Hi there. I have just been playing with the digital 2x extender for the first time, and using an HD monitor to look at the results, I found the image was much sharper than using the 2x extender on the lens AND YOU DONT USE ANY LIGHT! I rarely use the extender anyway, but if I need to get that little extra zoom for whatever reason, I think I'll revert to the in camera digital one.
Cheers, Sparky

That's been my experience too. As it uses only the center of the lens, which is generally the sharpest part you gain on the optical front, but loose a little on the electronic front. I feel it is a better option than an optical x2 in many cases.

And you can use the optical as well as the digital - as I have done for a couple of news stories where there was no way of physically getting closer.

Well I can't argue against all of you, especially when I still haven't used it! But I still don't understand this - you lose half of your resolution! How can that look as good as the extenders in the lens. I use long lenses with the extender engaged more than disengaged (HJ18x28 and HJ40), and except at wide apertures it looks virtually as good as without the extender. Hmmm.... I suppose losing half the resolution is just the same as converting the 1080 to 720 in the PDW700 and I must admit that looks pretty good - in fact I wonder if it's even the same process?

Something else that's a bit strange is that on the new PMW500 spec it says that the Digital Extender doesn't work in 1080P mode. Why would that be?

Steve

Steve,

You might be interested in this video from a few months ago. My decision was to NOT use the digital extender.

Although I shot with the PMW-500 a little today, I didn't think to ask about the digital extender capbabities because that feature isn't important to me.

I think the best (maybe the only) argument for using the extender would be for live feeds of breaking news. In that case, the option of magnifying the footage in post won't work. For a live feed, it's a cool feature, otherwise I wouldn't suggest degrading the footage at the time of shooting. Once it's degraded, it's degraded forever.

Digital Extender vs. Optical Extender on Vimeo

Yes, thanks, I did see the post before. To be honest I always feel it's so difficult to judge things on the computer.

It does seem a bit strange to me that the PMW500 info talks about it not working in 1080P mode. I assumed that meant it'll only work in 720, but I suppose do they mean it will work in 1080i? That would probably make more sense.

Steve