Thanks Rob. I did some more reading and think I understand DV Widescreen a little better. The way I understand it is that 4:3 and 16:9 DV is 720x480. In 4:3 DV each pixel is .9091 times as wide as it is tall. In 16:9 DV, each pixel is 1.2121 times as wide as it is tall. So, to make the aspect look correct when displaying 16:9 (e.g., back to a .9 pixel ratio on screen), the camera has to stretch the 4:3 image vertically by 1.3 when it records the 720x480 image to tape.

I guess that Vegas takes that 720 pixels per line and multiplies it by 1.2121 and lists that (872 or 873 with rounding) as the effective number of square pixels per line even though there are only 720 actual pixels.

That is completely correct Guy! Good job!

Well, all the math aside. Pictures are mightier than words...or some such quote...I have posted a couple of videos on my website that show how well the DV953 macro focuses and its quality in 16:9 frame mode. They are slow motion videos of a liquid drop in MPEG2 (Main Concept) and WMP 9 HD. The DV953 is only about 3 inches from the liquid...incredible! Video rendered in Vegas 4.0.

Thanks, Guy! 3 inches away?

:-) That's my estimate. The shot was taken with manual focus, no zoom and stuck as close to the liquid as I could get. Resolution is fantastic. Those vertical lines you see on the left, center and far right of the picture are wear marks on the outside of the glass along the fluting.

Hi Guy,

Just saw wour liquid drop clips. Realy nice. I like the resolution.
And you captured the suspense just right. What was the shutter speed?

Thanks for the kind words, Ayosha. It was shot at 1/60 shutter in bright kitchen light, no fill. Maybe if I had had more light, I could have stopped down to increase the sharpness a little or raised the shutter speed to reduce blur.