I purchased a Canon GL-2 camera.

I read somewhere about running a tape through the camera first to "format" it.

Is this true?

Or do I just drop the tape in and let it rip?

Other than a full fast forward and rewind, you should not need to do anything else (most people probably don't even do this --- and I don't do it in the camera). Some people like to "stripe" their tapes so that the timecode doesn't break. It is easier just to record a few extra seconds when recording a scene --- then start your next scene somewhere in those few throw-away seconds and the timecode doesn't break. Also, I would waste the first 30 seconds or so at the ends of the tape as these are sometimes spots for dropouts.

John

If you're going to waste the first 30 seconds, you might as well shoot room tone or ambient noise on location. Or put color bars if you may not be working with a digital workflow (with DV that's unlikely).

I strongly recommend running a head cleaning cassette through any new camera for about five seconds before loading that first tape.