All of a sudden my camcorder produces noisy pictures!

[Bansaw]

I've been using a Canon GL2 and been pleased with it.
At the start I stuck with one brand of miniDV tape: JVC. This worked well and I was pleased with the picture.
However, I just did a shoot and the picture has turned out low quality and noisy. That tapes I were given for this shoot were Panasonic 1hr tapes.

I don't know whats gone wrong? I shot in 16:9 normal as I regularly do. No unusual settings. Mostly on auto settings except manual focus.

Help! I used the camera a few weeks ago and it worked fine and now I get this noisy result. I don't think its a head cleaning issue(?)
Can I rescue it?

[mohnitor]

Have you tried to insert your normal tapes (JVC) after the bad record?
Just to figure out if it´s a camera problem or a tape issue.

Maybe the tape you received was old, bad stored etc.

[Bansaw]

Thanks, I will try the JVCs again.
The Panasonic ones were brand new in their wrapping.
The picture quality looks like what you would get with a cheap $200 camera! The GL2 can do a lot better than that.

[harley2ride]

I've seen a lot of posts, recommending sticking with one brand of tapes. Supposedly, switching tape brands, can lead to your heads getting dirty and sticky. You might try a head cleaning, and then stick with one brand of tapes...

[edDV]

Is the noise pixelated? That indicates dirty heads. Use a cleaning tape for a few seconds.

Try to separate issues to playback of known good tapes vs. recording and playing new tapes. The latter is double affected by dirty heads.

[JohnnyMalaria]

A screenshot of an example frame would really help.

Noise can mean a number of things. If it is grainy, it is probably an analog problem - e.g., too much gain/too fast shutter etc. If it is blocky, it is likely digital and probably a dirty head or misaligned tape path. With dirty heads, you usually get a few horizontal bands of garbage alternating with bands of clear picture (there are two heads on the drum).

[Bansaw]

Thanks, there is no banding. I cleaned the heads then tried the same tapes but no improvement.

I attach a screenshot. The GL2 produces much better pictures than this. This looks like a picture produced on a cheap $200 camera.

still1.jpg

[guns1inger]

Looks like a still taken in a player that doesn't deinterlace, or deinterlaces very badly.

What are you previewing in, and what did you take the still image with ?

[JohnnyMalaria]

I agree - I've taken a still from WMP from a clip of my own where there is very high contrast (to compare with the forest view with the daylight). The level of vertical detail is higher. In the forest view, the level of vertical detail seems about half. I've looked at both images in detail (highly zoomed x500%). Otherwise, the image doesn't show any signs of analog or digital degradation.

[billythecrashsxcker]

how cool. i wish my cam do that.