Various GL1 / XM1 questions

Well, Chris could be right about it only being a rumor. But the dealer I talked to said the scramble was on for dealers to buy up the GL1 at a reduced cost to finish up Canon's inventory on that model. That being said, and despite the verification of events to prove it - it was enough for me to hold off buying the GL1. So, instead I just bought a XL1s from Zotz thanks to this excellent site. (I was considering going the JVC route). I will buy the improved GL1 when it arrives - i.e., whenever! ;-)

BTW - I love this camera!

[mdreyes23]

Hey, anybody know a good website for buying accessories specifically for the GL1? Can you pass it on. Thanks.

i've bought new canon xm1 and had a problem with red colour - so i changed the camcoder but the problem is the same:

filming red colour plain shapes - things get blurred and pixellated - i've put some examples here:

www.uho.iq.pl/canon/canon.html

is it a problem of all xm1s or just my lack of luck?

lukas

[Ken Tanaka]

Lukas,
Your photos certainly suggest a red bloom. While the GL1 leans towards a warmer (i.e. reddish) image it's not normally as heavy as your photos suggest. Other than making sure that you manually adjust white balance and experimenting a bit with menu and ae (try a notch lower) settings I'm at a loss. I've not seen such a marked bloom with my GL1 or XL1 (NTSC) cams.

BTW, the pixellation phenomenon you show appears to be due, at least in the photos, to your use of the JPEG compression algorithm for the photos. Try grabbing the pics in an uncompressed format such as TIF to get an accurate representation of the situation.

Thank You for your answer.

White balance doesn't help and it's not a matter of JPEG compression (just used it for internet, orginally I'm capturing to TIFs).

So I think it's a matter of a XM1 camcoder. I'm just curious if the same problem exits with other DV camcoders (in Canons it's especially visible with zoomed black text on red background - the edges are always blurred).

Lukas

[Chris Hurd]

I must agree with Ken that in all of the times I've shot with a GL1, I've never seen a problem as severe as your examples. Can you go into the camera menu, select C. PHASE (for color phase) and dial out some of that red. If you've already done this, then the camera probably needs adjustment at a Canon service center. XL1's and GL1's lean a bit towards the red but they're not supposed to do what your images show. Be sure to include your sample images if you send the camera in for service.

[Chris Hurd]

Yes, see my site sponsor ZGC at www.zgc.com -- hope this helps,

[mdreyes23]

The GL-1 doesn't specifically say this is a feature (frame-by-frame)...but to all you people that already own a GL-1...is it possible to do stop motion animation somehow?

[mdreyes23]

This thread is concerning the types of anamorphic widescreen adapters out there for the GL-1. I know there are at least 2 types out there right now.

My question has to do with the actual anamorphic widescreen ratio. Can somebody tell me what the actual widescreen ratio is for a certain adapter?

As you know 16x9 widescreen TV's are in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. But I'm guessing the anamorphic adapter will create either 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 widescreen video since that's the most common. Anybody know for sure? I couldn't tell from the sites that sell these adapters.

I'm hoping it's 1.85:1 just because I can use the full height and width on my widescreen TV. If it's 2.35:1 I still have small black bars on the top and bottom.

[Ken Tanaka]

By "stop motion animation" what exactly do you mean?

[mdreyes23]

It's also called Frame-by-Frame recording sometimes.

Basically, on cameras that support it you can press the record button and it only records a single frame. The recording turns on then off really quick.

This feature is used mainly for animating objects.

For example, you can animate a toy action figure. By capturing one frame of him standing. Then move an arm, capture another frame, move the arm some more, capture another frame, and so forth. When you play back the recorded footage...it's played back smoothly so it seems as though the action figure is moving his arm by himself.

[Ken Tanaka]

Aha, that's what I thought you meant. No, the GL1 can't do this. The XL1s has a pretty cool time-lapse shooting function. Perhaps that would work for your needs.

[Rob Lohman]

A solution to your problem might be lying inside your
computer! I recently did a test run and as long as my
XL1S is in a recording program (WITHOUT ACTUALLY
RECORDING!!) it will pass the signal down the firewire
cable. So I could record what the camera sees in
Adobe Premiere without the camera actually recording.

Now I have not checked my programs for the following
feature or any other programs. But I assume there must
be a capture program available that can also grab a
single frame from this stream instead of a whole movie.

This way you have it digital directly, without stressing
out your tape heads and you can do it without needing
to resort to expensive stop motion cameras! Since you
will probably not be moving the camera alot around your
set it might be possible to bring your computer (or perhaps
laptop as I have).

I just checked my Adobe Premiere 6.01 editing package
and it has a Stop Motion option under his File -> Capture
menu!!! What you think this will do?

Hope this helped you out

[mdreyes23]

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like software is the way to go. I'll try it out and see what I can do.

[mdreyes23]

cool, just read over some of the documentation on adobe premiere...and looks like it does exactly what we were talking about. Don't know how good it is but I'll find out soon.