Posted by James on 03/30/06 22:43

I recently taped a live show with a Canon XL1S, and I guess my impression is
that the image clarity wasn't what I thought it would be.

The circumstances were that I was maybe 75 - 100 ft away from the stage,
shooting through a room that was very dark except for the stage, which was
brightly lit.

The image quality while not unwatchable, seems "soft" or diffused no matter
how persnickety I was about focus - using auto-override then going back to
manual to lock it in. It's especially so on long, non-zoomed shots, and
noticeable snow in the darker areas, such as you see on any consumer cam.
The image is better when I'm zoomed in close on the performers, but still
not even in the same universe as the images I've seen of video of musical
performances shot even many years ago (70's - 80's) in similar
circumstances - cams in a dark room shooting a bright stage, or local TV
news, or the razor sharp images you see on TV talk shows - Leno, Letterman,
etc. even in their pre-HD days, and in all these examples, the dark areas
are just dark, no snow at least that I can detect.

Is it that this cam is simply not capable of that kind of resolution? It's a
3CCD camera, which I was under the impression is supposed to be the mark of
a better video cam.

Thanks

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