On Mon, 11 Mar 2002 13:57:11 +1300, kirkzeusNOSPAM@flashmail.com wrote:

>As a complete novice to camcorders I am looking to buy a digital one.
>However, I have noticed that on the tapes played back by camcorders
>that I have seen, there is, what I as a layman call, an oversaturation
>of reds. Plus also anything in white, like a shirt, that is in
>sunlight comes out VERY white, again like an oversaturation. But on
>broadcast TV programmes the reds and whites both look perfectly
>natural.
>
>Could someone please explain to me what causes these two conditions to
>happen on amateur camcorders and not the professional ones - also what
>is the technical term/description of these limitations called? I ask
>this as if I can minimise these two problems by spending a LITTLE more
>money on a decent camcorder, then I will, but I need to understand
>where in the technical data I need to look.

The technical data offered on amateur cameras will tell you
nothing about what you observed... Red is the hardest color
to record well in video, and most camcorders fail to get it
just right: some "bloom" with red, killing detail; some have
a red "bias" since people often prefer a "warm" picture to a
neutral one; one-chip camcorders in general do not offer the
color saturation and purity of the best 3-chippers, and
these do not offer the color saturation and purity of
pro-grade gear... As for light-tone "burn-out", this is a
characteristic of high contrast (and overexposure), most
common with one-chippers and the worst of the 3-chippers...
BTW, 5 of the Sony Mini-DV *imaging types* are compared at:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder--comparison.htm. You
can see some of these effects there, and in the comparison
of various models, at:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/camcorder-comparison.htm.