I have been able to get this effect, as long as it is coming from the background forward. I set the focus on the background and stay in manual focus. Then I position the camera, such that it will change the focus to the foreground when I turn on auto focus. It is quicker than might be desired, but this is the only way other than manual that I have figured out with the GL2.

Waterfalls
 

Doing some nature photography of waterfalls with GL2 and polarizer. Anyone have any suggestions on combination of settings/equipment that has good results in yeilding detail in the white water, i.e. ND filter on/off, f/stop, shutter speed. Thanks!

Are you doing stills or video? It sounded like stills.

For white water, you can either be fast or slow. Slow shots of water falls can give a cool dreamy effect. I usually use a polarizer on water if it is bright. You desired shutter speed will factor into using ND filters, etc.

Low shutter speeds will get you that dreamy look, high shutter
speeds give a more crystal clear look where you can see individual
water drops (if you get close enough). Play with the shutter to
see what you get/like/want.

GL2 in 98 degrees and humidity?
 

Hi,
I'm bringing my GL2 to College Station, Texas at the end of the month. The temp there is about 90 with humidity (feels like) 98 degrees. I'll be filming outside for several hours than immediately go into an air condition car and/or hotel room. How does want protect the GL2 from this type of weather conditions?

Thanks for any help.
SDiego

Generally I try to have something that uses enough themal insulation to slow down the cool down. For example, a hard case with foam, if left closed, will slow down the temerature changes. The moving from a hot/humid to a cold/dry enviroment isn't as bad as going from a cold to a hot/humid environment. This is where the condensation forms.

Head Cleaning Cassettes
 

Hi,

I was wondering what brand of head cleaning cassettes people recommend for the gl2, and how often they should be used. I've gone through only about 6 or 7 tapes since i got my gl2, and it only flashed the message that the heads were dirty and needed cleaning once, but then went away. I bought a Panasonic head cleaning tape (dry type), but am hesitant to use it because i don't want to damage the heads if it's not necessary. It says to use only when soiled heads are causing a degraded picture. I haven't been getting dropped frames except for once or twice per tape. Oh and if it makes a difference i use sony premiums.

Thanks,

Allen Danze

dropped frames once or twice per tape??
 

I'm not sure why you are getting dropped frames on every tape. that seems odd to me. Combine that with the notice you got and I'd personally go ahead and run the tape cleaner. While it's not a great thing to do more than you need to, they are used commonly and when used in accordance with the directions it won't do anything horrible. I doubt (but am not sure) that one brand of tape cleaner is much better or worse than another. I've never heard anyone say differently. tape cleaners do have to be used carefully. It's important to not run them longer than recommended, and to give 10 sec or so of time before running a second time if you choose to do that, and never rewind a tape cleaner. There. That about exhausts my knowledge of tape cleaners.

I have heard recommendations, which make sense to me, about using a head cleaner from the same company as the tapes you normally use.

I've used a ZR40 for a year, and my Gl2 for a few months but I've only experienced a dropped frame (on the Gl2) once. Maybe I've been lucky but the description sounds unusual. Once or twice per tape would drive me nuts! I use a Sony head cleaner.

Re: Settings Reset after Power Off
 

Hello Brian,

I have been away for a while, but I am very glad you have pointed this feature out. It works like a treat. Thanx for your feedback!

Regards,
Jack

Fram mode off for slow-mo?
 

Is it best to switch off frame mode when footage will later be changed to slow motion in post? Or does it not matter?

I'd say its probably best to turn frame mode off because it runs at a lower frame rate, so you won't have as many frames than in normal mode to give you a smoother slow-mo.

I think.

In fact, if your destination footage is 320 x 240, you can get perfect 50% slow motion if you record in interlaced mode because you are acquiring 60 240 line frames per second.

Even in 480 lines though it should be better to be interlaced. You can get perfect 60% slow mo. Your frames would be like this (A, B = fields):

Dest. Frame 1: Source Field 1A, Source Field 1B
Dest. Frame 2: Source Field 1B, Source Field 2A
Dest. Frame 3: Source Field 2A, Source Field 2B
Dest. Frame 4: Source Field 2B, Source Field 3A
Dest. Frame 5: Source Field 3A, Source Field 3B
Dest. Frame 6: Source Field 3B, Source Field 4A
Dest. Frame 7: Source Field 4A, Source Field 4B

etc.

Basically, for slow motion you want as much temporal information as possible, and 60i gives you that.

For slow mo, it's best to use 33% and 66% for NTSC slow motion, since them numbers work the best. :D

With Vegas 4.0 I can slow down to 33% with good results, but you'll notice some quality difference because Vegas has to "make" some extra frames and they aren't as sharp as the originals.

Any advantages to shooting in black and white?
 

Are there any advantages to shooting in black and white on the GL1, GL2? I've read repeatedly on these boards that it's best to shoot in color and convert in post, because it gives you more control. That makes sense, but I wonder if there might still be an advantage to doing it in camera. After all, you're requiring the camera to record less information. Wouldn't it lose less when it got compressed to DV? I also wonder how the camera converts from three colors to one -- does each chip continue to read each hue, and the image gets converted to black and white when all three images get combined, or does each chip in effect get converted to monochromatic? If so, it seems like you would pick up some low light capability. Also, if I was able to light the scene well enough, I wouldn't have to do any rendering, which saves a generation of loss. Any thoughts?

"After all, you're requiring the camera to record less information. Wouldn't it lose less when it got compressed to DV?"

Nope--the DV format spec stores pixel data as DCT-encoded 8 by 8 macroblocks of Y Cr Cb channels. When you record in black and white, you're just nulling the Cr and Cb channels, but those null values are still recorded to tape. There's no getting rid of them.

"...does each chip continue to read each hue, and the image gets converted to black and white when all three images get combined, or does each chip in effect get converted to monochromatic?"

In a 3-CCD camera, each chip is monochromatic to begin with, by way of a red, green, or blue filter. The color reduction happens in the signal processing phase--the camera just drops the chrominance data, something you can do equally effectively in Premiere, Vegas, Storm Edit, FCP, Avid, or whatever post platform you prefer.

"I wouldn't have to do any rendering, which saves a generation of loss."

While this is true, I think you'll be very hard pressed to notice a quality difference between a black and white image with the chrominance stripped in camera and one that was rendered out in post. You can do some taste tests with your friends--let's hope you have a lot of friends, to get a wide sampling for statistical purposes--but I bet you'll conclude nobody will notice the difference.

Perfect. Thanks.

Primer on GL2 usage?
 

Hi folks,

Just unboxed my GL2, and running in auto mode with no manual mods, it looked terrible! I was shooting with indoor lighting at night, with only the 3 watt VL-3 light on the unit, and I understand that noise is inevitable, but I think my old Canon A1 Hi-8 on full auto looks much, much better. I must be doing something wrong.

Is there a primer somewhere out here on the site that provides assistance with how to handle shooting situations when you are not in ideal lighting conditions with the GL2? How to reduce noise and get accurate color?

Thanks very much.

You can't expect the camera to do amazingly well indoors at night, unless you have plenty of light. How many lights/bulbs/watts do you have where your shooting? DV cameras generally don't do good in "low light" as older cameras do, since the CCD's in new DV cameras are much smaller, among other things.

Anyway, put the camera into manual mode, and take the shutter speed down to 1/30 or maybe even 1/15, and adjust the exposure yourself. Most likely the camera will be adding gain to brighten up the image, and to reduce noise, don't go over +6dB/+9dB gain....

When you shoot some video with your GL2 in daylight, you'll be amazed. :D

Good luck.

Jeff,
Alex is right. The GL2's program modes can be handy. But to get a better feel for the camera, particularly if you're unfamiliar with iris, shutter speed and gain relationships, set it to "M" mode (full manual) and begin experimenting in moderate light conditions.

We have many articles on the content part part of DVInfo but, alas, we do not have a primer for the camera. It's a good idea, though!

service after the sale and pricing structure of GL2
 

I would suggest that Barry's recent post (now locked) touting $2299 as a good price is about $300 more than one needs to pay for a GL2 at this time. I just received my second GL2 from an online dealer with full Canon US Warranty for $1975. In the hopes of actually generating some discussion on the topic of GL2 pricing without having this thread locked up immediately by Chris Hurd, I won't mention the web site that sold me the GL2, but this is the second GL2 I have purchased from them (several months apart) and in both instances I was under no pressure to buy additional items and had no problems. That's a savings of 13% over the figure quoted above and it's like getting a free WD58 wide angle and a couple of filters and a few boxes of tapes thrown in for free.
Out of interest and fairness to our sponsors here I did drop them a line to invite them to match that price but they told me the price could not be from a reputable dealer and it had to be a grey market camera without a warranty, but that was not the case.
I respect Chris' decision to not advertise other web sites (hence you will notice my recent posts on this subject try to show some restraint) but from my experience it is clear there are much better prices out there from good dealers.
I respectfully challenge Chris' statement that "You won't find a better deal anywhere else." While that may be true of our sponsors in terms of "you won't find a better dealer for service after the sales", it certainly is not the case in terms of "better price for a US Warrantied GL2" with no high pressure tactics, which I think many people will accept as the definition of "best deal".
The first question becomes "how much are you willing to pay for service after the sale?
The second question relates to pricing and it really a couple of related questions. Does anyone know the wholesale pricing structure of the GL2? How cheaply can a large etailer actually buy a US Warranty GL2 for? What are the various tiers of pricing? Is there, for instance, a Wholesale price that some dealers like our sponsors might pay, and a "Jobber" price that larger etailers might pay?

white balance thru filters
 

Say I'm going to use a filter in front of my lens like a polarizer or a diffusion filter. Should I white balance before I put the filter on, or balance thru the filter? I'd think itd be balance before putting the filter on, but I'm not sure. Just something I've been pondering. Thanks for your help!

Devin,
Good question. In the case of a polarizing filter, you would only be using it outdoors in sunlight. So simply using the daylight preset would take care of that problem.

In the case of filters that do not alter color balance you can wb with them on. Be cognizant of whether or not you are using "warm" diffusers, that purposely lower color temperature, or neutral diffusers. If you wb with warms attached you will negate the effect you are presumably trying to achieve.

Ken, great advice. I hope others can benefit from this small, but informative post! Thanks!

Mic question
 

Hello, can anyone tell me if i can use a sennheisser me 66 on a xm2 (canon) and do the audio ajustments with the camcorder??
I meen the audio rec level L/R (in manuelmode)
Do i use a xlr to plug (1/8 inch) and put it in the mic terminalon the rightside off the camcorder.
Has the senneisser a built-in power supple or can i use the dc5v above the mic terminal????

Have anyone a picture from a mic on a xm2?

You can connect a ME66/K6 combo to the GL2/XM2. You will need a XLR to miniphone adapter, and you connect it to the mic jack. Simple (transformerless) adapters work OK for short leads. Long leads can pickup noise if connected in an unbalanced system.

The 5-vDC on the Canon cannot power a mic that needs phantom power. It can [ower some specific Canon brand camcorder mics.

The K6 module for the ME66 can be powered by an internal battery.

how to manaul white balance GL2
 

I just bought my GL2 a few months ago and im in college for TV productions. In tv class I have learned how to white balance cameras on a vector scope and sync generaters for each camera. MY Qustion is how do you manauly white balance the GL2, since im still learning this camera? Its a wonderful product that canon has come out with. I like its crisp sound and picture it produces. Im going to use it to shoot a movie in frame mode to give it a real feel for the audiance. So wish me luck and any good advise is welcome to my ears. thanx and have a great day

Hello Richard,
See page 80 of the GL2's U.S. manual. It's nicely described there.

Cloudy Day Shoot
 

Does anyone have any advice on how to get the best quality picture on a cloudy, over-cast, day? With no other lighting available that is. Or any tips on how to angle the camera so your picture is not drowning in the glow of white clouds?

Thanks

Good question!

GL-2 or Sony DSR-PD100A??? Help!!!
 

I am having a hard time deciding which camera to get. I plan on shooting short and feature films with the camera. I am leaning toward the PD100A (DVCAM, XLR adaptor, wide angel lens) but the GL-2 sound very good also. any help from people who have used these cameras would be great.


thanks,
brandon

Cheaper bag alternative for GL2/XM2
 

I just came back recently from a business trip to Dubai/United Areb Emirates. While there, I went shopping for some lighting stands and a bag for my Canon XM2.

On my XM2 the WD-58H adapter (with hood) and the large battery pack are almost always attached. So I wanted a bag that's big enough.

The place where I was shopping didn't have much variety, but it was still heaven for me as I am based in Amman, Jordan, where, sadly, professional photo and video equipment/accessories are very hard to get by.

At first a Lowepro bag caught my eye (I am not sure which model). Then I noticed a bag from a company which I never heard of (Jenova) which was almost exactly the same size as the Lowepro, had very similar arrangement of pockets and seemed well padded.

Now I am new to all this stuff and I was in a rush. But a quick comparison and a look at the price tag convinced me to take the Jenova! It was almost 50% the price.

THe Lowepro bag looked much cooler (mainly becaise of it's color and "nicer" fabric) but for me, the price of the Jenova was very attractive.

It comes with a large assortemnt of velcro deviders, has a pretty hard shell and was large enough to take my camera with its accessories. It can be used as shoulder bage, backpack and waist pack.

Jenova turned out to be a Hong Kong based company. I was not able to find any resellers for them in the US.

Here is a link to the specs of my bag:
http://www.jenova.com.hk/diyhp/4053/xml/home.jsp

Has anyone else heard of this company?

Ahmad

There are advantages and disadvantages of an over cast day... An over cast day will have light everywhere evenly with no shadows... which is good in some situations, but everything is flat due to the light being even everywhere which is obvisouly not good in certain situations.

It really depends on what you want to shoot.

Jack

cloudy day options
 

some things to consider. put up a large dark tarp or hang a large dark cloth to create negative lighting. Adding a large white sheet to bounce the existing light does very little, but a large dark sheet will cut down on the light from one side which may provide some minor directionality to the light. You can also use a split neutral density filter that is only dark across the top. That only works if your horizon is fairly straight but it can be useful in some limited situations. use light clothing and deemphasize dark skins so as to limit the contrast ratio. I've never had to do a planned shoot on an overcast day so these are simply things that come to mind; perhaps somebody with experience can provide real world answers.

Tapes Play Back as Blank on GL-2
 

I haven't used my GL-2 for anything in a long time. This afternoon, I decided to start editing some scenes for a tape I'm giving to some friends as a gift. I'm notoriously bad about labelling taes, so I knew I'd have to see what was on each of the stack of tapes I had in order to find the footage I needed.

The first tape I put in had my girlfriend and I giving a Christmas gift to my mother. The next couple I put in were blank. I kept putting in tapes, and they kept playing back as blank. I didn't think I had that many blank tapes lying around, so I put in a tape I knew for sure had something on it. It played as blank too! (I did try winding through to see if I was just in the rong part of the tape.) In a fit of desparation, certain that through some bizarre accident all my tapes had been erased, I put the tape of the Christmas present back in the camcorder and played it. It was blank too this time!

I've tried any number of settings; then I finally took out the battery and the small battery that saves settings in order to completely reset the camera's settings. When I put it back together it had lost the date and time settings, sure enough - but the tapes all still played as blank. I am in tape mode, not card mode. I am in VCR mode. Lock is not on. When I play any tape, all I get is the blue screen with the turning wheels indicating that a tape is playing but there's no image on it.

As an experiment, I opened a brand new tape and recorded a couple of minutes of footage on it. When I played it back, it appeared blank too.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do? I need to try to get this working as fast as I can because I have about a week before I need to have those tapes completed. I don't have access to any other MiniDV equipment, so I can't test for sure whether the tapes work properly on other equipment. Does anyone have any idea what I can try to get my tapes back?

-Paul

Try cleaning the heads - it sounds clogged.

FYI: Selling my GL2 and all accessories
 

Semi-OT here, but thought it'd get more exposure:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=12758

Is Pal a good alternative?
 

In a previous post I explained that I live in Brazil. And I want to buy a new camcorder and it will be a GL-2 or a VX-2000, most probably a VX because of its low-light performance.
Since I live in Brazil (currently I live here in the US but I will have to go back to my country definitely in 11 months), and the camera I will buy will have USA warranty, and USA warranty will be only good while I am here in the US, I was think about the so-called gray (grey?) market.
What is exactly a gray market camera? According to what I have read and understood so far, it's related to camcorders that do not carry US warranty, they are probably made for Europe and carry an European warranty (or no warranty at all?).
Well, in my country the system is PAL, but not the same as in Europe, in Brazil it's PAL-M and the big difference between the Brazilian PAL and the European PAL is that in Brazil, since we have energy at 60HZ in the outlets, and not at 50Hz, the PAL system runs at 60Hz, with 60fps, interlaced - just like NTSC.
Also I have read that the PAL system has some advantages over the NTSC system, with sometimes better colors, etc, etc, (and minor disavantages) as discussed in some sites that I found in the Internet.

So, my question is:
- if the PAL since is, supposably, better than the NTSC
- if I don't care about the warranty because the camera, when I get to Brazil, will be Brazilian grey market anyway - Sony of Brazil does not offer warranty for Sony products bought outside Brazil and they don't sell the VX-2000 in Brazil, so any VX-2000 bought in Brazil will not carry any warranty - if a store says it has a warranty, it's a lie

Can I get a better camera (PAL) at a better price from buying in some cheap gray market store? When I say cheap, I don't mean cheap because the camera was stripped out of its original accessories, I want all the original accessories, but I mean without a US warranty.

Is it possible and easy to convert a footage from European PAL to Brazilian PAL without loosing quality by, for instance, capturing the original PAL footage to the computer, making the necessary edit - in original PAL - and then converting the final result to PAL-M? This is a crucial question because if I can't have my footage in PAL-M, the European PAL camera would be useless.

I guess that converting from PAL-European to PAL-M should not be a good idea because how come 50Hz will be turned into 60Hz? Weird,

Just out of curiosity, in Brazil all the VCRs - I am still in the VCR era, I don't have DV player and I won't have one any time soon - play both the PAL-M and the NTSC formats. But they don't play any other PAL system, only the PAL-M. The most recent television sets are also able to show PAL-M or NTSC video, although the air transmitted stations use only PAL-M, for this is the law.

If it's not a good idea to buy a PAL camera, is there any other disavantage of buy a camera in the grey market besides not having a US warranty?

Thanks.

NTSC cams are used in Brazil. The PAL system they use is 525 / 60 fields. So don't go with a PAL cam. I would just buy a USA model with its USA warranty. The USA prices are good (better than Canadian prices even). :)

Grey market cams usually do not have a warranty. However, Pana cams come with an international warranty. I don't think that Sony does.