Hi All,

Firstly I posted this in this forum, so as not to get biased opinions,

Second I know DV doen't have very much exposure latitude anyway, but was wondering:

Which has the best latitude out of these cameras. I have read that the XM2/GL2 has very good highlight rendering, is it better than the VX. It goes without saying, that the VX is better at the dark end of the scale.

I also read that having bigger CCD's also improves dynamic range, so you would think that the VX would be better here?

I assume both these cams would blow away my trv-15 in this issue (right?). As I am still deciding between the two.

Thanks in advance for any replies,
Dave.

In my experience most DV cameras have similar exposure latitude if you're comparing similar cameras (3-chip vs. 3-chip etc.). How a camera performs in low light is different than latitude. In low light, the scene doesn't require a camera with a lot of latitude, just good low light performance.

The school I teach at uses both GL series Canons and the VX2000. I find their performance in scenes with widely differing exposure values (scenes that require a lot of latitude) very similar. The images look different (sharpness, color accuracy, etc) but their exposure latitude is about the same. The biggest limit to exposure latitude is the recording medium (DV tape). Bigger chips also help, but aren't the whole story.

Thanks Jeff, your hands on experience is appreciated. I'd thought there might be more of a difference between the various 3 chip cameras.

I'm planning on picking up either a second hand VX or XM2, for some short experimental projects over the summer. I like the low light reach of the VX, as I'm not always gonna have bright shooting conditions to work with.

Dave.

Related information:

If dynamic range is important for you then read this: If you have trouble getting both highlights and shadows properly recorded on tape (because of limited dynamic range) then you could apply a contrast reducing filter. I haven't used one, but I plan to (not this summer, though). A Chrosziel MiniDV sunshade with 3x3 or 4x4 inch contrast reducing glass filters might work... Might, I said. I haven't used such a thing. Just guessing... And it's relatively big, heavy, expensive and looks impractical to carry around - but it is an option, though.