Canon GL2 -- The $3,000 MiniDV Camcorder from 2003!
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- Video technology has come a long way in the last few decades. Let's spend some time checking out a prosumer Canon MiniDV camcorder -- is it still usable today?
If you're interested in more retro video technology content, these two channels are worth checking out:
video99.co.uk, / video99couk
Cathode Ray Dude, / cathoderaydude
Sources:
Popular Mechanics, November 2002.
Maximum PC, August 2004.
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Intro music by BoxCat Games (www.box-cat.com). 
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The GL2 was (and still is) a favorite of skateboarders, because its handle is perfect for getting low-angle shots of their tricks. And HDV -- the high-definition version of MiniDV tape -- also saw widespread use in the prosumer and semi-professional market.
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I was thinking you would like this video before I browsed the comment section... Well, here you are!
We used the Canon XM series for handball games and it works very well. Actual better than most actual cameras (following the ball etc.)
Most of us prefer the Sony VX-1000 , but there are a lot of people who like the GL2
But dont forget the king of sk8te vids the one and only panasonic dvx100A
Man, I remember this being all the rage back in the day.
This is the camera I bought after getting a videography degree, thinking I would need it for gig work. Wound up getting an actual job with better equipment. Still, this and the XL1 are nostalgic as heck for me.
I seriously lusted after this camera as a middle school video nerd. I would spend nights glued to eBay looking for one! Got a MiniDV Sony Handycam instead, then a MiniDV Panasonic 3CCD model, and then finally a Canon HV20 in high school. I have a ton of old MiniDV tapes!
I've been trying to get my hands on a cheap MiniDV and Digital8 cam to capture all my old stuff but they are going for a lot of money here in Aus.
The problem is everybody is looking for legacy camcorders to convert their old tapes, and the original cameras are just failing fast. Good luck to you!
MiniDV can be pretty cheap here in NZ, but Digital8 can definitely be expensive - particularly the models that can play back Video8 & Hi8, as they can generally stream the video to digital over firewire.
A lot of them aren't in great shape though, it often seems to be issues with rollers & the tape ejection/loading mechanism.
Well I got one, a little Canon, but trying to get a FireWire capture is almost impossible. I've tried multiple cards and all the driver solutions for PC. I was amazed he got it to work on a Mac. Do you have a MAC book Pro? Maybe we can arrange to get out stuff archived?
@@CamboFord you might be better off looking for a firewire recorder, I believe sony sold those back in the day for direct capture on pro gear. Ive seen them used on those skater cams.
Make sure you don't get the NTSC version.
Pal version looked slightly better because of the extra resolution.
My friend still uses one to film skateboarding, along with the Sony VX-1000
I was binge watching Cathode Ray Dude's camcorder videos not too long ago and now you come out with one! Love old camcorders!
Your videos are one of my overall favorite in RUclips. Thanks for all of this gold!
9:34 What you refer to as "kind of a picture mode" is actually to switch between interlaced video (green rectangle) and non-interlaced "progressive scan" ("P") as Canon called it. I bought
this camcorder's predecessor, the GL1, in 2000 and used it for over ten years, until the heads wore out. I still have it. Thanks for a great review and I am now a subscriber to your channel!
23:08 One thing I would like to add is with the FireWire to Thunderbolt adapter, you can ONLY import videos from MiniDV and not record to them. You can only record to tape with the original FireWire ports for some reason.
Also WinDV does a slightly better job importing footage without stuttering (with Boot Camp that is).
I prefer DVgrab on Linux, personally, because it automates the whole thing. One command and it rewinds, plays it all, and creates a file for each clip, with a timestamp in the name. Makes it easier to import a lot at once.
Colin, you make excellent content. I like your format and presentation 👍
When I was in college we used a similar Sony miniDV camcorder for film class and we used to digitize the tape via Mac computer, those cameras have really good optical zoom and lens!
It's amazing to me that this camcorder is from this side of 2000, yet looks so ancient. I was a teenager about to graduate high school when this came out, and I can't get my mind around how much tech has developed since then.
So happy to be living during this time.
7:56 you CAN record to flash memory. direct-to-edit recorders for dv is a thing, for example the sony mrc-1k and the datavideo dn-60 which takes cf cards or the focus enhancements fs-4 which has an internal 40GB hdd
sidenote: lanc is actually not used for editing most of the time. usually its used for zoom, rec start/end, focus, etc. there are modern professional camcorders that still use lanc and tripod remotes are still being made
Yeah there are flash recorders that save anything that comes out of the 4pin DV port of the camera. So you can basically record DV AVI files even on cameras who's DV drive is not functional anymore or to do redundancy recording to tape AND to files.
question about those, would those separate the videos into different files when you start and stop recording? Also would you be recording into those live or in post?
Such a great overview! I was also able to recently get a like new GL2 in the same Tamrac bag. 😎
This was the camera I started my business with well the UK version called the XM2
I loved it. It was £1500 in 2006 and I used it as my main camera for a year until I got a Sony FX1 and HDV arrived.
Congratulations on getting one of your mini-documentaries on VHS. I'm sure it looks amazing and it'll be a really unique experience for viewers to be able to watch your content on such a format.
Ah, the GL2, I got my start in video production with this thing back in the early 2000’s. MiniDV was both the coolest and frustrating format on earth. Nothing worse that those “drop outs” that would ruin my editing mojo.
I've worked with so much MiniDV tape and Canon cameras over the years, this was a great breakdown! Love seeing the design similarities between all the different generations of Canon cameras, and how they all seem to use the same exact battery. I think that's a big reason for why I keep buying them, I know all the functions and buttons will be in a familiar spot and my batteries are forward compatible.
Thanks for making this video, it brought back a lot of memories from the mid 00s. I have a bag full of home videos recorded onto MiniDV, about half which needs to be archived onto DVD and digitised. Still have my Sony DCR-HC40E from 2004 too. I even still have an Early 2008 iMac with both FW400 & FW800 for easy archival and editing, although the C2D processor is showing its age when doing the latter. I think you might have given me the kick up the arse to finish the job!
I had one back in the day along with a Sony vx1000 and vx2000. Great camera. Coming from Hi8 and MiniVHS, the minidv format was amazing for transferring to a PC to edit.
You're spot on with the lcd being unusable in daylight. I worked for a company that used these for sports in the early days of streaming. Clean enough for 360p streams but we were blind in the field.
Congrats on the announcement!
a legend in the amateur film making scene. i got to use one of these along with some more advanced models in high school film class. i still love the look of the video it takes
Loved using this camera in college. Filmed so many projects with this model until my school switched mainly to Panasonic DVX100 models.
Excellent video!
One of the coolest features was “Movie Mode: Frame” in the menu that would sample the image at 29.97 frames/sec (instead of 59.94 fields/sec like most cameras at the time), essentially giving you true 30p in your timeline once you’ve captured-which reduced the super-smooth motion and got rid of jagged edges from interlacing).
The LANC port was commonly used for a remote that can start/stop recording and zoom in/out, etc. during filming.
Almost all camcorder batteries go in and down to mount, otherwise they would be always pulling down on the mount (gravity) and potentially fall out too easily.
“Log and Capture” was a capture method still common at the time too-especially because of disk space. A 40GB harddrive was about $200 and each MiniDV tape held around 11GB of DV25 video.
Were there MiniDV compatible hard drives (like a microdrive in a cassette shape housing) or would you hook it to a laptop through FireWire?
@@startedtech That wouldn't work, because the tape drive is still helical scan - meaning the tape must be threaded around a spinning drum with multiple heads. You try figuring out how to send that signal to a hard drive.
There were, however, external recorders that connected over the Firewire port - sort of the predecessor of modern external recorders for high end SLRs and mirrorless cams.
The GL2’s Frame Mode has a decent film-like look in that it’s not smooth like videotape but it always gave me tons of jaggies
@@whahappa the video is indeed still interlaced. It's more like interpolated film than real film (think of a VHS tape with a movie on it)
Aren't those jagged edges only present with shitty half refresh rate deinterlacing?
11:35 This is truly amazing. A portable television studio.
No wonder your president is an actor.
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 Great Scott ! Someone understood that reference.
@@magoid ;) I always appreciate a good Back to the Future quote.
this camera is a dream i would absolutely love this thing, it gets better the more i learn about it. The aesthetic is the fine balance between everything ive looked for in camcorders. These seem to be reletively inexpensive for a second hand compared to its original price so i'll have to consider picking one up to play around with. Awesome review :)
This was my first camera I bought while in film school a while back. Was a nice little camcorder to learn from.
Used something similar during my days in the high school tv station. Brings back a lot of memories.
Excellent video!
Had to click when I saw - I own one of these and use it pretty often. The look of early digital video is unmatched, it's like all the aesthetic joy of analog video plus the modern conveniences of it being digital in nature. And the simple idea of digital video stored on tape has always fascinated me. This is still an awesome camcorder.
At least some of the early digital video cameras used the same sensors as preceding/simultaneously released analog cameras. This seems to be why Digital8 cameras (that have it enabled) can convert analog video from either an input socket or Video8 & Hi8 tapes - apparently they just use the same AD convertor as is used for the sensor.
That being said, some old analog video cameras actually seem to have good sensors/lenses. I can remember an early VHS-C camera I had gave a vastly better picture when feeding direct to a TV, compared to the inevitably degraded recorded image. If I can get one of my old ones working, I'd like to try using a phone with a USB capture device, to see how well it comes out.
This was a great camera at the time - still have ours in storage. 10:46 - LANC was mainly used for a tripod handle control. There were controls that you could clamp to the tripod handle and run a wire to the camera. Would allow you to start/stop recording and zoom without taking your hand off the tripod handle. I'm still using the same controller we had back then with a newer Canon XF300. It also has a variable speed knob that lets you change the speed of the zoom rocker. We also had some long LANC extension cables so we could put the camera on a 20' jib and control it while up in the air.
That dongle setup is insane, lol. Awesome video!
Back in the day my friend's dad had a GL-1 we used to make snowboard videos with - it was a pretty big deal. I remember spending endless hours trying to get the frickin thing to import and editing terrible videos. Now I have an Canon R6, and coming from the camcorder days; I'm constantly blown away every time I use it.
I have 4 Canon hv 40 mini DV cameras. The video is awwesome and veryy easy to use and transfer. You sure got a heck of a deal on the camera.
Great video thanks. One important feature of the Mini dv and hi8 camcorders is they used ccd chips which means they all had a global shutter! No rolling shutter problems and movement was smoother.
...you had me at the Tamrac bag!!
Now I'm itching to unearth and unwrap (saran wrapped for storage) my own GL2...
LANC is also used for camera control while recording. A lot of professional camera's these days still use lanc to control start/stop-recording, zoom and focus.
This camera is actually from 2001, so it's over 20 years old now. Loved the video, man!
My Mini DV journey started earlier this year with a Sony TRV10 handycam and now have the TRV50, 3CCD TRV900,3CCD TRV950,HC100, HC1 HDV with the GV-HD700 HDV video walkman and a Grass Valley HDMI in to firewire out adapter box that allows me to record 1080I movies to miniDV tape in HDV format. I also have a PC300 tiny miniDV handycam. Some prices are crazy but I bought this lot quite cheap and like new condition. I went the video 8 Hi8 and digital 8 route back in the day and my Sony Digital8 handycam still working perfect from 2000. Really enjoying miniDV now.
That would have been some serious dad gear to record year end shows at the kid's school. "Yeah Bernard, it even has a stereo mic and a sd card slot!"
It takes me back to my early school days seeing dads with big ass camcorders all happy to take it out for a spin in front of other dads.
Used one a friends XM2 (PAL version) and I thought it was a great little camera. Good colours, good in low light, decent microphone, well balanced. Nice little thing! Still prefer a VX1000, DVX100B or an XL2 for Mini DV stuff though.
I just realized I have one of these in the closet. It's in mint condition, bought used in a similar bag. I also have a number of tapes I made on this and other miniDV machines, and I just needed the crazy adapter string you used to get the tapes into Final Cut.
We used these for our news channel in high school. They served really well and luckily we also built editing computers to suit. MiniDV was pretty great.
What a nice survey of the old Canon G2C! I really enjoyed this video. I worked in television broadcasting back in the late 80s, but also had a home video business. Until earlier this year, I shot all our RUclips videos (my channel, "larryware1" and "Under the Median") on a 2001 Sony TRV-750 Mini-DV prosumer camcorder - similar to your Canon G2C. I purchased two of these used from eBay years ago to use for my home video business. This was a good solid format and produced near broadcast quality images back in the standard definition days. I kept a 2001 iMac with OS 10.4 with iMovie 6 to edit them on - up until this year when I finally converted to HD. I still have all of the old equipment. So nice to see someone who not only understands these old formats, but appreciates them. Nicely explained video. Thank you.
The Lanc connector was more for zoom, focus, record buttons on the tripod. It was really useful for 1 hand operation
I took a video editing class in 2007 at a community college and we used MiniDv cameras and iMacs from that era with iMovie. And in the time since then I think things have really come a long way. What's nice about a video like this is that gives some historical perspective of how electronics worked in the past and how they work now. Even though the camera is worth less than when it was new does not make it worthless. With standard definition miniDV had a weird thing where both standard and wide screen were 720x480, probably because a lot of TVs and DVD players being 4:3. But the widescreen would display as wide because of the pixel aspect ratio. In the early days of RUclips there were a lot of decisions like what codec, aspect ratio, bitrate and file type should be used for a video. There is a lot of technical information about cameras, video formats and editing software, but hopefully it doesn't interfere with the goal of just making a quality video.
The same year that I was born… amazingly well done.
Ah, this is the camera I used extensively in the mid 2000s for field and multicam work (s-video to the switcher was the way to go). Probably due to bad luck however, 3 out of 4 GL2s would exhibit zoom problems, whether they would start zooming in on their own, or just stop working altogether. I believe it was a design flaw with the zoom rocker that I never did figure out. Also, the LANC port was useful for connecting external remote controls for record start/stop and zoom which could be clipped onto a tripod handle, thus eliminating the need to handle the camera body itself, preventing unwanted vibrations and handling noise.
That white chalky residue on the rubber ring around the lens base is a known flaw also present in other Canon's cameras - like mine 650D/T4I from around 2012. They were adding some stabilizers to the rubber that after years start to bleach out.
This camera was my first crush. I couldn't afford the XL1, so I settled for the GL2 instead. Loved filming with this thing, miss the camera honestly. MiniDV videography introduced me to digital non-linear video editing (on Premiere 5.5) and the Canon GL1 and GL2 introduced me to an amazing world.
Very nostalgic and learned a lot.
I used one all the time as part of my college course. I just remember the lecturer saying it was very popular in the adult entertainment industry.
Nice one Colin! Lots of memories there for me. I've still got my JVC GR-DV900 Mini-DV camcorder and several tapes, but a friend of mine had one of those 3CCD Mini-DV cameras like the one you have there, which also had a much sharper chroma key I believe.
Mini-DV's complete failure point was it's TERRIBLE chroma bandwidth.
I'll enjoy watching this now...
PS: the 16:9 picture mode is SQUEEZE I believe... It uses all 480i lines of video like an anamorphic lens. (Much sharper than letterboxing to widescreen, then zooming to crop the bars to 16:9)
21:53 - as a PC Guy, I asked out loud, "why WOULDN'T it work?!?" - why are Mac users so surprised and thankful that "Apple left that feature in!".
It's like Stockholm Syndrome. Anyway, great video Colin. Cheers. 👍😎
Oooo that 3CCD low-light lushnes! My old single CCD Sony used to look like I was filming in a blizzard in low light.
Looking forward to archiving the MiniDisc documentary on MiniDV when it's released. :)
Standard Def kind of gives me some "very early youtube"-nostalgia, so maybe in a few years its gonna get that nostalgia factor
Awesome video, I subscribed based on this video alone. I personally have a Panasonic dvx100b, I bought that for $3,000 back in 2005. I will say I import footage through Final Cut still today, DV. I have issues with interlacing footage to a progressive timeline. You can see you've done a good job through Final Cut in your video, however you can still see the horizontal vertical zebra lines on edges of things.
LANC controllers were for finer control over things like manual focus or zoom and attached to the tripod arm so you could move the camera and adjust the focus or zoom with your thumb. I've a couple of ex-BBC broadcast cameras and both tripods have a LANC controller on them, handy when trying to keep a moving object in frame as its coming cloder to you or moving further away. They also often have a record button on them so you can start or stop recording without having to touch the main camera itself.
Useful things, some branded ones are still pretty expensive second hand (I've a couple of Libec tripods with LANC controllers) but there are cheaper ones from China available these days which are pretty good for the price.
I used a GL1 from dec. 99 until I got an HDV model in 2007. Used the same setup last summer to capture a box of tapes using the HDV model. Same setup minus 1 dongle as I had a 4 pin to fw800 cable. Very reliable models.
I used my GL1 from October 2000 until August 2010, when I got a Canon XHA1S. I agree, Juan; the GL1 was a very reliable workhorse!
Very interesting video! I work with digital video and we occasionally come across legacy formats like MiniDV. The problem is we rely on ancient equipment that was cheap 10+ years ago and is failing. Our 8mm machine gave up the ghost recently, so we had to go out and buy a second-hand 8mm camcorder, and our sole miniDV camcorder is starting to give us problems. Unlike audio formats like reel to reel and cassettes, these video formats are very fragile and repairs are near impossible (it was a very disposable format). I think it's amazing you picked this setup up for $10! We have a pro Canon miniDV camera and our employer still thinks it's worth thousands of dollars!
lol typical "well, it's big and has lots of buttons, so it must be worth a lot!"
I have this camera and i have Canon HDV cameras also. I really enjoy using this for home videos amd actually still use it. Even with SD resolution i use it and looks pretty good on my HD tv.
The thing about these 3CCD cameras is that they gave a sharper more detailed image because they avoided the bayer pattern, using a prism to separate the RGB colours for 3 different CCDs. So you'd get 480 pixels, not 320ish pixels like some cameras.
Still trying to figure out was the best 3CCD prosumer video camera from a pure technology standpoint. Obviously, NOT the Canon GL2, as the GL2 was only a standard definition (SD/480p) camera.
I'm thinking it was the Sony HVR-Z1U which was also miniDV/DVCAM, but if anyone reading this knows of a later make and model, holler! 🎥
@@TuNnL The Sony EX1, The Canon XF300 were pretty close to true HD on the prosumer end. But the Sony F900R, HDC-F950 and F23 were the best cameras that used this technology. HDV cameras like the Z1U, V1U, XLH1 often compromised the sensor because the HDV codec softened the image already. Also, you could have wanted to shoot progressive scan, because it gave you the best resolution.
@@TVperson1 You listed either CMOS or 3CCD professional video cameras, and I was referring only to 3CCD prosumer cameras. If anything, maybe the Canon XL-H1 might technically produce more pixels than the HVR-Z1U, but the Sony includes 480p, unlike the Canon.
The Panasonic AG-HVX200 is interesting in that it appears to be the only HD prosumer 3CCD video camera that you could record straight to a memory card. I could be wrong, though. 🎥
@@TuNnL The HVX200 is 960x540. If you want CCD over CMOS, you want a professional CCD camera. Prosumer was always compromised back then.
@@TVperson1 I appreciate your persistence because I would have never spent the proper time to research this subject. I did finally find the one prosumer 3CCD video camera that WILL give you 1080p HD.
It's the Panasonic AG-HMC150, and apparently still fetches a pretty penny for this reason. Again, many thanks, as I would never have found the right camera without this debate. 🎥
Great video. It had everything, cool video equipment, shoots of very interesting retro tech (lots of Apple G5s hmm) and talk of the Minidisc, something I still use today. I wonder if your documentary will be available for shipping to the UK ?
I keep one of these as I have so many family films on Mini DV. They last a long time.
From what I remember the street price GL2 was around $1800-$2000 back in the day. Maybe I was always looking for the lowest possible price. Never bought one, went with the DVX100 for its 24p.
Former DVX100b user here! That was my all-time favorite camera, and I miss mine terribly. Shooting 24p on it was so great.
I got mine for $1200 new
Maybe 3k is adjusted for inflation.
I remember using this camera in 2011 in my cinema class , it was a great camera !
I need to buy another one of these. Great for filming skate videos and the fisheye is cheap for it. Also very decent as a webcam!
My first thought when he was showing off the handle controls was "I bet a lot of skate videos were shot with that thing".
I had an XM1 (which was stolen from my house) and later an XL1s with several extras, which I still own. It's interesting to see one again.
$10...OMG. Where did you find this. What a bargain!! Great Vid
My Panasonic Hifi VHS recorder will playback NTSC on a PAL TV so look forward to buying your VHS tape !
I remember weighing up to buy this thing, was cool at the time but would be surpassed by digital only a few years later, as far as consumer cams go, this was a self contained beast.
I remembered those technologies.
I still have a miniDV with a tape stuck in the device since 2005.
You want to have a post revision idler gear in these Canon 'C' mechanisms. If it has the original design idler gear (which was in earlier production GL2 camcorders), it can often over tension the tape, particularly when rewinding, pull it past the pinch wheel and chew the tape. It's quite a quick job to change out the idler gear, IF you can get a revised design idler gear (the place that I used to buy new ones from no longer stocks them).
The video quality reminds me of those old Vice documentaries, that were actually very interesting.
The HD Sony NXCAM I use at work, which was pro-level when new in around 2010, also uses a dummy battery which plugs into the charger to get continuous power. The charger also refers to "Camera/VCR", which is well out of time for when the camera was manufactured.
The battery insertion is the same, too - slot in, slide/clip down.
my very first camera in highschool, nostalgic!
This was one of two camcorders that I absolutely drooled over when it came out. The other one I really dug was the Panasonic AG-DVX100B. I never did end up with either.
Love your videos. The main difference between this camcorder and the cheaper consumer camcorder is the video quality because of the better Canon L lens and 3CCD technology. I love my Canon XL2 release from the same time period which blows this camcorder away in quality.
Nice to see FW device control still works in latest FCP
Speaking of camcorders, I recently got a Sony camcorder(PJ530e) with a built-in projector for £5 from my local flea market, it's fully working too. It has 60x zoom which is nuts for a tiny camera.
Understandable, have a nice day.
Damn, I remember using these in my high school video production class!
I have an old iMac with firewire dedicated to the slow process of capturing footage from my old DV camera, exporting as high quality as possible via iMovie, then sending those files to the NAS to be reviewed on my main computer. I have a box of tapes I need to go through... I think I need these dongles!
Used to use a Canon XM2 which has a similar form factor to this. Produced lovely footage - when the audio actually got written to the tape properly... Cleaning the heads didn't really help long. MiniDV isn't really missed by me 😁
24:33 looks like a ZR series of Canon miniDV. I had one with a cheap wide angle lens I used to film me and my friends skateboarding back in 2002-2003. Used Windows movie maker in XP to edit a 20 min video that unfortunately got lost when I got rid of old eMachines towers and never hardcopied the final video.
these were very common in schools and for small production houses
there was faster than real time for later miniDV and HDD based camcorders
lanc is used for controlling the zoom and other functions via a little remote on a tripod
My parents bought my sister and me the previous model, the GL -1. Our first prosumer video equipment. Still have it but has some damages and the cost of repair it's way high.
i loved this content... i have what you call vintage like SONY DCR TRV120 which uses Hi8/8mm cassette, the beauty of this is somehow, your video content will not be corrupted,,, downside you said it somehow it is obsolete, i still have the handy cam ... more videos like this....
hearing that technology from the year i was born is now vintage makes me feel old...
I still have my Panasonic miniDV camcorder. Fits in the palm of my hand. I did have to go and get a thunderbolt adapter for the mac to transfer old vids.
I had an XL1 or XL2… I was obsessed!
Everyone is nostalgic for VHS, but I personally have a lot more nostalgia for MiniDV.
People/filmmakers need to understand that if you have a powerful enough imagination and logistical skills, you can create your own mini-movie productions with cameras such as this and my favorite - the Canon GL1. Your ideas are the software. Camera equipment is the hardware. I've created many of mini-movies by using my GL1 and even HD mini-DV.
I bought my first Mini-DV camera in 1997 and it was my impetus for starting nonlinear editing (as we called it at the time). I bought a PowerMac 9600 to do it on and it worked pretty well, considering how early it was. This was well before iMovie and Firewire coming standard on Macs.
It's such a shame that Apple stopped including FireWire on their desktop computer line. Any Mac Pro after the 3,1 series does not even have FireWire 400.
I feel like Apple gave up on serving the video production community after Final Cut Pro 7. They even tried to "iMac" their Mac Pros with the ridiculous "trash can" design from 2011-2018.
i've actually used this camera back in the day for some project at my school. The school had the camera, it was too expensive to be privately owned here 😀
Those were used a lot for weddings. They were decent in their own right or as a second camera for the XL1 or 2.
The GL2 is a classic! I’ve found it’s best suited for shooting plain old 4x3 interlaced, then de-interlacing later. The “Frame Mode” looks terrible.
As for the 16x9 mode, it crops in-camera which ends up looking worse than just shooting 4x3 and cropping in post. That’s where those 16x9 guides come in- they aren’t letterbox, it’s a dashed window in the middle portion of the full preview screen that lets you frame your 4x3 shot accordingly.
With the actual 16x9 mode enabled, the 4x3 image is cropped to 16x9 in-camera then shown squeezed into the full 4x3 preview, which both distorts the preview image and lowers the output resolution. The only way to get a true 16x9 on the GL2 is to use an anamorphic lens attachment, but then you’re limiting your zoom range.
One notable thing is because these are digital, they’re pretty great if you recorded on them back then and wan to get these recordings archived now - a copy via FireWire is actually a bit perfect copy of the original recording, with no generational loss, so the quality holds up surprisingly well, and you don’t have to worry about eventually not being able to play the original tape any more.