On Fri, 7 Feb 2003 12:48:21 +1100, "Hughy" <antispam@spamkiller.net> wrote:

>"Neuman - Ruether" <d_ruether@hotmail.com> wrote in message

>news:3e430296.15861756@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu...

[...]

>> in practice, the noise

>> reduction in bright light is not useful, and there is

>> no advantage in low light (after the lens is wide-open),

>> though there can be a slight noise advantage just before

>> the lens goes wide open (though it is not very great...).

>> I have stopped bothering with it...

>> David Ruether

>Dammit David,

>

>Another good idea gone west ...

Not nes-ca-sar-i-ly (as Popeye would say...;-).

>Makes you wonder though. What bright young Sony engineer included the gain

>shift feature into the camera, when the noise improvement isn't of practical

>use? I wonder if he's still with them? (I hope he's not beavering away at

>the VX3000 audio pre-amp). <just jokes, folks - cheesy smile>

>Regards,

>Hughy.

I haven't gotten bogged down yet in issues of compression

for DVD's, but it may be that that little noise advantage

before the lens goes wide open and the gain goes from -3

to 0 *may* be useful during compression (I dunno...).