While researching the 953 on this forum several threads pointed me to a series of PowerPoint slides on the MX500. Two of these slides detailed a two stage neutral density filter driven independently of the iris. Can anyone confirm or deny the veracity of these slides? While shooting outdoors recently in a bright, snow covered landscape, I engaged the backlight function and this seemed to have the effect of an ND filter. Is the backlight function, and/or the Program AE surf & snow mode, the functions under which the 953 engages the ND filter(s)? I was considering the purchase of and ND filter, but if the 953 has one built in that would be superflous.

I think Tom Hardwick could best answer your questions. Hopefully, when he pops in he'll see your post.

ND's are built in and are triggered automatically.

the backlight function doesnt work as the ND as it literally opens the iris wide up to a point of overexposure however retaining the subject, elbeit with a slight orange tint depending on the temperature of the light facing the cam...


" Is the backlight function, and/or the Program AE surf & snow mode, the functions under which the 953 engages the ND filter(s)? "

no, the program AE function is for preset iris, shutter and exposure settings depending on your environment and subject (basically its set for white balance and amateur shooting configs), the ND filter is totally independant of these functions, however setting these may trigger an ND

ok, an amature question here - this whole built in nd filter news is news to me, does this mean i have really no need for this nd filter i bought? especially shooting snowboarding ...?

I would first try using the cam in those conditions without an ND. Then see how the footage looks.

This is what I got from Pana and Tom Hardwick: typically iris technology used motor driven multiple blades, however advances in lens design "actuators" reduces this to two---the ND filter is used internally to complement the 2 blade iris configuration. Both systems work well, though some experts claim that the MX300's built-in ND filter steals lux.

I imagine that the PV-DV953's iris/internal ND/s work similar as the one in the MX300.

"MX300's built-in ND filter steals lux. I imagine that the PV-DV953's iris/internal ND/s work similar as the one in the MX300."

OH Yea does it ever....

Problem with these inbuilt uncontrollable (from a user point) ND filters is that if your shooting ondoors (like a reception) and your moving the camera to differnt areas where lighting fluctuates, you colours are jstu all over the place.. which is why its imperative to run a cam light on low light situations.

OR, if your in broad daylight, and someone walks past the cam and throws a shadow over the lense, the cam wil adjust to compensate, which can wash out the shot...

on a side note, it IS fast... but the white balancing can be quite slow...

in this type of situation, i would strongly suggest running in manual mode. You still wont have control over teh ND, however u can control the iris so at least it wont fluctuate all that much...