GL2 Lux Upgrade

[Bob Harotunian]

At the risk of having this post tossed, I'll take a chance and pose this question anyway. Can anyone offer an educated guess as to Canon's strategy with regard to the GL2? It seems that many years have passed with the GLx series not having a serious chip upgrade. I for one would love to stay with the GL for many reasons. But my patience is wearing thin since there are business standards and competition to meet. Sorry if I violated any forum rules, just need some hope I guess.
Bob

[Ken Tanaka]

There's no problem with this question, Bob!

The GL2 is approaching its second birthday. While the CCD size remained at 1/4" (versus the GL1) Canon did boost its resolution. They also added many competitive features, such as full manual audio control, to make the GL2 more competitive.

I've heard no definitive rumors of an imminent update the the GL2 this year. Canon is extremely tight-lipped. Those who know, can't say. Those who say, don't know. When a "GL3" does arrive, however, i wouldn't expect a CCD size change. Nor would I expect Canon to begin playing the "lux" game aggressively. As the GL2 already has one of the best lenses in its class I wouldn't expect change there, either. Rather, I would expect other enhancements such as a larger LCD, perhaps a better viewfinder, better manual control of the lens and iris. It's possible that they'll also add some additional in-camera image tweaking facility. But I suspect that the "GL3" will remain an "advanced consumer" camera in terms of price and features, a segment in which it has been extremely successful since its introduction.

The "XL2" which will probably be introduced later this year will likely shine a light on the types of updates we'll see in the "GL3".

[Bob Harotunian]

Thanks Ken. But, I hope there's more than just tweaking. When you consider what Panasonic and Sony have rolled out recently, I think Canon has to get serious and lose that "prosumer" twilight zone for the GL. They have more than enough consumer products and in my opinion Canon needs an answer to the VX2100 and PD170 using the GL2 type handheld chassis. For my type of work, the XL1s is just too big and attracts attention. The additional price tag for a truly upgraded GL3 wouldn't bother me either.
Bob

[Harry Doyle]

in a nutshell, canon wants to maximize the sales of both its gl and xl series cameras. the gl2 offers a lot of features not found in cometetors' offerings, and at a lower cost.

bigger chips and better low light performance would make the gl3 my dream camera, and i could see that swaying people from the vx. however canon has to be careful not to sacrifice too much of its xl market. i think canon took a risk with the gl2, and you can read a lot of threads right here about how close the gl2's picture gets to the xl1s in certain conditions.

canon knows that the manual audio, 30p, flourite lens, 20x zoom, lower price, etc make the gl series a condender to sony's vx series, as well as other companies' cameras on the market. the gl2 really is an impressive piece of work!

canon is going to take their enormous amount of market data, analyse past trends, and see what features in the gl3/xl2 are going to maximixe their overall profit from sales of both cameras, while retaining a distinct market for each. at the same time they will try and give the market a reason to choose them over their competitors.

if canon doesn't upgrade the ccd's in the gl3, they will turn away potential customers. canon knows this and they will make the decision that is going to benefit them in the bigger picture i think.

i have no idea what happens, but the above is my best completely uneducated and speculative guess. there are a lot of posts in this forum about what paths canon is likely to take and not take. interesting reading, that's for sure.

that said, i think that bigger ccd's would have me immediately buying a gl3 - i'm already really happy with my gl2, but excellent low light would really be icing on the cake for me.


harry

[Don Palomaki]

Bigger CCD means bigger glass for the same zoom ratio and lens speed. Canon kept the 1/4" while many makers are going smaller, to 1/4.7" and 1/6"

24p is not yet mainstream camcorder market, and HD is still a somewhat limited market as well - not to say it will not be in the future.

Camcorders are brought to market because the maker plans to sell a lot of them, or is rich enough to do a market test.

FWIW, past higher end Canon camcorder have been good for two versions; e.g., L1/L2 and A1/A2. Will the GL3 and XL2 really be something else?