Problem Using Canon GL-1 with Workprinter

[son-of-bubba]

Hi Folks,

I am usually a lurker here. I transfer old 8mm and S8 family movies.
I recenty upgraded from a Sony TRV900 to a Canon GL-1.

I am finding the response of the GL-1 to a brighter scene is much slower than the TRV900. The TRV900 adjusts in a frame or two or three. The GL-1 adjusts in 8-10 frames to a brightly lit scene.

I have the camera in Manual Focus, Auto Exposure and ND On.

Am I doing something wrong or is this just a characteristic of the camera ?

Thanks in advance.

Pat De Marco

[schoft]

I have to say that the canon gl1 is not an upgrade from the sony trv900. The trv-900 is similiar to a sony vx1000, a well respected camera manufactured in 1997 ( around that time ) and is still being used today for extreme sports like inline skating, bmx'ing, surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, you name it. The trv900 has better 3CCD specifications, thus making it more sharp and better quality.

Now back to your problem, i don't think you should put auto focus and auto exposure ON, because, you want the footage on your pc like it was on the originial tape. No lame exposure changes made by the miniDV camera that is 9 from the 10 times wrong/offset. If you really want to correct the exposure for a scene, you should do it in post. You should also disable auto focus. The GL-1 is an old camera and i'm pretty sure the auto focus will confuse itself. Why are you using the ND filter ? You don't have enough light when filming indoors and there is no evil sun around messing up your internal hardware chips....

I suggest you get a better capture camera. It's probaly not in your budget but the sony vx2000 is a nice choice. I own a sony vx2100 and they are called one of the sharpest around for consumer miniDV cameras( among the panasonic dvx100a/b ).

schoft

[super8man]

SPeaking from experience with both a XL1 and a GL2 (current) with a workprinter (original light source), I recommend:

Manual focus (must do!!)

F4.0 (range between f3.3 and up to 5.6)

Shutter speed 1/60 to 1/90 to get the f stop in a decent range and preventing the whites from blowing out - its a knack to figure out the balance here.

0db (no gain!!)

No neutral density (is this an option in the GL@ - shows how much I use that setting).

Manual white balance to the "user" set - what I do, depending on filmstock, is trying the white balance with a scene that includes faces and white tones (like lettering, blouses, etc) and try and see what the camera determines is best by pushing the set button.

What I typically aim for is a muddy grey on the white leader (the red kodak stripe should look rich red) as a guide as well.

Believe it or not, under my bright warm/daylight mixed overhead room lighting, I often use a manilla envelope to get the camera into the right range for white balance, then I turn off the room lights and check the film.

Sometimes, the tungsten setting on the camera is good but rarely. Its a trick of the trade and something you get a feel for...then you have to balance the fact that different filmstocks on a reel fade differently, and then perhaps the original shot had strange lighting anyway???

Its all an art.

My instructions would be different if you had an LED light source.

Was this helpful?

[son-of-bubba]

Thanks ! I mis-typed - I am using Manual Focus. Corrected above.

schoft,
The GL-1 has a 14x Zoom vs. a 12x for the TRV900. Other than that I am incline to agree with you that it is not an upgrade.

super8man,
I am using an LED light source. I'd be interested in how your instructions differ.

I have also had some issues with the White Balance on the GL-1 versus the TRV900 especially for darker, indoor scenes.

Thanks again.

Pat De Marco

[MovieStuff]

The new LED light source is so bright that we are now advising customers to use a higher shutter speed so that the aperture of the camera will open back up to the mid range, which is a sharper f-stop. Also, you may find that at the mid range, the auto iris would be more responsive than if the internal meter is pegged and the aperture slammed shut on light scenes due to the super bright LED. You can always go back to 1/60th if you have under exposed film and the such. In terms of white balance, the LEDs are basically daylight balanced with a piece of full CT to bring them down to the tungsten range. Most cameras will white balance fine but you can always use an 80A or 80B filter make white balancing easier. Again, there is an abundance of light. Contact me offlist if you need additional assistance.

Roger

[MovieStuff]

Now back to your problem, i don't think you should put auto focus and auto exposure ON, because, you want the footage on your pc like it was on the originial tape. No lame exposure changes made by the miniDV camera that is 9 from the 10 times wrong/offset. If you really want to correct the exposure for a scene, you should do it in post. You should also disable auto focus. The GL-1 is an old camera and i'm pretty sure the auto focus will confuse itself.

I agree that the auto focus should be turned off. Also, you will generally get optimal results if you use manual exposure, but that will still require gamma adjustments in post on a lot of footage. But there is really no way to just set the camera to one f-stop and then make all exposure adjustments in post unless you have peak sensing to automatically make minor adjustments in the exposure to protect whites during transfer. And that really only works on properly exposed film. Video with a locked exposure on a camera doesn't have enough latitude to handle the random exposure differences with blazing whites and deep blacks that you find on home movies. Now, if you shot all your film with careful attention to exposure, then perhaps a single setting during transfer might work. But random home movies will never come out optimized without scene to scene exposure compensation during transfer.

Roger