rebecca what part of buffalo are you from?

Those that are having troubles with over saturated colors, how are you evaluating the color? Colors can only be accurately measured or evaluated on a vectorscope. Using a consumer TV will not yield accurate results in most cases. If you have access to a broadcast monitor that is properly calibrated, that would be acceptable also.

Many NLE's have software vectorscopes that can be used to determine if your footage is overly saturated. If you have questions post back.

I've spent a while checking out the red issues since I got my GL-2 because I had read about the situation before purchasing. I have done a number of tests with the LCD, viewfinder, & a low end monitor--all calibrated the best I can. I havent tried anything on a vectorscope. The results I got held up regardless of white balance settings (i.e. auto or manual) and the color balance option in custom preset really had very little effect.

My conclusion is that the camera oversaturates reds, and this is probably very intentional.

The best results are skin tones in daylight. I assume Canon overemphasized reds for this situation because they were producing what really is a high-end consumer camera. Lighter skin tones look fabulous in daylight thanks to the extra red image. The grandkids will look great at the picnic.

Red objects in daylight are somewhat oversatuated. The difference is obvious in a naked eye comparison if you look carefully. I dont see this as a problem, however, since most people dont watch your movie against the real scene it was shot from and the red doesnt really blow out unless you have a very red object in bright light.

Under tungsten lighting things get a bit more dicey. The first time I used the camera it was a close-up under low tungsten light with even a bit of red light in the background and the results (on the skin tones) were shockingly red. But this is a worst case scenario. Under properly bright tungsten light the red oversaturation could be a problem, depending on the skin tone of the person. YOu need to pay attention to it and deal with it. Under tungsten or household lights when there is not enough light you will definitely have a problem with too much red. But you will have enough other problems with your image that you probably wont notice the red so much :)

In general the red issue is real, as far as I'm concerned. Its something you need to take into consideration in composing your shots. Sometimes its a plus and sometimes its a minus.

Now that I have really put some time into exploring the camera itself I will take a look at what can be done with the red issue in post.

Can't say that we experience any color reproduction problems with our GL2s. Having said that, I always have the camera on full manual and always white balance. When doing indoor or low-light shooting, if you want accurate color, again, white balance with the camera light. Within a 7-10' perimeter, colors are usually brilliant and from my eye, accurate. Beyond that range, there is the expected red tint. At one wedding, I didn't white balance at the exact B&G location. The church had large windows, reflective hardwood floors and I ended up with to much of a yellow hue. BTW, over the holidays we watched our demo on a plasma TV and the images were stunning. You can shoot some amazing footage with a GL2...now if they would just give us a 1 lux, 2 XLR GL3 for under 3K...