Various GL1 / XM1 questions

[Carleton Lane]

forgot to search the forum first. Answered my question, sounds like it is pretty normal in Premiere while it is still on the comp...
sorry for posting this...
--Carleton

[Ken Tanaka]

It has nothing to do specifically with the GL1. Violent, fast camera movements, particularly at slow shutter speeds, will saw-up your image.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

I've had my GL1 for a few years, and recently bought the XL2. I was wondering if anyone is using the two together. here are my concerns:
1-16:9- I don't have a true 16:9 monitor,but i shot the same scene with both cameras, and played back through my Phillips dvd recorder. I used the 4:3 letterbiox setting, and the GL1 looked the same as the XL2 ( no verical stretching).
Is the 16:9 on the GL1 true 16:9, or do you need an adaptor? Did I miss something by not playing it back through a tru 16:9 monitor?
2-What wide angle adaptor is reccomended for the GL1?
3- How do I get 24p out of the GL1? ( only kidding....)
The GL1 is a great camera, and I'd like to keep using it.
Thanks
Bruce Yarock

[Don Palomaki]

Wide angle adapter, consider the Canon WD58 as a good value and 0.7x.

Century Precision Optics offers a couple excellent options, at a somewhat higher price. I've been using their 0.65x.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Thanks, Don. Do you know anything about the 16:9 issue on the GL1?
bruce Yarock

[Pete Bauer]

Yeah, I upgraded from a GL2 to the XL2 and intend on doing the same thing...using my GL2 as a B roll where I can get away with it. Although I love using the XL2 so much, maybe I'll have to sell the GL2 and spring for another XL2...but I digress.

Your questions span the whole range from shooting footage all the way through to DVD player and TV compatibility. So I'll try to answer in scattergun fashion and see if we can hit your root concern. Hopefully others will join in with their experience.

1. The GL2 doesn't have "true" widescreen -- it is stretched -- so I'm sure the GL1 is stretched as well. You'd either need an anamorphic adaptor or accept the lower quality of the stretched 16:9.

Supposedly, the quality of the GL2's widescreen was a significant improvement over the GL1's. My XL2's true 16:9 is MUCH crisper than the GL2's stretched version. So I think you'd have a tough time getting a consistent look when you mix stretched GL1 and true XL2 footage. Just "supposing" here since I've never used the GL1.

As far as technically being able to mix the footage...I think the answer lies within your NLE rather than in the cameras' capabilities. You can import either camera's footage into a 16:9 project intended for display on anamorphic-capable TVs (eg HD widescreen TVs), or to a 4:3 timeline for regular ol' TVs. Either way, crop or letterbox as required/desired.

A timeline transcoded within your DVD authoring application and burned to the DVD will either be flagged 4:3 or 16:9, so if your DVD is made from just one Encore timeline (for example), you can't have the DVD player switch between 4:3 and 16:9 displays "on the fly." However, if you have more than timeline, each one (usually being made to appear as a menu choice on-screen) will be interpreted by the DVD player based on its flag. Thus, you can mix 4:3 and 16:9 on the same disc. You see this all the time on commercial DVDs; the disc will have both versions, narrow and wide. Or, it is a widescreen movie but the additional features will be 4:3.

2: The WD58 is a superb 0.7 adaptor that I used a lot on my GL2, but of course, it is not an anamorphic adaptor; its only advantage is to widen your field of view. I found that using it on the GL2 gave me about the same 16:9 width of view as the camera would give in 4:3 without the adaptor on it (that result makes sense mathematically). So it won't solve your anamorphic issues, but will sure let you get wider shots.

3. I've never tried it myself...but if you shoot 60i, it can be pulled down to 24p in software, maybe even with "acceptable" results if you were careful to shoot with a slower shutter speed, etc, etc. No kidding! ;-)

I hope somewhere in there I actually hit on your concerns.

Happy Holidays!

[Alex Beaupre]

Pete, i was wondering, you talked about shooting in 60i and somehow being able to covert it to 24p. what type of software would do this? just curious. thanks for your time.

alex b

[Tom Buckler]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and just recently purchased a Canon Gl1. I have several questions that I was unable to solve by searching previous posts and the Net. If you could answer my questions yourself or point me to a certain page I would really appreciate it.

1. I've read that the audio on the GL1 isn't that great. What's a good directional mic (I don't want any camera noise) for under or around $100?

2. What are some good inexpensive mics of any type for the GL1?

3. Any suggestions on a 3-4 track mixer board for on site mixing?

4. I have an iRiver IHP-120 20gb Mp3 player which features a 1/8" regular mic input and optical input for a microphone. Would this be of good use for an external audio recorder? Any other audio recorder suggestions?

5. I've built a microphone boom w/ vibration dampener out of an extendible golf ball retriever and rubber bands, would the long length of a microphone cable create unwanted static noise?

6. Any advise on an inexpensive lighting kit? Or perhaps info on building a homemade rig?

7. Any other essential Gl1 accesories a beginner would need?

I appreciate any help you could provide. If these questions have been answered before I apologize and I ask you to please direct me to where I can find them. Thanks a lot!

[Rob Lohman]

Hello Tom, welcome aboard DVInfo.net!

I'll try to answer some of your questions:

1. why not see how you like it first? Then decide if it is good or not. At that time you can see what you can do to change it (maybe it is something else than the microphone for example)

2. isn't this the same question as 1?

3. can't help you there

4. No, since it compresses to MP3. Audio in DV is *UNCOMPRESSED*! Stick to that

5. not if it is XLR with a phantom powered mic

6. can't help you there

7. can't help you there either

Most of these questions have indeed been answered a lot of
times already on this board. So please browse around and do
a search. Most questions are related to your GL1, but the main
question is something else.

So you might want to put your mic quest into our Now Hear This
(audio) forum. The lighting question (which has been asked a lot,
so please look around and search the following forum) is better
placed in the Photon Management (lighting) forum for example.

Otherwise a lot of people will not see your questions.

Again please take your time to browse and search the forums, we
248,394 posts in 35,350 threads, so you can bet your answers
have been asked and answered before!

Thank you.

[Zack Birlew]

Hey Tom, welcome to the club. I'm currently bound to a GL1 as well. Great camera really, but it does have its limits. Ok, here goes:

1. I've purchased a $60 shotgun/regular/do everything microphone from Best Buy, but have yet to test it =P. Looks promising though. Other than that, most recommend the Sennheiser (spelling?) MKe66 XLR microphone for it's great sound quality, though I'm not 100% sure if it's stereo or not, could be mono, but that shouldn't be much of a problem for your NLE to fix. The best XLR adapter is the one made specifically for the GL1 (though it works on other smaller camcorders too) by Beachtek.

2. As far as inexpensive mic's go, I'd have to go with the one I bought from Best Buy, it plugs into the mic connector on the GL1, thus saving you $150-200 or so for the Beachtek adapter, but I bet it costs on the sound quality =P.

3. Edirol makes some good mixers for audio, though they are expensive themselves. Beachtek also makes a camera-mountable audio monitor that should prove useful as well.

4. Yeah.... forget this idea, you're just asking for trouble. Also, don't go the mini disc route some here will recommend. Rely on the microphones you buy for your camera and your boom guy.

5. I haven't used a boom mic on a boom pole yet, so I have no idea how that goes first hand. But from the pictures I've seen, you can tape the front section of the XLR cable to the pole and leave the rest to dangle, it doesn't look like it would cause much of a problem anyway, a shotgun microphone is very directional and should pick up noise from where it's pointed, not behind it.

6. Ah yes, lighting. Your best friends are Home Depot and Lowes. They have a wide selection of dimmable work lights that do just fine for video use. Buy what you need. Prices for various lights usually range from $20-100.

7. Besides audio and lighting, you'll need some basic filters. You'll need 58mm Polarizer, UV, and Diffuser filters. Most important is the UV filter, you should screw this onto your camera and never take it off, it protects the lense from scratches and dust. Other than that, there's lense adapters you can get from various manufacturers. I've got a wide angle and a telephoto lense. I mostly use the wide angle lense so I can fit more into the frame. I rarely use the telephoto. Besides that you should be good to go.

If you need places to buy this stuff, I recommend www.adorama.com and, of course, B&H photo at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home . There you have it, enjoy!

[Dan Heaton]

Hello,

I have used both a Gl1 and Gl2 for shooting some video and just recently noticed that the Gl1 footage when viewed on a computer (FCP) has 2 skinny vertical black lines on both the right and left side while the Gl2 does not.

I'm a bit worried about this as when I cut from Gl2 shots to Gl1 shots the skinny lines are noticable. Is there any way to correct this, and why the differences?

Thanks,
-Dan

[Don Palomaki]

The vertical lines are on the edge, and lost in the overscan area on a normal TV screen.

If this is intended for viewing on a computer screen or other system with with no overscan, for consistency you could mask the edges of the GL2 image.

[Trey Perrone]

anyone know where to get parts for GL1? specifically i ned the circuit board behind the LCD that the backlight is attached to?

[Ken Tanaka]

You'll have to send the camera to Canon Service. Canon does not offer parts to consumers.

[Trey Perrone]

actually it does...

i ordered a new LCD circuit board for $64 shipped from the NJ canon center