Official Black Mamba Pic
 

Panasonic sent me a picture of the black professional NV-GS100 cam a few weeks back. In the spirit of Fred, I believe he was onto something. For example, the GS100 is black, and the pic they sent me is called, GS100pro.gif. (Note the "pro" after GS100.) Furthermore, you will note in the picture, Pana placed a black-cased FUJI tape next to the Black Mamba, and not a Panasonic tape. What does all this tell you? Well, a number of things:
[list=1][*]the GS100 is a professional cam because it's black[*]FUJI minDV tape is a professional tape because it's black[*]Panasonic uses FUJI tape[*]Fred was correct[/list=1]

Here's the pic: http://www.8palm.com/gs100pro.gif

I thought professional cameras were red, white, and black.

Red, White, and Black. No problem.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-...le2(Small).jpg

Why would a 'pro' camera have non-standard colour bars?

I think you mean non-SMPTE as non-standard is a little too vague. The bars on the DV953 and GS100 are commonly referred to as camera color bars. I would have preferred SMPTE color bars but thats easily fixed with the SD memory cards (and a mix-to-tape).

Does anyone else soley use the SMPTE bars for calibration? For black levels I much prefer a seperate pluge pattern.

http://www.mediacollege.com/images/i...ch/pluge01.gif

Yeah I did mean non-SMPTE but as they are the general standard for colour bars I thought it would have been enough. Thanks for clearing it up. The XL/GL series alos have these 'camera bars' but if Panasonic are marketing the camera as 'pro' then you'd think they'd include 'pro' reference.

I hope no one takes this thread too seriously
 

<<<-- Originally posted by John Locke : I thought professional cameras were red, white, and black. -->>>

No, the XL1 is only a pro camera when you add a black manual lens. Which may only make it a prosummer camera. Hmm... What colour is the DVX100 again? BLack or dork grey?

She's black to my eyes. :-))

Frank,
To be a professional camcorder shouldn't it have a handle on the top?

Well, no. The PD100 didn't have a handle, nor did the AG-EZ1---and they're both black and sold through their pro divisions. Hope this helps. :-))

So all I need to make my cam a professional model is a black magic marker? Do you think nail polish would work better?
Michael

Spray-paint. :-))

Note: this post is not intended for the ironically challenged.

Yep, and eveyone knows that giving your lens a good coat of black spray-paint (flat or glossy) is a great way of identifying stuck pixels on the CCD.

Why did they forget to paint the focus ring, which is so close to the lens, black on the model they sent you a photo of, Frank?

<<<-- Originally posted by Tommy Haupfear : Yep, and eveyone knows that giving your lens a good coat of black spray-paint (flat or glossy) is a great way of identifying stuck pixels on the CCD. -->>>

You paint the lens directly eh? Wow that's news to me. I hate to think about how many UV filters I've ruined.
I know another guy who does it just by putting his lens cap on. Talk about unprofessional! What a loser.


(Actually, when I shot my first short the (somebody else's) cam had 3 dead pixels. Never noticed until I was doing the edit, and I got to a scene shot in low light. Heh.)