On 28 Jun 2002 18:31:20 -0700, cinemad@hotmail.com (Peter Mason) wrote:

>The specifications to the SONY DCRTRV18 and 16 refer to it having a
>Progressive Shutter system, what exactly does this mean?

For stills, the mode is switched from interlaced to
PS mode, synchronizing all the scan-line information
into a single frame instead of into two differently-timed
fields of alternating scan lines (used to smooth motion
video with the slow normal video frame rate...).

>The specifications
>also refer to these models having shutter speeds from 1/4 sec to 1/4000 sec
>through the AE mode. Could somebodt tell me if it is possible to manually
>set the shutter speed and if so, how is this done?

Only 1/60->1/4000 are available without specifically
choosing 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, or 1/30 in menus ("slow speeds
4->1"); the other speeds cannot be selected in Sony
1-CCD cameras, though some can be approximated using
various program modes...