Frank,
Was the Q&A other than the PPT slides? If so, could you share it with us?

The Optura Xi has 6-blade iris with independent ND, but it's good for stills only, and if I remember correctly, can be set as Auto or Off only.

Haven't read any details about the 2-blade iris with built-in ND of the MX5K but it seems to exist. I wonder if it's for still mode also.

Thanks for indulging me :)

Well, Bogdan, I was just refering to the fact that the ND is switchable on the VX2000, a feature most very high-end cameras has, and certainly lacking in the MX500.

And, Guy, I strongly agree that we are looking at the product. I am a peson of extreme tight budget, not only in video but in all aspects of life, and I find it fun and challenging to get to the 'uptown' standards with whatever resources that I have. In video, the tool is my MX350.

Actually, the most disappointing thing cam to me a few days back, when a uncle (60 years plus) showed me a night video of Taiwan, saying that he couldn't see a damn, but the video captured it all. Well, it was a Sony and the famous 'grey-green' Night-shot and it was noiser than a snow storm, but he liked it. I, on the other hand, will never bother to shoot anything like that. So, the audience has the final say...

It was from Pana Technical. I'll see if I still have it. If I do, I'll post it tonight.

Over in one of the Vegas forums I frequent, a well-known expert in DV editing/videography said that people will forgive a less than perfect picture, but will never forgive weak audio. So, I guess your uncle was not distracted by the audio and accepting of the lower grade video. If you must have a picture to tell the story, I guess any reasonable one within the capabilities of your equipment will do. And, the customer is still the customer even though the picture we have is unacceptable to us. I guess that is why a recent horror movie that had a terrible picture was a howling success here.

That being said, I'm still interested in the technical limitations of the DV953 with respect to picture quality. So, I'm looking forward to reading the Panasonic Q&A that Frank has.

I'm sorry, I can't find it. I might have nuked it by mistake. D_mn! I shouldn't have opened my big mouth.

Too bad. Maybe someone else saw it and retained a copy. I suspect there is no reason to agonize over the lack of information since the operation of the ND filters is transparent to the user anyway. It was just an interesting technical question on my part...

Based on what I now know, I'll just either increase shutter speed (as Bogdan suggested) or slap on a screwon ND filter to stop the bright blowouts. That was what I would have to do even if there were no internal ND filters...

It's on DVfreak.

Do a search in Yahoo, with the words "MX500" "ppt" and maybe "dvfreak". You'll get it.

YowCH, that's Frank's site. I think he thought he had additional information. I have the PPT slides.

Ooops, early morning sickness and blurness of the eyes... ;)

Guy, that info I had was sent to me by Pana Technical. I doubt anyone else has it because it was written in an e-mail to me. It was only about 100 words long.