Quick question - today I was filming a kids camp and I kept putting the camera on standby, and I was wondering whether this is a good or a bad thing. I kept having to run around, so I would shoot for maybe a minute, sometimes less, and then switch it back to standby, and I was wondering if that was bad for the camera. Should I just leave it on for a few minutes rather than constantly switching back-and-forth, back-and-forth? Or does this not make a difference? Thanks!

I don't have an answer, but I wanted to say that I feel quite a bit of guilt when I flip back and forth between standby and lock. It seems like common sense would indicate that it's a bad thing, as it causes a few mechanical things to happen that wouldn't otherwise. The ND filter retracts, the motors stop and hum.

But then again, maybe it's built for it. I'm curious, too. You are not alone.

Generally speaking, it's a "good thing". It conserves your battery power while preserving your current settings. But I wouldn't become too obsessive about leaving the camera powered-up idle for a few minutes. The GL2 will actually conserve its own power but shutting down the tape transport/recorder subsystem after a predetermined (but user-controllable) period of idle time.

Sounds good to me, Ken. That is one thing I noticed, after spending the whole day filming - I still had half of my BP-945 battery left at the end of the day, and I still have extras in my case. I think tomorrow I'll spend more time in idle mode rather than continually switching to standby.

'Just to throw another option out there -- you can set the Custom Key to VCR Stop. Then you can force the transport to power down if you know you won't be recording for awhile, but leave the camera itself operational. This is really handy while setting up complex shots (think greenscreen).

Also, the camera recovers from this mode faster than standby since it only has to start up the transport, rather than reinitializing all of the electronics. The downside is that you're still putting some wear and tear on the tape mechanics.

Another take on this issue: I've noticed that when I get the "Dirty Head" message, it happens most often after leaving my GL2 on pause for an extended periods of time, i.e. shoot 20 seconds, pause 2-3 minutes, shoot 10 seconds, pause, etc.

So, going from standby (pause) to lock may prevent getting the dirty head message.

It seems a choice between the "devil and the deep blue sea" as to whether to go to lock between shots or just pause.
As a ex tv and video engineer, both methods have their pro's and cons.
Leave it in pause and the tape stays laced up whirling around the same piece of oxide and gradually clogging up the heads and possibly wearing down the oxide layer. That is why cams and vids have a maximum time that the situation is allowed to persist before it goes into de-lace or shut down (depending on the option selected). I don't think there is anything wrong in this method providing it is used sparingly between shots (as one would do to change shooting position), but I would not recommend it for time nearing the cams automatic shutdown.
The other aspect of this is to put it in lock for non useage of several minutes. The tape will de-lace - some may say what about mechanical wear? Yes there will be some, but again the mechanics are being used and keeping them moving must be a good thing!

Mel.