Canon GL 2

The Canon GL2 has produced a love/hate relationship. There are lots of things to love: 20x optical zoom, picture quality, manual controls and light weight. But what is to hate makes me hesitate to recommend this unit and that is its notorious "Remove Cassette" error message.

Do a Google search on "Remove Cassette GL2" and you will see no shortage of complaints and bitterness directed at Canon for this problem, which they have never acknowledged. This problem shows up suddenly and without warning. When you go to rewind a cassette, it will spin at slow speed then jump to high speed. When it kicks into high speed, it will stop almost immediately and flash "Remove Cassette" in red. You then have to remove the cassette. You can try inserting it again and rewinding, but more often than not, it will not get you far.

No amount of cleaning will work. It happened to me within 5 months of light usage. It can happen earlier or later but the solution is always the same: send it back to Canon and go without it for 3 weeks. Try that if you shoot for a living.

You would think that Canon would own up to this problem and give some kind of extended warranty on this fix, but no. This leaves behind a trail of disgusted and angry owners. What mitigated my situation was that I started using Focus Enhancements' FireStore FS-4 video hard drive, so I didn't have to deal with tape. Good riddance. Still, I was very unhappy with this glaring defect.

If it weren't for this near-fatal flaw, I would have no problem recommending it. The 20x optical zoom is unmatched by other units in its class. The picture quality is superb - with its proprietary "Frame" mode, it comes close to mimicking the Holy Grail of the film look.

While not progressive and certainly no substitute for it, the Frame mode is an honest attempt at coming close to it, and it does make a positive difference.

This unit is light and compact enough for me to stuff it into my daypack and carry it on the plane as carry-on with no problems. At a big event, I eyed a professional's camera, wishing I could try it out. In the same instant, he was looking at the GL2, saying, "You don't have to carry this around all day." Point well-taken. You're not going to be scraping the knuckles of one hand after an all-day shoot with the GL2.

The other problem with the GL2 is its low-light sensitivity. It's not as good as several others in its class. This means you wind up increasing the gain (and hence the graininess) of the footage.

I have used the GL2 for weddings, parties, recitals, performances and family vacations. It gives me the chance to produce great video.

So if you decide to buy one, especially on eBay, be sure to ask the seller if it has the "Remove Cassette" error message problem. My second GL2 has not had the problem yet. So it is a mixed bag.

I have been using the GL series for about 7 years now and have loved using them. A very nice camera for a decent price. Wish you could attach new lenses...but that is the XL2's domain. The picture is excellent with no skew on the color spectrum (IMO). The optical image stabilization is incredible and makes it possible to have very long zooms without severe shake. I would suggest this camera to anyone getting into prosumer film.

I was looking for a good "prosumer" model camera with which to do some of the vodeo production my business needs. I have worked with some really great expensive cameras but I wanted one that has a really different feel... rather "look" when it comes to the final product. I did my research and came up with the Canon GL-2. I found a used one on eBay and boy was I pleasantly surprised.

THe picture clarity is terrific (it's a 3ccd camera after all) and I have decided to use it exclusively to produce two of the television shows my company is working on. The "feel" of the picture really drags you into the screen for the "Outdoors" show and then for the "live music" show... WOW... It's almost like the old commercial... "Is it LIVE or is it Memorex" It really feels like you are actually there.

I am probably going to use the GL-2 to film the Miss Mississippi's Outstanding Teen Pageant in June. Needless to say, I am extremely satisfied with it's performance.

Here's the breakdown:

THE GOOD
Picture Clarity, Ease of Use, INTERCHANGEABLE LENSES, Audio Clarity both with the On-Board Mic or with plug-ins (I usually use the XLR adapter and go with a handheld or my wireless mics)

THE BAD
It's not a "shoulder mount" camera (although there is a bracket available), the LCD panel is not easy to see when using it in bright sunlight, the eyecups that come with the camera are poor quality!, you have to move the "eyecup viewfinder" in order to change the battery/hook up the adapter, the adapter/charger does not have a switch to go back & forth from charging batteries to powering the camera so you actually have to plug the camera cord in and out of the adapter.

THE UGLY
1) Shoulder brackets are not easy to find.
2) Every eyecup that I have bought for this camera is poor quality as well!

There are some drawbacks but overall this is one smokin camera. It's listed almost everywhere as a "consumer model" camcorder but the quality is definitely on a professional level.

Be careful and buy the warranty. Camera shots very red in auto. Has a tendency to drop pixels over time (expensive repair) and the auto gain stops working after about 1.5 years of regular use. (very expensive repair) This has happen to the 5 we've owned and we've bought them from different places. We went to sony and panasonic, canon is just to unreliable.