 Ok, I had a canon Elura, and dirty head problem ate it up. Had an XL1, lasted 3 years, dirty head problem ate it too. I used head cleaning tapes to try and get rid of it. Only every hundred hours, and it was still done. Sent it to Canon and it came back just as bad. They said it was because of different lubrications of different tapes and I should stick to one brand. I was in a pinch and had 5 weddings so I bought a GL2 to get me by, bought only Canon tapes and now after a year with it, I am having dirty head problems again. Nothing like sitting in the middle of a wedding and the dirty heads pops in your camera. Every time I edit I am missing seens to jumping of tapes.Â
Anyways, I am at another video camera change, but this time I want to be ready for this Blue Ray stuff. I don't want to shoot it right away, but I want to invest in a video camera with a future. I am also excited about getting away from these awful tapes!! Now I know Sony won the war on blue ray, so what does that mean for video camers? HD HDV? I really don't know the difference. Anyways, I do all sorts of videos from weddings to safety ect, but I am really also worried about the low light for weddings. Canon GL2 was good lighting and I just stuck it on Auto all the time. Any advice which camera fits me? I was thinking of a Hybrid without a card like the Panasonic AGHVX200AP That way when the mini dv tape blows up I will still have the harddrive. Now is this camera good with low light? Should i skip the whole tape drive and go with a solid state one. What about Sony video cameras? Are they good? Is there a cheaper video camera that will get me by?Â
   5 years ago, I new I wanted a Canon XL1. It was everywhere. I got it and turned on the Auto shooting and that is all I did. I don't want too much camera, I just want enough camera to get the job done, and for the camera to have a future when HD comes out. Either that or really cheap and deal with that later.
 Anyways any advice for a real struggling business owner?Â
