Posted by Bob Noble on 01/03/08 21:55

Hi PT,
You've made a lot of good points here.
Most of them are not really of too much concern to me because of the way I'm
using the camera, mostly.

What I mean by that is to start off, I'm using the cam from a moving kayak
in sometimes wet and damp conditions, trying to get elusive type pics of
critters at the spur of the moment so to speak.
Now I know about digital zoom not really being a zoom. But if a camera
starts off taking a good pic, then using the digital zoom ends up with a
better pic, than a camera that starts off with a not so good pic. This
better pic can and is better than no pic.

I also have a way to cheat the part about being able to hold the cam steady
during a zoom. I am able to get way down in the kayak, which allows me to
put my elbows on the sides of the kayak and form a human tripod using the
cams eyepiece. I also sometimes glide up on water plants to stop the kayak
as much as possible, or try to stick the back into some mud on a bank. Or a
log or branch in the water may help. Sometimes there is nothing and I take
my chances. Sometimes I get something and sometimes I don't. I find the
hardest part is finding my target and keeping the cam on the target while
zoomed.
Luckily not all my shots have to be zoomed. I get some of the best stuff
right in front of me. I just never know when it'll happen.
But, at least now, I have a camera that can do a lot better than what I had
before.
Thanks for your comments,

--
Bob Noble
http://www.sonic.net/bnoble
"PTravel" <ptravel@travelersvideo.com> wrote in message
news:5ti4shF1dnu5hU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "Bob Noble" <bnoble@sonic.net> wrote in message
> news:477309fa$0$84194$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>> The HG10 caught my eye and it was due out in a month. What caught my eye
>> the most was the anti shake built into the lens and all the other anti
>> shake stuff built into the camera.
>
> You're referring to image stabilization. I'm unaware of any consumer
> camcorders that don't have some form of image stabilization. As it
> happens, the HG10 has the same image stabilization as the HV20. It is,
> however, designed to minimize shake from hand-held shooting, not the kind
> of violent changes of attitude that occur in kayaking. In fact, probably
> neither the HG10 nor the HV20 are good cameras for that kind of video as
> both use CMOS sensors and are subject to "rolling shutter" distortion.
>
>> It even has an anti shake thing built into the digital 200x zoom.
>
> First of all, digital zoom is not really zoom -- all the camera does is
> enlarge a section of the sensor to occupy the entire frame. This result
> in significant (really dramatic) image degradation. Second, no person
> alive can hand-hold a camcorder at more than 20x zoom (and most people
> can't at 10-12x either), so this "uber-zoom" is completely useless.
>
>> Canon says, to do HD well, one needs a very steady camera, so that's why
>> they built these features into this camera.
>
> To do any kind of video well, one needs a steady camera. That's why all
> camcorder manufacturers include image stabilization (either electronic or
> optical).
>
>
>> I was concerned about the AVCHD part, and did some research and decided
>> what the hey. The best way to find out about something is to buy it and
>> use it.
>> An added plus I hadn't considered is the 200x digital zoom. Yes, I know
>> the digital zoom just blows up the digital picture and isn't considered
>> as good as a lens zoom.
>
> It's not that it isn't considered as good. It's that it seriously
> degrades the image quality.
>
>
>> Now, as far as HD or AVCHD, I would have just preferred the HD as things
>> are confusing enough and it wasn't an option on this camera anyway.
>> I do find that the optics and technology built into this cam may help to
>> offset the drawbacks of the AVCHD.
>
> Ummm, no, they don't. AVCHD results in three distinct kinds of
> compression artifiacts, none of which are effected by the optics or any
> other "technology" in the camera. Also, there is nothing wrong with AVCHD
> per se. The problem is that Canon, just like the other consumer camcorder
> manufacturers of AVCHD machines, have arbitrarily limited the bandwidth of
> their AVCHD so that motion and compression artifacts are inevitable.
>
>
>> I haven't had the camera long enough to get into a lot of editing yet and
>> may find more of the AVCHD compression artifacts showing up.
>
> You will. You'll also have trouble finding editing software that supports
> AVCHD.
>
>> But so far things look very well with the AVCHD. With the kind of
>> movement I can have taking video's, I'm sure I'd find bad stuff while
>> using any format.
>
> No, you wouldn't. Some cameras are better suited for some purposes.
> There are certainly HDV machines out there that would do an excellent job
> on your kayak videos.
>

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