On Tue, 11 Jan 2000 19:13:36 +0000, Peter wrote:

>>I don't know, but I suspect Sony linked slow-shutter
>>mode to it, causing daylight overexposure, reduced
>>vertical resolution, and smearing with motion (lest
>>anyone persist, and pile on enough ND filtration to
>>make it work...;-).

>I don't have the PC100 here; the one on order hasn't arrived yet so I
>can't test it, but SONY do claim "0 lux shooting" which of course is
>crap - you have to have a light source. I didn't check this out when I
>had a chance, and the detailed specs I have say nothing about it. Is
>there an IR lamp on the front?

Yes - but it is not very even, if the one on my TRV-9
is an indication. By "0 lux", I think they mean total
darkness in terms of visible light - with the IR
feature and light enabled, there is no visible light
emitted, but decent monochrome video can be shot out
to about 10' (further, with a bigger light).

>>>Doesn't any normal CCD camera have a response well into the IR anyway?

>>Yes, but the IR sensitivity is reduced with filtration
>>(which is switch-removeable with Sony "nite-vision"
>>camcorders). The resulting greenish color can be removed
>>using B&W mode.

>Does this mean the PC100 has a permanent IR filter on it, in which
>case how do they implement the "0 lux" operation, other than with
>(wait for it....) a visible light source?

Actually, most video cameras are heavily filtered to
remove IR response - removing it gives enough sensitivity
to IR to shoot with it (but the color is poor). Removing
the IR-cut filter and using an IR light, "night" shooting
is possible. I'm more interested in the rather beautiful
daylight IR now no longer practical - for this, no filter
gives a good result, a red filter gives a somewhat more
pronounced result, and an IR 87 filter gives a bit more
IR effect.

>Returning to the "seeing through clothes" stuff, this must be very
>rare indeed because I have used NV+IR equipment quite enough and never
>saw "through" anything.

Yes - silly, huh?
For this nonsense, we lose a good feature due to
Sony's nervousness about the possibility of clothes
"see-through". The effect does reveal my speaker cones
behind a normally opaque grille cloth, but once you've
seen that....;-)