>Neuman - Ruether wrote:
>> On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 16:01:48 GMT, B&SY
>> wrote:
>> I'm not about to say that this isn't true for you, but in my
>> experience many consumer-oriented mini-DV camcorders do have
>> excellent lenses (see the frame-grabs from seven of them
>> plus one Beta SP with a lens that cost more than some of the
>> camcorders combined, in a camcorder comparison article on
>> my web page - under "I babble"...). What most separates
>> the expensive lens from the good-but-cheap is wide-aperture
>> edge performance (plus "real" controls...). If the lens is
>> used knowingly (with the aperture locked at a good stop, if
>> possible), the mini-DV advantages of higher resolution and
>> lossless copying can be realized. One may still prefer the
>> "smoother" look of some analogue formats, but when it comes
>> to maximizing sharpness, the analogue formats have met their
>> match with mini-DV...

>I under stand what you're saying, but I disagree. I compared a Sony VX1000
>with a
>JVC GX-Y2 with a pro lens, I don't know what brand. Even though the color was
>better on the Sony and believe me, I wish the GX has such color, I still
>preferred
>the JVC because there wasn't any 4:1:1 blockyness and the images were sharper.
>Maybe it's me but that's what I saw!

Yes - people do have different preferences... (And things
may have been affected by conditions - I found this again
while comparing cameras [the lighting conditions must be
exactly the same, with the same picture brightness - and
low-light is not a VX-1000 specialty]). The picture is
very sharp on the VX-1000 in good light, but it does
show mini-DV compression-effect "business" on fine
detail - but the fine detail is there, unlike with most
other formats (try distant trees - the texture of leaves
can be quite good, which is difficult for video). By the
time you get analogue digitized, and back out to tape,
there is no contest. Still, the Beta SP in the test,
unimpressive as the sharpness is, looked good - very
"quiet". (The camcorder comparision article is on my
web site, listed in the "I babble" index...)