will optura 500 have letterboxed lcd for 16x9 ?
 

so Chris does the 500 have the same monitor as the 40 ? or does it do the squish-job ?

Kurth, the LCD display shows a properly letterboxed 16:9. This is a long-awaited "development" for Canon. Canon models which have this display feature include the Optura 500 / 400 / 40 / 30, Elura 70 / 65, and XL2. Hope this helps,

thanks Chris

This is sort of an interesting gotcha I think. I agree that it helps to compose and view things on the little LCD screens, and my Sony cameras do this. But there is also a downside. Those little screens don't have a lot of pixels on them to start out, typical is around 220 lines. So when you letterbox you are throwing away 25% of the available lines by putting black bars on them. On my PDX-10, which does letterbox on its 3.5" LCD, I've realized it would be nice to have letterboxing as a menu selectable option instead of all the time. It can be pretty hard to focus through the viewfinder and LCD screen for starters, and at least for focus judgement it would be nice to use the whole surface of the screen.

well, if I have the choice of only one of the options , I'll take the full 16x9 image . the one thing that's turning me off about the gs400 is it compresses the image , which for me makes it almost impossible to compose. I'm still keeping my options open ( the PDX10 is still in the running ) and waiting for more info on the panasonic but these little canons are sooo cool, especially with the reports on the optura 300 being so good. Of course I'd love a new XL2 but it's a minimum investment of $7 K ( the 3x is a necessity ! ) and the 500 will probably come in for less than $800 which makes holding off for a new HDV more feasible- thanks

I can't wait until these LCD camcorder displays actually are 16:9 in shape. No more letterboxing! Except there will have to be side mattes for 4:3, I guess.

well Chris, I think we'll have to wait for HDV for that but have ya'll seen the Lilliput 7 inch wide screen monitors. They sell on ebay for about $250. They're 12 volts so you'd probably need a battery belt but they have 480 lines and s video in. I've thought about trying to rig those on cameras like the Xi or gs400. Another solution could be the olympus wide screen eyetreks. Very expensive but sooo cool.

Well little 16:9 color LCD screens do exist, my StreetPilot 2620 GPS has one! Resolution is pretty low however...

Boyd - look at www.lilliputweb.net - model # 619GL-70NP - 800x480x3 pixels - ntsc & pal - vga thru usb or s video . These are going on ebay for about $220 plus shipping from Hong Kong . I discovered these thru www.diyaudio.com . People are using these to make homemade lcd projectors. they can also be used for small computer monitors or lcd screens for car entertainment systems. Kurth

That is pretty cool - they look like a "real" version of the QuickTime player :-) Too bad you have deal with the import and eBay stuff. 480 lines is higher res than I've seen on most of these small monitors.

You can buy them in the US too , they're just more expensive. they also make a 4:3- 8 " vga model that's around $325. Concerning ebay , living in mexico , it's a great way to buy . I've made about 75 purchases and never had a problem. In fact the lilliput is on my list- maybe in a couple of months. I'll let you know how it does for a camera display. glad you enjoyed- Kurth

Is the Optura 500 like the 300 in image quality? Same CCD's?

Exact same 2mp CCD in the Optura 500 / 400 / 300, Optura Xi, and Optura 40 / 30. Hope this helps,

Regarding 16:9 displays, I'm still looking for a very small one, like a 4" model or even a bit smaller.

Chris- check out www.china-tft.com -maybe there's something there - I've seen alot of smaller lcds' but they're 4:3 - maybe 5.6 " is the smallest 16:9. Kurth