From Canon's "Camera Museum": http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/tech/report/200209/200209.html

Search around the museum and you will find great info on other Canon products too. Enjoy :)

Thanks, Ming... I'm glad you found this; it's an excellent link. Much appreciated,

I went on a search for the XL1 info but could only find this:

" Canon's flagship digital video (DV) camcorder, the XL1, was adaopted as the official DV camcorder of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and traveled to outer space on board the space shuttle allowing users to record a wide variety of environments, from bird watching and celestial observation to auto racing, commercial CATV program production and FBI surveillance missions. "

To see the full design story click here (http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/design/design_room/f_index.html) and choose the XL1.

The banner for the space mission can be seen here (http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/history/canon_story/1997/img/sts-93_l.jpg), and
the news article about it here (http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/history/canon_story/1997/img/article_l.jpg). What a story!

I see that that GL2 is black. I wonder why only the Japanese Domestic GL2 is black---here and in PAL land it's greyish/silver. This is probably off topic, but I would almost bet that it would be even a better seller with a color change.

Thanks for the link---a very interesting read.

I would go for the black body! I use My GL2 for wildlife shots outdoors and I have made a camo cover for my cam. The silver is way to bright for the outdoors use. And I dont want to use the tape that you can buy that is camo. I vote for black!