Be a movie maker!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Makes recording fun, easy and professional.

Cons: I can't use it enough!

The Bottom Line: 
If you want the best home videos or professional quality work without the expense of a production camera you should consider this one.

Author's Review
If you are looking to simply capture those precious moments in life or want to make broadcast quality productions, this is the camera for you.

I obtained this camera because I wanted to be able to digitally edit what I filmed directly from my camera. The GL 1 plugs into your computer via firewire so that you can easily capture what you want off the tape and edit it.

Why buy a more expensive camera like this one if I can find cheaper Mini DV cameras? Well, for starters this camera has more features that allow for decent sound quality (enhanced with external mics, i.e. booms), excellent picture quality, and the ability to shoot in wide screen, and black and white, etc. It also has a manual mode so that you can change the shutter and f-stops to allow for more or less light. By doing this the need for extra lighting via light packs is eliminated in many cases. I shot a documentary with this camera and didn't have to bring in artificial lighting for inside shoots because of the ability to change the way the camera brings in the light.

Another great feature is that the LCD screen can be rotated a full 180 degrees so that you can stand in front of the lens and see yourself in the screen. That is helpful when you are trying to set up a shot and don't have someone to stand in for you while you adjust settings.

I have used this camera from everything to home videos to documentaries and it has been able to do all that I ask of it. It's not hard to use. I sent my friend out on assignment to shoot some scenes. He had never touched a camera before and in less than five minutes I showed him how to work the camera and he came back with some beautiful shots!

The user manual is friendly and provides numerous illustrations of what the topic is. Over time and as you need them you will begin to learn what all the buttons do on this camera. For you basic filming, however, you just need to know how to turn the camera on.

One of the major drawbacks to owning a DV camera is that the tapes are not cheap and they only come in 60 or 30 minuted times. The Sony tapes are among the better tapes to use and are the more expensive ones. I do not suggest ever using the long play mode. While it will lengthen the amount of time on your tape, it will cause problems when you go to edit.

Some things you will want to consider buying additionally are a tripod and a lens filter so that the actual camera lens doesn't get scratched. You also will want to have some editing software so that you can take your beautiful camera work and turn it into a movie of your own for your friends and family to enjoy. Or if you are like me, you can produce documentaries or any other professional work.