Sony HDR-CX760V: A Warning

[Noa Put]

The OIS can be Off, standard or in active mode, in standard and active mode the lens moves to help with balancing the image but in active mode the camera automatically zooms a few percent in on the image, most probably to use the zoomed in area as extra space to provide additional balancing.

So even if you are at full wide, in active mode the camera zooms in on the image meaning you loose a bit of that very wide angle and you gain some in the telereach. So you do loose a bit image quality but in real life you don't notice it from a normal viewing distance, unless you pixelpeep. The vespa zoom shot I linked to in the other cx760 post (http://youtu.be/i8VYXkR4ylU)was done in active mode I realize now, so 17x zoom and I don't see anything wrong with it.

You also have a digital zoom that enlarges 120x but the image falls apart very quickly in that mode.

[Paul Rickford]

[QUOTE=Noa Put;1747659]The OIS ca
So you do loose a bit image quality but in real life you don't notice it from a normal viewing distance, unless you pixelpeep. The vespa zoom shot I linked to in the other cx760 post (vespa - YouTube)was done in active mode I realize now, so 17x zoom and I don't see anything wrong with it.

Nora, no need for pexel peeping at my end, it just is soft and not very HD at all at the tele end, i'm not a Sony Basher, I have gone through most of the CX series and this is a real problem which I feel should be pointed out . I have a work around but prospective buyers might wonder why a advertised 17x zoom cant even pass muster to 10x

Thanks
Paul

[Ron Evans]

The cropping is to enable the active mode which is EIS allowing room on the sensor to move the image around and take account of rotation as well as shaking. I think that the 17x zoom is just a result of the scaling/processing to do this rather than a deliberate attempt to get more zoom. Marketing just couldn't resist the temptation !!!! However I am happy with my CX700 with Active as in this mode I mainly use to walk or ski next to family etc and it is then mostly full wide angle. For more serious stuff its on a tripod with stabilizer off. I too am looking at the NX30 to be B camera to the NX5U with matching timecode will be useful and since it will be unattended will be auto mode anyway so full manual is not that important as I have figured out how to use the small Sony's to my satisfaction. Spot focus and AE shift are very good features !!!! Being able to set a gain limit will be useful though the CX700 has less grain at 21db than the NX5U at 9db or the EX3 for that matter.

Ron Evans

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Paul Rickford

[
Nora, no need for pexel peeping at my end, it just is soft and not very HD at all at the tele end, i'm not a Sony Basher, I have gone through most of the CX series and this is a real problem which I feel should be pointed out .

Your probably right Paul, thing is that I don't use that active OIS anymore since I noticed it zooms in so I just stay in standard OIS which is very good as well. For that few times I did use active OIS and zoomed in completely I didn't notice the image was that much softer on my big screen, like the vespa zoomshot, but there wasn't that much fine detail in the background. I"ll do some tests, just for my own use, to see how much it does loose at 17x zoom so I know if it is usable when I need it.

[Paul Rickford]

Noa
take another look, will be interested to see what you think, I had the 740 before sending it back in time to go for the nx30, both have the same image quality good and bad.

I wonder if these will be the last generation of hi end 1/2 inch handycams when even cameras like the Sony Cybershot RX100 now have a 1 inch sensor with active mode?

[Mark Rosenzweig]

"I wonder if these will be the last generation of hi end 1/2 inch handycams when even cameras like the Sony Cybershot RX100 now have a 1 inch sensor with active mode? "

Let's hope not. The RX100 not only has a very limited zoom range (and you cannot turn off *digital* (no extended) zoom), but it produces video that is much softer than any of the camcorders you are discussing here and is filled with artifacts, like all the big sensor cameras that do video (GH2 perhaps an exception).

The RX100 is an amazing feat for a stills camera, but has not solved how to make good videos with a big sensor.

[Paul Rickford]

Originally Posted by Mark Rosenzweig

h

The RX100 is an amazing feat for a stills camera, but has not solved how to make good videos with a big sensor.

Today we have more and more choice than ever, but never a perfect solution, thats progress I guess!

[Dave Blackhurst]

Small dedicated camcorders have a place (albeit a small niche, as I suggested in another DVi thread), so they aren't likely to completely disappear, but as a practical matter, there is not a lot of room to boost performance if you really think about it...

More zoom? Not practical given lens physics, and digital... well, it's a mixed bag. Higher bitrate? Maybe, but in a consumer cam, they aren't going to push much past what a BR can record, at least for now. Smaller? Again, maybe, but ergonomics dictates there's a limit on miniaturization... Better image quality? OK, there's probably ALWAYS some room for improvement...

Ultimately, other than 2k/4k, where would the "improvements" come from? While I doubt the niche will vanish entirely, it's likely to stagnate, and suffer from all the phones, small still cameras, and DSLR/SLT's eating into the "functional space" - there are a LOT of HD image acquisition devices available, many at far lower price points, where a little "loss" of image quality won't be a big consideration.

[Mark Rosenzweig]

"but as a practical matter, there is not a lot of room to boost performance if you really think about it..."

I am glad you do not work for a camera company! :).

If you had made that statement last year, for example, you would have been wrong: the stabilization design in the CX760 is very innovative and *may* be a quantum improvement in non-degrading stabilization. Perhaps with improvements in that technology (which is helped by a small sensor thus smaller lens) we can eliminate steadicams. Those rigs could be laughable in few years and open up a large number of creative possibilties.

There is still the challenge of getting sharp, artifact-free video from a big sensor. Right now it is a trade-off and there is no physical law that indicates why this cannot be accomplished. There is a lot of room for improvement in big-sensor video. And having more control of dof in a small package with good quality video would be a breakthrough, for which the RX100 comes close but is not there.

Interestingly, it seems that Sony is on the forefront of innovation.

[Noa Put]

Perhaps with improvements in that technology (which is helped by a small sensor thus smaller lens) we can eliminate steadicams.

There is already technology that has advanced stabilisation, just look at the tour de France when they are zooming in with a camera attached to a helicopter, it's rock steady. But steadicam's I don't see being replaced, you can do slow movements to the front, side or up and down and lock onto a subject but a real steadicam move is more then just a lens that can move as an eye.