On 22 Mar 2002 08:18:07 -0800, manzoor@intrnauts.com (Manzoorul Hassan) wrote:

>I'm fairly new (novice/amateur) with Photography in general and with
>Digital photography specifically.
>
>I am trying to buy a Video Camera and since we seem to be getting
>fairly close with DVD recorders, would like to be able to transfer the
>Video I take on to DVDs. So, I'm looking at Video Camera's with a
>i.LINK (IEEE 1394) interface.
>
>In my search I have also seen cameras advertise CCD and 3 CCD feature,
>but am not exactly sure what is meant by it. Any ideas where I can
>learn about CCD?

Camcorders come in 1, 2, and 3 CCDs (the imaging surface,
the electronic equivalent of film). The colors can be
better-rendered, with fewer negative imaging aspects,
with three CCDs. Within these, with different cameras,
the number of pixels can vary, with about 340,000
needed for good image sharpness for NTSC. Some one-CCD
camcorders have more for digital image stabilization,
for megapixel stills, and for interpolation down for
sharper motion-video (but "more" is not necessarily
"better", since undesireable image characteristics
(like more restricted low-light range, and annoying
edge effects with motion) can come with the higher
pixel-count. In addition, the CCD can be of different
types, and the associated processing used can be
different, making "predictions" of image quality from
the specs not very useful. For a comparison of
Sony Mini-DV ***imaging types*** (CCD and processing
together), see:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder--comparison.htm
Do read the verbal descriptions, since the
frame-grabs do not show well the motion-video
negative picture effects...
BTW, I think all current (and most past) Mini-DV
and D8 models have (had) FireWire connectors...