On Mon, 21 Feb 2000 11:05:15 -0500, "William J. Ball" wrote:

>Is Sony SUPER Steady Shot optical stabilization? I realize that Sony Steady
>Shot is digital stabilization. But I am asking about SUPER Steady Shot as
>found on the TRV8/10. The information from Sony at:
>
>http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/handycam/worryfree/sss.html
>
>Gives the impression that it is optical. Can anyone confirm this? If that is
>the case, how many of the 680k pixels on the trv8 ccd are effectively in use
>for recording the image?

Well, since most people believe optical stabilization is
necessarily better (the earlier DIS systems robbed the
picture of sharpness and smoothness), Sony may be
intentionally deceptive on their site and naming, and they
make both DIS and OIS systems with the same name applied.
Both (recent versions) work equally well, though for
reasons unknown to me, when the DIS system is engaged,
the shutter speed is switched from 1/60th to 1/100th,
robbing much-needed gain in low light, and therefore
producing a grainier, less colorful image in some
low-light situations; in bright light, no picture
degradation occurs when the DIS system is engaged.

>While I'm at it, is there a way to start the menu system up without opening
>the LCD viewscreen? I could use the menus through the eyepiece once the menu
>button was pushed. But the only menu button I could find required one to
>open the viewscreen first to access it.

No other way, but I crack open the screen a bit, and know
where to push the menu button without looking, then
generally proceed with using the eyepiece (the eyepiece
finder activates with the panel almost closed) - when
finished, I open the panel just enough more to hit the
menu button to finish, then close the panel...
(I consider the panel just an access door...;-)