If it rotates, it's definitely a spot on the lens. Hope this helps,

Jeff,

That was at night when it was dark outside. The only lights on were 2 ceiling mounted tungsten fixtures that are both the same and have a diffusion globe over the bulbs.

The warm tone is just a little too much, and the custom WB is a little too green. But the tungsten setting on the camera is objectionably warm. I should have included that too.

I'll contact the distributor and Canon and post an update if I get one.

Jeffyr

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Hurd : If it rotates, it's definitely a spot on the lens. Hope this helps, -->>>


I realized I had the digital zoom on and when it got to the engaging point, that's when the dot, grey pixel, moved. Do you think that it may be a "grey pixel" after all?

Does the pixel rotate or does in move in a linear fashion, off the screen? If it rotates it's on the lens. If it moves linear it is probably a dead pixel.

Jeff

If it didn't move until you got to the digital zoom, then it's probably on the CCD and *not* a spot on the lens.

That is what is called a Dead Pixel or hotspot only way to fix it is to send it to canon to get the ccd replaced.

<<<-- Originally posted by George Gerez : That is what is called a Dead Pixel or hotspot only way to fix it is to send it to canon to get the ccd replaced. -->>>


Darn, that's what I thought. Arrrrgh, I've only shot 20 hours on that camera too. Thanks to all for the advice.

Cisco. I have a dead spot to.. right in the lower middle part of the screen.

I have developed a dead Pixel as well on my GL1. I have looked at other strings regarding this issue and do not seem to have found what Canon might charge to mask one.

Perhaps one of you might know?

Thanks. First time on this site for me.

Steve

Is it possible to film directly from a GL1 to a laptop?

Sure, plug in the firewire cable. Fire up Premiere and Capture a Movie. Hit Record and you'll be streaming it in.

Thanks

My friend wants me to shoot a "fishing adventure" at night under flourescent worklights....are there any filters I should use to help w/ this?
Any tips would be appreciated. I'll be using a GL1 camera.
Thanks,
Daryl

Heliopan makes 2 types of fluorescent correction filters...for the 2 main types of fluorescent lighting.

Hi,
I see the Canon VL-3 light can be used with the GL2. Is
it also possible to use it with the GL1/XM1 ?

Sorry, no; the VL3 light derives power from the Advanced Accessory Shoe on the GL2/XM2. The Advanced Accessory Shoe is "hot," that is, it's wired for power. The accessory shoe on the GL1/XM1 does not supply power, therefore the various AAS accessories such as the VL3 light and DM50 stereo mic are not compatible.

I am trying to determine which would be more useful, a VL3 Light or the VL10Li. Does the number indicate the wattage? The VL3 is self powered by the camera I understand so does that mean that you need an additional 900 series battery to power the VL10Li? One for the camera, one for the light? Does a battery come with it?

How about useing them outside...are either of them useful for fill light outdoors?

Any info anyone can offer on these questions would be appreciated.

Jim

Does anyone know how to bypass the Auto Power Off Feature on the GL1 while in CAMERA mode?

Although I haven't used the GL1 extensively, I imagine it is like most cameras in that it will shut down after about five minutes or so if there is a TAPE inside. Without the tape it should stay on as long as there is power. (Again, may be a bit of conjecture for your camera specifically.)

As for keeping the power on with the tape, I haven't ever heard of a way. Are you trying to keep some settings (white balance, etc)? (Aren't these retained as long as there is power, even if the camera is off?) Or is it just the annoyance factor?

HTH,
Clayton

Try leaving the tape door open, I'm not in front of my camera, but I think this works.

Barry

OK this may not be the place to ask this but here go's. Which has a better picture quality a SONY TRV240E or a Cannon GL1 or GL2? I want to get a camera that has a high picture quality that is a little on the low end. I really love the new camera I saw on the back of filmaker magazine last year, it looked nice but I have no Idea on the cost and the magazine is at home. (SIGH)

Goldenfleece,

you are from Sheffield so I guess you are using a PAL camera - slow shutter does not change the frame rate, just how long the shutter is open on each frame. I guess that the Sony author meant to say it gives a "24 fps like effect":) It will still be 25fps on the tape.

Julian

The TRV-240E is a 1-CCD camcorder, (1/6" in the NTSC version). It is Digital8, around US$550 or so.

Should be no contest, the GL1/GL2 should provide the better image by far under most circumstances.

It would be difficult for any 1-chipper to beat a 3-chipper except in low light conditions. Simply put, 3-chippers have 1 chip per primary color and that gives them a decisive advantage when it comes to image reproduction.

Since these 3-chippers are better cam, it does require a little knowledge to operate them properly. If you are always going to use "green box auto" mode you may not see much difference between a 1-chipper and a 3-chipper. However, when properly used the results can be quite awesome.

So if you are contemplating a purchase, take the time to learn a little photography before you try these cams. It will help you determine which cam is best for you.

hi
has anyone had any problems w/getting tremendously distorted audio after playback *on both onboard speaker and computer speakers*

i noticed that after i recorded a wedding reception (which had a loud dj) the sound was super distorted when i played it back and i thought i had blown the mic, but then i recorded an live acoustic performance and it picked up excellent.

a week later i was at a party again and the bass seemed way too much for the mic when i'm playing it back now it's really distrorted again. (also my screen started recording blue and green horizontal stripes??!!)
...it's still under canon's 1 year warranty, should i consider an exchange or is there anything to do besides change the 12-bit/16-bit record levels?

sorry so long, thanks...

Regarding the distorted sound, Have you tried turning on the Mic Attenuator?...I've found that with the gl1 this helps to manage even deafening noise levels. Regarding the blue and green stripes...can you be more specific as to what is happening, and when?

Barry

When I put a certain tape in, the power light blinks and viewfinder says eject. All transport controls are frozen. Is it a corrupt tape? I cleaned the heads, no help. Other tapes work fine. BTW, i put it in my XL1s with the same results. If it is corrupt, can it be saved?

It sounds like the camera is not able to properly thread the tape over the rollers and heads. You can carefully open the tape cassette's door to see if there is anything obviously wrong in there. If not, and if there's something you absolutely have to get off of that tape you can try loading it into a different camera and capturing from there. Otherwise don't take chances: pitch the tape.

Hi everybody,
nice to meet you all in this nice forum.
i would like to ask you something like external mic.
Because i've to shoot same concerts of my choir group, what kind of external mic i've to consider to have the best result in the price range 150-200€.
tnx for your reply

Giampy - Welcome to THE XM2 Forum!

You've asked a simple question, which has many and comlex answers.

But, from what I understand, it will be driven by what level of quality you wish to attain. We all know that the audio part of AV has been often regarded as an after thought - myself included - SHAME on you Grazie!

However, here are some basic concerns you need to consider when you approach this activity:

* Can you have access to the sound desk, if this is happening at the event?

* What type of acoustics are there present in the place where you wish to film?

* Do you need to have "wireless" mics fo those taking part?

* What type of wide range mic/s are to be used?

There will be more feedback from others.

Bottom line, with the correct type of audio recording you will get some tremendous "sounds" available to you to "mix" in over your video tracks.

Big question: "Could one rely on the onboard mic?" Ermmm . . . you pays yer money yer takes yer choice!

Sooo . .

Let's see what others say

Grazie

Hi Grazie,
thanks for your reply.
Here below some my personal consideration.
I've just tried to shoot some live events of my group and the result with the onboard mic was not so good.
The acustic is generally the acustic of cathedrals and very often auditorium. So there is more reverberating effect that the on board mic is no able to reduce (because it's omnidirectional aperture). The result is very often a very confused mix of voice with some voices more present than the others (like soprano voices).
I've read some rewievs about the Adzen SGM-2X with the beacteck audio adapter seems to be the better choice in it's price range. The problem is that in Italy is very difficult to obtain those pieces so i can only consider the Canon DM50 as a potential improvement.
Do you Know something about this mic?
Is it a good choise?

Giampy

Hmmm . . . I don't know the Canon mic you speak of. I use a Sennihieser shotgun mic. Very directional.

I think you need to research what is needed to capture audio in the setting you speak of - yes?

I can't think of anything more difficult to record than that in a cahtedral. You have a problem. Audio adaptors tend to be something you can "fix" to the body of the cammy allowing you supplemetary channels to record on. Yes, these can be "sent" to your cammy, but you would still need coherent audio signals to record. My rule of thumb - I am not a sound egineer - if it sounds difficult for me to hear it, distinctively, chances are a mic will have a similar problem - yes? I would think you need to rethink how you can record in such a complex arena. You may be looking at separate mics - placed in strategically, selected audio-quality areas. Then these audio lines being sent to a mixing desk or at least some form of 4 or 8 track mixing desk. I don't see a way around this - yes? Of course it does depend on what the "job" requires. And that often equates with the amount of cash/capi
tal you can invest in such a project.

This is a vast area of activity. I wouldn't do you the disservice of suggesting one audio system over another - hmmmmmm.

Grazie

OK I think there was a little misuranderstanding.
I don't want to reach a professional recording, i would like just to improve the sound of the on board mic such as bass response, better stereo separation and latest noise reduction.
I know that the Adzen or Sennheiser can meet my requirements but i ve to make a compromise with the Canon DM50 (very easy to purchase).
Do you think will be the correct choise?
Tnx

I've tried and tried, and have heard it can be done. But I can't seem to get it to go. I have a G4 w/ FCP, and would like to use my GL1 as an analog to digital passthrough device. Could anyone share the secret to doing this, if it is indeed do-able with this setup? Thank you.

Brandon

Page 103-104 of the manual presents the Analog-to-Digital process. To be accurate, are you

a. trying to send ANALOG footage through the camera to your computer, or

b. trying to send DIGITAL footage from your computer through the camera to an analog device such as a VHS tape?

Last night I was on a shoot with my older GL1. I usually manually white balance before each location change, but I was following action in and outdoors in the same take, so I used the auto white balance. Everything was fine at first, but then the GL1 colors shifted dramatically to orange over about 5 seconds. There was no change in the lighting of the room I was shooting in. When I switched to manual white balance, I didn't have a problem with it drifting.

Have any of you had this issue, and if so, what did it cost to get it fixed? I'm long out of warranty, and if it's going to cost too much, I'll be much better off applying the cost of the repair to a new camera.

Thanks mucho!!

Rick Foxx
Photographic Memories

Hi Ken

a. trying to send ANALOG footage through the camera to your computer

this would be the correct description of what I am trying to do. I will look in the manual where you said. I must have missed that. Thank you.

Brandon

Can you tell us a bit more about your shooting conditions? Was
it quite dark for example (this can leave the auto white balance
guessing)?

Rick,
Does your problem sound similar to the one in this recent thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6492)?

Auto white balance can be a very tenuous propostion, especially in mixed artificial lighting.

I was following my subjects from a sunlit patio outdoors into a room with incandescent lighting. There was no window, so I was only dealing with the single light source. The auto white balance was fine outside, and adjusted properly as we went inside. (edit: the indoor lighting was moderate, and I was shooting at F2.0 with 0db gain). After a few minutes of continuous filming, the color began to drift towards orange. There was no change to the light temperature or intensity. We stopped filming, I manually white balanced, and everything was fine.

I've used the auto white balance before in similar situations and have never had an issue. I almost always manually white balance, but when I'm following a subject through multiple types of lighting, I have to rely on the auto in order to maintain a single fluid shot.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Rick

Rick,
I know what you mean. I've not experienced this with my GL2 but I have had such a weird color balance shift with my XL1s. In my case, the color balance began drifting towards daylight balance while shooting a tungsten-lit scene. After a moment of panic I realized I had mistakenly turned WB to Auto. Auto WB has a mind of its own, continuously statistically resampling the center portion of the image.

Color on continuous follow-shots when moving between indoor and outdoor settings is darn hard to control, especially if you've no control over the indoor lighting. The only advice I can offer is to either (a) break the shot to rebalance, or (b) try to set a manual balance that kinda works for both settings, assuming the indoor scene is not extremely warm.

Thanks Ken. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who has seen this kind of problem with a Canon unit. My GL1 is 3 years old, and I'm just waiting for the next major repair on it. It sounds like this white balance problem is just a shortcoming of the camera rather than a malfunction. I'll report back if I have any problems on the manual settings.

Thanks,

Rick

Or you can put gells on your lights indoor (or screw in different
bulbs) to match the outdoor light temperature.

im tryin to decide what kind of wideangle lens i should get, ive been looking at the century optics .3x, the optex .3 and the raynox .3. The least expensive one is the raynox lens, i've heard rumors that this lens clamps on and breaks easily, i also heard that you get a margins on ur video. I havent heard much about the century otics and the optex lenses. All i know is that the century optics retails for about 700, and the optex goes for 350. Right now im leaning towards the optex lens. If anyone has any info that can help me out i would really appreciate it, and also does anyone know where i can buy the optex lens online?
thanks.

Has anyone compared the in-camera 16:9 capabilities of the Canon GL2 to the GL1. My GL1 does a poor job on anamorphic 16:9; there is a big loss in resolution when filming in this mode. I'm wondering if the GL2 is better since it has more pixels.

Using the electronic 16:9 is never going to be great. The best advice is to get on of the screw on anamorphic lens adapters which do a reasonable job.

I heard that with the anamorphic lenses, you can't zoom, pan, or move the camera without the image looking weird. Do these lenses only do static anamophic shots?

hello everyone. i'm a total newbie and this is my first post! these boards seem very well informed and everyone seems to treat each other well. nice job...

my question is how many hours is too many for a used GL1? i found one that seems like it has been VERY well taken care of and it has about 250 hours of use on it. the guy wants about $1200 for it and he said he would throw in a five hour battery.
it seems like a pretty good deal, but even though i am trying to research as much as i can on the internet, i must admit i don't know a whole lot about this gear.
i've been playing, engineering and producing music pretty seriously for more than ten years, so i do have a grasp on sensitive electronic gear, just not cameras. i woke up one day about a month and a half ago and just knew that i wanted to make decent looking low budget movies, so here i am.

sorry for the long post. any thoughts about whether this is a good deal are very appreciated. i'm sure taking the camera to a shop to get checked out is prudent. i'm just wondering whether or not i should worry about this or just go for it and fork it over for a GL2...

thanks everyone!
-ryan

Hmm, whenever I ask this question I don't seem to get a reply. Anyone? please?

Thanks

anybody have an opinion on this? pretty simple question: is 250 hours a lot of use for a GL1 in good shape or is it hardly any use....? how many hours is this camera good for, when taken care of?

i know SOMEBODY has a clue about this.... it would really help me decide what to do with my money.

thanks
-ryan