On Sun, 21 Apr 2002 00:59:28 +1000, Mark wrote:

>[followup] bad form I know. I played around with the presets this
>weekend, couple of examples at:
>
>http://www4.tpg.com.au/markjt/vx2000/vx2000.html
>
>At first I liked adjusting the images towards a more saturated/warmer
>look, but now I'm not so sure - my swimming pool shows a tinge of green
>and it's quite subjective as to whether a little red in the sky adds the
>right aethestic appeal.

That is a judgement call - the daylight color, unmodified,
with DWB, is pretty close to "neutral" in bias and saturation (better in this than most cameras - an
understatement! ;-) - changing it is for "effect", "look",
"preference". BTW, the custom control settings can be set
separately for motion-video and stills - and there are
reasons for doing this...

>Two questions:
>
>1. Is this warming of the image from the Sony 3CCD camera a close
>approximation of the output from the Canon XL1 / XM1? I've never seen
>footage from either of these cameras, but I read comments praising the
>'warm' or 'smooth' image that some prefer and I'd like to emulate it.

Hmmmm.... Why would you like to emulate the defects of
another camera...?;-) The orange/red bias and lower
resolution/greater-artifacting of the XL-/XM-1 can be simulated, if desired, I suppose... Lets see, if you
boost the sharpness all the way on the VX2000 to get the
artificial-looking outlining on edges and the irritating
saw-toothing and other motion-effects of the XM-1, add
a diffusion filter to cut resolution, and a heavy skylight
filter to make everything slightly orange, you *might* be
close to spoiling an excellent picture enough to simulate
an inferior one (though you would not have the excess contrast...;-). One does wonder why one would want
to
do this, though (I enjoy seeing a natural-looking,
"clean", sharp, "realistic" picture myself...;-).

>Some comment the AWB of Sony is already 'warm' for interiors, though I
>say the opposite is true of outdoor (daylight) (Little opportunity to
>check 3CCD cameras out in my town: pop:300,000 and few 3CCD cameras
>stocked locally)

Yes - use DWB *always* with the Sony outdoors - it is VERY
noticeably better than AWB for all daylight exposures...

>2. The still from a cloudy sky has me considering whether I even need to
>purchase a polariser filter - whereas my TRV-120E D8 needed all the help
>it could get to produce intense hues, the VX2000E lives up to the hype -
>but I'm not forgetting the $$$ paid for this improvement ;-)

I use a polarizer only for "rotation effects" (saturation
can be boosted with the custom controls) - try a close-up
into a very small stream in the Fall (with leaves in the
bottom), or into shallow water with a nice sky reflection
while rotating the polarizer sometime - the results can be FUN!;-)
BTW, as you probably have realized, avoid using PS-mode
with motion-video with the VX2000 - it looks bad in motion,
since it is optimized for stills-only use. The differences
in the stills on the web page may be due to the differences
in the custom-control settings used for motion-video and MS
stills...