Boyan Dob
June 9th, 2003, 08:52 AM
Hi all. I'm glad to find these groups, where there is a lot of useful info for everyone! I've got Pana MX500 two months ago (PAL - European model - I'm from Slovenia, so pardon my English).
The first thing I did was some "personal" tests. I've compared it to my brother's Canon Optura Pi (prob. one of best 1 CCD camera, right?). Colors, contrast and sharpness on MX500 were all noticeably better than the Optura. Shooting at the top of the tree, with the sun behind, on Optura purple fringing (chromatic aberrations) was quite notable on branches, while on MX500 just barely notable. So far so good, but when we tested zooming, handheld, with optical stabilization turned on the Optura produced a much better stabilized video, though less sharpen... I wonder if this should be normal experience or is perhaps some fault with my own camera? Since I'll use it handheld a lot (see below why), this issue puzzles me...
I use camera a lot for recording sports events, e.g. beach volleyball tournaments, but at late evenings the quality of video degrades a lot. As I've read some posts on this matter it seems a wide lens can improve quality of video somewhat, as it's possible to get 10 LUX instead of 15 LUX as specified. So, can anyone tell me from his/her experience if this means some good improvement when using such lens if shooting at late evenings, say shooting outdoors (under sun light) around 9 p.m. in summer time? If positive, which wide lens you recommend? I've seen some use Canon lenses for digital still cameras, is this because those are cheaper and still good enough? Or would you recommend a wide lens from Panasonic, Sony or some other?
As I've also learned here that protective filters are very recommended. I plan to order the ones Panasonic advertises in MX500 brochures, or should I get some other?
Finally, I use Panasonic MiniDV's. I've read that Fuji makes best tapes, but if true that Fuji makes tapes for Panasonic then sticking with Panasonic tapes is as good, right?
Thanks for any further info you might provide!
Boyan
The first thing I did was some "personal" tests. I've compared it to my brother's Canon Optura Pi (prob. one of best 1 CCD camera, right?). Colors, contrast and sharpness on MX500 were all noticeably better than the Optura. Shooting at the top of the tree, with the sun behind, on Optura purple fringing (chromatic aberrations) was quite notable on branches, while on MX500 just barely notable. So far so good, but when we tested zooming, handheld, with optical stabilization turned on the Optura produced a much better stabilized video, though less sharpen... I wonder if this should be normal experience or is perhaps some fault with my own camera? Since I'll use it handheld a lot (see below why), this issue puzzles me...
I use camera a lot for recording sports events, e.g. beach volleyball tournaments, but at late evenings the quality of video degrades a lot. As I've read some posts on this matter it seems a wide lens can improve quality of video somewhat, as it's possible to get 10 LUX instead of 15 LUX as specified. So, can anyone tell me from his/her experience if this means some good improvement when using such lens if shooting at late evenings, say shooting outdoors (under sun light) around 9 p.m. in summer time? If positive, which wide lens you recommend? I've seen some use Canon lenses for digital still cameras, is this because those are cheaper and still good enough? Or would you recommend a wide lens from Panasonic, Sony or some other?
As I've also learned here that protective filters are very recommended. I plan to order the ones Panasonic advertises in MX500 brochures, or should I get some other?
Finally, I use Panasonic MiniDV's. I've read that Fuji makes best tapes, but if true that Fuji makes tapes for Panasonic then sticking with Panasonic tapes is as good, right?
Thanks for any further info you might provide!
Boyan