I've used +18 db gain on Betacam shooting a fly on the wall documentary with the police. It's best only used when content is important and you don't want to create a distraction using a light in volatile situation. It actually looks worse in the V/F than on tape because of the peaking.

However, that is rare and + 9db gain on a Betacam (when required) covers 99% of documentary work, including under street lights. For drama etc you want much lower gain settings (if any).

I suspect that the above sensitivity might be the same as using +12db gain on the JVC using Standard gamma.

It's a lot better to light than just to put in gain. All cameras have limitations and you have to select the right camera for the job you're doing.

Guy - Read this and see if 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 with DVCPROHD and JVC Flavor of HDVB is really that different.

http://www.bluesky-web.com/HDVHVX.htm