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.

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.

I was binge watching Cathode Ray Dude's camcorder videos not too long ago and now you come out with one! Love old camcorders!

My friend still uses one to film skateboarding, along with the Sony VX-1000

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!

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.

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.

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).

11:35 This is truly amazing. A portable television studio.

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

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!

Everyone is nostalgic for VHS, but I personally have a lot more nostalgia for MiniDV.

wasn't 28 Days Later shot on a mini-DV camera and that's why we'll never see an HD release of that movie?

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.

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.

Your videos are one of my overall favorite in KZfaq. Thanks for all of this gold!

Congrats on the announcement!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Looking forward to archiving the MiniDisc documentary on MiniDV when it's released. :)

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.

Loved using this camera in college. Filmed so many projects with this model until my school switched mainly to Panasonic DVX100 models.

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.

I keep one of these as I have so many family films on Mini DV. They last a long time.

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.

The Lanc connector was more for zoom, focus, record buttons on the tripod. It was really useful for 1 hand operation

hearing that technology from the year i was born is now vintage makes me feel old...

Colin, you make excellent content. I like your format and presentation 👍

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

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.

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.

Used something similar during my days in the high school tv station. Brings back a lot of memories.

my very first camera in highschool, nostalgic!

This was my first camera I bought while in film school a while back. Was a nice little camcorder to learn from.

The video quality reminds me of those old Vice documentaries, that were actually very interesting.

Such a great overview! I was also able to recently get a like new GL2 in the same Tamrac bag. 😎

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.

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 KZfaq 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.

Standard Def kind of gives me some "very early youtube"-nostalgia, so maybe in a few years its gonna get that nostalgia factor

Damn, I remember using these in my high school video production class!

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

"I found this kit for 10 bucks" LOL......... meanwhile here in Europe people still sell these for way too much.... Simply because "Canon" and "Professional" and because it has a DV tape drive and 3 CCDs. The used camcorder market here is basically in the hands of scalpers that need to be put down....

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.

I had an XL1 or XL2… I was obsessed!

Oooo that 3CCD low-light lushnes! My old single CCD Sony used to look like I was filming in a blizzard in low light.

I remembered those technologies. I still have a miniDV with a tape stuck in the device since 2005.

...you had me at the Tamrac bag!! Now I'm itching to unearth and unwrap (saran wrapped for storage) my own GL2...

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.

This camera is actually from 2001, so it's over 20 years old now. Loved the video, man!

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.

That captured footage reminded me of like, 'Tom Green interviewing people on the streets' resolution.

I don’t know how young people will react to this, but it is a fun walk down memory lane for somebody like me who has been working in video for 30 years.

We had a bunch of them at my school around 2009 and one Nikon D90. I was like: "Yeah no, I'll shoot video with the D90." and my teachers: "Nooo! That's not how this works! It's wrong!!!" haha

Shooting on mini DV is really cool

The same year that I was born… amazingly well done.

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.

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!

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Uh, a brand new VHS release? ONLY thing that's potentially stopping me is if it'll not be available in PAL, because I'm not able to watch NTSC tapes.

Can make these tapeless with screen recorders and battery banks. Makes it a little more bulky, but it records straight to an SD card. Pretty cool

I just got a miniDV camcorder Becuase dedicated device and real zoom. I can always use the DV camera with a porta pack or carry a VCR around and use the camcorder fixed with a VHS as the capture device.

All that was missing from the test footage was a sick skateboard trick. 🛹 📹

I have a Canon MV800i from about the same era. Even though it's definitely more a consumer grade model, it still cost a wad back then.

It looks like footage from a public access TV show. I love it.

Shooting on minidv IS really cool

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!

This very same DM-50 mic goes for the Canon HV20 and HV30 HDV camcorders which were introduced 5-6 years later!. I used a HV30 for 7 years! My mic's foam is falling apart too, just pull it off and throw away its for wind protection only.

$10...OMG. Where did you find this. What a bargain!! Great Vid

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.

you say it doesn't have a nostalgic feel, i beg to differ. it reminds me of old louis theroux documentaries or the original office and other shows from around that time that were shot on a budget.

My Panasonic Hifi VHS recorder will playback NTSC on a PAL TV so look forward to buying your VHS tape !

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 remember these well.

I wanted one of these sooooo bad back in the day.

Great deal on the camera, but the thunderbolt 3 to 2 to Firewire 800 adapters are $49 and $29 from Apple. From what I understand using the adapters only allows transfer from the tape and it doesn't allow some of the two way features that Firewire 400 allowed.

The first thing I noticed with that camera was the fluorite lens,these are so expensive in still photography terms that most pros have to hire them.So I'm guessing that a large chunk of the price comes from having a top of the line lens...................

Since this video is made at 30p, it would be better if you selected "Movie Mode: Frame" and shot your test footage in this mode. This would increase vertical resolution and would make diagonals smoother. Instead, it seems you shot at regular 30i and deinterlaced into 30p, losing every other field. If you look at your test footage at around 20 minute mark, you can see stairstepping on diagonals. The setting can be briefly seen at about 15:15 mark, you did not pay any attention to it, but shooting progressive was huge back then. The GL2 would be even cooler if it shot 24p, but it did not, this fame belongs to the DVX, which became THE MiniDV movie camera. Still, for $10 this is a great find! Congrats!

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.

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.

We used these cameras at the theme park I used to work at. Good times!

My dream camera in high school.

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.

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 looks like what comes outta most cellphones.

That dongle setup is insane, lol. Awesome video!

20:00 Sadly you didn't de-interlace the fottage with QTGMC so the sample you showed is just artfiacted as YT does not support interlaced, also that mic with no aux you can salvage it with a custom board it was analogue.

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.