Compressed or not?
 

Hi to all again. I've been reading and reading, no XL2 yet, soon though. I am very familiar w/digital cameras and the like, raw, jpeg etc. What I was wondering is this. Is there any comparison to 35mm Digitals that you can use in describing the XL2? I mean, if using a say 10D as I do and shoot raw, the image is actually what the CCD sees, the manual settings you use are just tagging the image. Thus, you can do more corrections post shoot (WB adjustments) because the file is not being actually corrected and such during the picture taking process. If on the other hand you use say jpeg as a capture preset, the picture would look fine and all, but it has been compressed by the camera. Does this principle hold true for the XL2. If shooting manual it's more of an untouched footage by the camera that you could say edit in FCP w/better results? I know this is long winded and I hope I get my question across.

Hi Ron,

By definition DV footage is compressed video. When I say "DV" I don't mean Digital Video. DV is the codec used for compressing video for standard definition MiniDV tapes. There's some great info at Adam Wilt's web site regarding various codecs.

The settings on the camera do not change the compression or codec used.

All standard-definition DV camcorders including the XL2 record video at a fixed 5:1 compression. The "image size" of a frame of North American (NTSC) DV is 720 x 480. This is used for broadcast all the time and is the same image size as your standard DVD. Compare this DV size of 720 x 480 to an eight-megapixel Digital SLR photo camera which produces an image size of roughly 3450 x 2300 and you can appreciate right away the vast difference between images intended for printing and images intended for television screens.

The program mode of a DV camcorder (manual vs. AE, etc.) has no impact on DV compression. It's always going to be 5:1 by definition. Hope this helps,