On Sat, 10 Aug 2002 03:00:47 GMT, "John E. Taylor" wrote:

>Getting ready to buy a GL2, but I need two questions answered (no local
>dealer to ask).
>
>1. Minimum focus - the Canon site says the minimum focus is 1 meter (~3'3")
>at the full wide angle zoom setting. How much does this change when using
>the 20x optical zoom? I am concerned if the 20x minimum focus is greater
>than 4 feet. In fact, I wish it went the other way, so I could use the 20x
>magnification for something 2 feet away, but I assume that's not the case.

This is unlikely (most camcorders have minimum-focus
distance at the full WA, with the minimum focus distance
increasing with greater FL [partially defeatable by using
a close-up lens attachment]), but if true, it is
unacceptable - there is often a need for close-focus
with WA...

>2. Auto-shutoff - I need to have the camera turned on and feed a video
>signal (without recording to tape) to my computer. Can I override any
>auto-shutoff setting? Some videocameras shut off automatically after 5
>minutes if I don't actually record to tape, but I need the camera to keep
>feeding a signal regardless of whether the tape record mechanism is engaged.

Remove the tape... The only "handycam"- style camcorder
I know of that will stay powered up with tape in is
the PD150...

>That's it. If I get good answers to these questions, all I have to do is
>settle on a vendor and make the purchase.

If the prices of the VX2000 and GL2 are similar, I would
also look at the VX2000 - the picture and low-light range
are likely better on the VX2k... You may find these URLs
interesting, if not definitive., on this...:
http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/trv950/trv950.html
http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/trv950/images1.html