The headphone jack is on the main board, I believe. $1400 USD is not a good deal at all for a used and broken GL2 (at least in the US - not sure if your pricing is in CDN). I paid around $1750 for mine brand new... I think Canon still has a $250 rebate.

FWIW, I don't recommend buying used miniDV cameras. You have no clue what kind of history it has, and if they break, they're generally not repairable with simple hand tools.

Anyone have any advice on non-digital film cameras?

Look into the Panasonic GS400. You can get it for a little over a thousand dollars and the imaging is just as good as the GL1 or GL2. The GLs just have a 1/3 ccd rather than the 1/4.7 ccd of the GS400. If you think about it, you're videos will be hugely improved by buying that and a lighting kit or audio equipment. Very few films are ruined by quality of the camera. It's always always the lighting and sound that ruin them (and the story).

quote:

Originally posted by jumar1987:
Anyone have any advice on non-digital film cameras?

what kind of camera are you looking at? Film? then I would go with the cheapest (if you are a beginner) and buy a K3 or a bolex. Maybe even a 8mm camera. Yet, I do not really recommend buying a film cam unless you are already semi professional (the cost of developing...)

It's inaccurate to say that the GS400 gives an image equivalent to the GL2. The GL2 has a much better lens, more manual controls, and larger CCDs. I do agree that there are more important things than the camera.

In order:

Acting
Sound
Lighting

To the guy who wanted to shoot on film:

Your cheapest option is Super 8. You can easily get a decent camera for under $50, and a very nice one for $100-200. Film is approximately $9 from Kodak with the student discount, for 200 seconds of run time at 18 fps (standard for S8). Processing runs from $5-15 per roll.

I've used Super 8 for several months and I'm moving into 16mm also with a non-reflex Bolex. Let me know if you have any questions.

I don't know of any manual control that the GL2 has that the GS400 doesn't. Manual gain, aperture, white balance, and manual focus. There are a couple of little things like teh 1/15,0000 shutter speed mode that you will hardly ever use. The only reason to buy a GL2 instead of a GS400 is just low light. The GS400 is very good at it, but the GL2 has larger 1/3 CCDs instead of 1/4.7 CCDs. Leica Dicomar, who make the Panasonic lenses, are pretty much right up there with the best of the best as is Canon in professional lenses. That shouldn't decide which camera you buy. In the end, the $600 price difference is just way too much for the quality difference. The GL2 is better, but not by much, the the GS400 imaging quality is not going to ruin a well shot movie. Let's just say, you're videos could do a lot better if you got a GS400 and a Lowell lighting kit and a decent shotgun mic.

Resolution charts still show the GS400 edging out the GL2 by a hair.

Hmm...I think I might get the Panasonic PV-GS65 or GS150. The GS400 looks great but is $2150 CDN (over triple the price of the GS65). For $2150, I could probably get a used GL1 or even GL2. But I don't have that kind of money right now (also am buying iMac G5)

Lol, that's always what it will come down to. What can you afford? Good luck, though.