View Full Version : what is up with this anti-GL2 trend?


Mike Barber
October 7th, 2006, 01:28 AM
I was going to be part of this (volunteer) film crew for a shoot this weekend, however was pretty much uninvited due to my camera (which I told the director I had at the very beginning). From the email to the "crew":

"I am just double checking on the kind of cameras you have. My editor wants me to use DVX 100's as much as possible. I know that there was at least one Canon GL2 out there and I have crossed it off the list, unfortunately. I guess the ultimate message is that if you have a GL, I probably shouldn't use you."

A few months ago I responded to an ad desperately seeking videographers for their wedding videography company... as long as you didn't have a GL2.

It's like the DVX100 is the be-all/end-all in the prosumer range and the GL2 is some kind of parriah... at least, that's the attitude i have been seeing, and I know I'm not the only one. In fact, the director (who wrote the email above) told me in a previous email:

"I love the GL2 but everyone seems to be going crazy for the Panasonic DVX 100"

WTF? Am I (are we) crazy? Do they know something we don't? Is there any science to prove or disprove the GL2 nay-sayers? My partner and I just bought this camera a few months ago... we thought we made the right choice...

Don Palomaki
October 7th, 2006, 04:02 AM
Probably its 24P/30P imaging capability, and of course the love/hate relationships many artistic types have with equipment over matters of personal preference/taste rather than technology.

See http://www.adamwilt.com/24p/
for a review of the DVX-100.

And whether or not you made the right choice depends on what you intend to do with the camcorder. It appears you made the wrong choice if joining a DVX-100s only crew is on yor agenda, but for many other purposes you made an excellent choice.

David Ennis
October 7th, 2006, 10:44 AM
Since the preference is coming from the editor, I think it's probably a color matching concern. The GL2 does give slightly warmer footage, with a noticeably pink tinge to complexions. When I shoot with the GL2, a VX2100 and a Panny GS200, the VX and the Panny are closer to each other and the GL2 is the oddball. Hands down, the GL2 gives the superior image at two-shot and closer distances, but I do have to correct for the skin tones in order to cut smoothly between the other cams. Apparently this editor wants to avoid that by screening cams. Understandable.