On 2 Jun 2002 01:12:33 -0700, wongjp@hotmail.com (J. Wong) wrote:

>Here's the deal... I have a sony DCR-TRV50 and plan to bring it with
>me on my travels coming up. I got a coupon for a discount off of
>products purchased at Sony's "sonystyle.com" site and was looking at
>items that I could buy with the coupon.
>
>I'm interested in the neutral density filter lens kit or the
>polarizing filter kit. I'm aware that the former handles contrast well
>in bright light conditions while the latter deals with reflections off
>glass/water. Question is, are these items worth getting based on my
>camcorder? Has anyone had any personal experience with the TRV50 and
>these filters?

First, I avoid the Sony-brand filters, 'cuz they are WAY
over-priced poor-quality rebranded Tiffen filters.
Second, the sensitivity of the TRV30/40/50-PC115/120
cameras (they share the same imaging devices) is very
low, and it is nearly impossible to get into situations
where a ND filter is necessary, or even desirable
(the camera hardly ever stops down below f4, even in
bright light, and switching to portrait mode [my favorite,
for these cameras] often runs it wider than f2). Color
noise in plain-tone areas is noticeable with these cameras
even in bright light, so using a ND filter is inadvisable.
Third, a ND filter has nothing to do with contrast
adjustment... Filters I would recommend for this camera:
a good UV (with lens shade) for protection only, and a
good circular polarizer for those times when you want to
saturate colors a bit more (I like using one with my
TRV30...).