On Thu, 18 Jul 2002 17:49:31 -0400, "Peter Brown" wrote:

>[...] I have a GL1 and each and
>every time I rely on the zebra pattern, I be dissapointed. I'm thinking of
>buying a JVC DV-500u, I assume that the 1/2" CCDs will handle high contrast
>scenes better.

Even within the smaller-chip 3-CCD cameras, there are
variations. Look at the "contrast" section at:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/vid_pict_characts.htm. You
will notice that in the three examples, the contrast varies
rather noticeably. The three samples were shot with,
going from lowest to highest contrast, the VX1000,
the TRV900, and the GL-1. Try comparing your GL-1 and
a VX2000 side-by-side sometime - you will notice that
the VX2000 records a considerably wider range of tones with
detail than the GL-1... If you add a JVC500 or a DSR-300
Sony (larger chips, and with more adjustments possible
in the picture than the small camcorders provide), you
can record an even wider tonal range successfully...

>I went once on a golf tournament with my GL1, on an 100% overcast sky. The
>results were dissapointing. Maily because of the all-white sky. When I was
>trying to lock the exposure on a person's face, the sky was over-exposed
>creating an ugly white mass "bleeding" into all objects.
>
>How does somebody handle this?

Lower contrast makes correct exposure FAR easier, and it
results in less loss of detail near the tonal extremes
with the "correct" overall exposure, by definition...
I have a low opinion of the GL-1 picture relative to some
others for several reasons; the excessively high picture
contrast is but one of them...

>I was really amazed how this tube camera that I was initially reffering to:
>Inside the plane, you could see the cockpit instruments in the panel, the
>pilot and the ouside scenery perfectly exposed ! Hmmm. Are they doing
>soemthing that I can't replicate? Trying this with my GL1 is impossible. At
>least in my knowledge. I would have to choosw if I want the "inside" or
>"outside" exposed corectly.

This is generally true, even with somewhat "normal-low"
contrast, unless window light is bright enough and interior
tones are light enough to make the interior not *too* much
darker than the exterior. With adjustable contrast, though,
you can go too low and lose clean whites and blacks...
Is it possible that supplementary light was added to the
interior? Some older productions did include excellent
lighting...;-)