Repair or replace GL2?

Taky Cheung · August 25th, 2009, 08:57 PM

I'm glad it's all healthy discussion. If working in SD suits your need and there is no reason to upgrade, then don't. =) OP was asking for suggestion, if I were him, I will fix the GL2 and sell it on ebay. Then at the same time, give myself an excuse to start tapping in the HD world. There is a little bit of learning curve and computer software/hardware upgrade. Who knows someday you get a paid gig requiring HD but you will need a lot of time to get yourself familiar with everything new under pressure.

I went back to an old project and grab some still frames from Premiere. It is from the same wedding on the same day in the same location. One from GL2, one from HV20. I simply export the frame into TIF then save as PNG in Photoshop. It is 720x480 with 1:1 pixel aspect ratio. You be the judge

http://lacolorshop.com/blog/images/hollyDavidGL2.png

http://lacolorshop.com/blog/images/hollyDavidHV20.png

Even if you only need to export to SD, shooting in HD, you can always downconvert to SD in post. But not the way around. Also, downsizing from HD to SD in NLE yields better result than just shooting in SD.

I also created a post in my blog http://lacolorshop.com/blog/view.asp?id=44 =)

Don Palomaki · August 26th, 2009, 04:41 AM

Interesting shots. Was the lighting that different, or is it the camcorder/settings?

The underlying issue was with respect to use inside, so a controlled poor light comparison would be interesting. Anything in the HV30 threads?

Jason Robinson · August 26th, 2009, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Palomaki

Interesting shots. Was the lighting that different, or is it the camcorder/settings?

The underlying issue was with respect to use inside, so a controlled poor light comparison would be interesting. Anything in the HV30 threads?

Exactly what I was thinking. The Panasonic GS320 I have as my 3rd cam does brilliantly in bright outdoor light (in fact, better than the GL2 because the GS320 is a native 16x9 camera!) but it is nearly useless indoors. Gotta love those tiny 1/6" CCD cams.

So I would be very interested in knowing about the low light specifically as it compares to the GL2 (because I have a pretty good idea about how the GL2 performs).

It is getting so that I might even consider taking out a business loan so I can skip to a ex1 (because those beautiful 1/2" CMOS chips seem to do incredibly well in low light. I might just stay SD for the wedding delivery since I primarily shoot the receptions with one cam + emergency cutaway. That means the EX1 with its great low light could capture all the main events. Of course I'm sure the footage differences between EX1 and GL2 would be very stark and hard to match in post.....

Taky Cheung · August 27th, 2009, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Palomaki

Interesting shots. Was the lighting that different, or is it the camcorder/settings?

The underlying issue was with respect to use inside, so a controlled poor light comparison would be interesting. Anything in the HV30 threads?

It's outdoor shot. There is no artificial lighting. Both cameras were on auto mode no special settings.

I don't have GL2 anymore and I don't have anything to compare indoor. I have footage to show indoor with XH-A1 and HV30 (sorry it's a boring corporate event video)

LA Color - Wedding Photography and Videography serving Great Los Angeles Areas

All closeup+medium shots are XH-A1. All wide shots on stage and steadicam shots are HV30. Indoor in a dim Bellagio hotel ballroom.

August 26th, 2009, 04:41 AM	#17
Don Palomaki Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,488	Interesting shots. Was the lighting that different, or is it the camcorder/settings? The underlying issue was with respect to use inside, so a controlled poor light comparison would be interesting. Anything in the HV30 threads? __________________ dpalomaki@dspalomaki.com

August 25th, 2009, 08:57 PM	#16
Taky Cheung Inner Circle Join Date: May 2007 Location: Los Angeles, USA Posts: 2,114	I'm glad it's all healthy discussion. If working in SD suits your need and there is no reason to upgrade, then don't. =) OP was asking for suggestion, if I were him, I will fix the GL2 and sell it on ebay. Then at the same time, give myself an excuse to start tapping in the HD world. There is a little bit of learning curve and computer software/hardware upgrade. Who knows someday you get a paid gig requiring HD but you will need a lot of time to get yourself familiar with everything new under pressure. I went back to an old project and grab some still frames from Premiere. It is from the same wedding on the same day in the same location. One from GL2, one from HV20. I simply export the frame into TIF then save as PNG in Photoshop. It is 720x480 with 1:1 pixel aspect ratio. You be the judge http://lacolorshop.com/blog/images/hollyDavidGL2.png http://lacolorshop.com/blog/images/hollyDavidHV20.png Even if you only need to export to SD, shooting in HD, you can always downconvert to SD in post. But not the way around. Also, downsizing from HD to SD in NLE yields better result than just shooting in SD. I also created a post in my blog http://lacolorshop.com/blog/view.asp?id=44 =)