Sample DV953 vs. ZR60 Footage at DVinfo.net

Brian Sumpter · November 24th, 2003, 12:36 PM

Hey all!

I shot some footage this weekend @ a local R/C car track, and made up a quick comparison between the DV953 and the Canon ZR60. Link is here (right click, and "Save Target As", 14.4 MB):

http://emediadesigns.com/1_and_3_ccd.mov

This was shot late evening, with the sun practically gone from the sky. There were lights around the track, so the environment was lit, but not super bright. Note the amount of grain in the Canon footage compared to the 953. Also keep in mind that the QT compression "smoothed" the Canon's grain quite a bit -- it looks much worse on a TV. I know everyone downs the 953's low-light ability, but it sure blows the pants off the single chip Canon!

Canon was set up with 1/200 shutter speed, manual adjustments to get as much light to the CCD as practical. Any lower on the shutter helped the lighting, but the cars were just too fast for a slow shutter. The Panasonic ran 1/120 shutter speed with everything manual except the focus.

Just to make those debating over the 953 purchase feel a little better. :)

PS - Forgive the shakes! I handheld the Pana most of the day.

Dave Largent · November 24th, 2003, 05:38 PM

So, you saw the awful Canon 1CCD low-light grain. I wish more people were aware of this. No other manufacturer has grain anywhere near that bad. I suppose it's something in their chip
technology. The only thing worse is the muddiness of the current 1CCD JVCs. I imagine here, too, it's the JVC CCD technology to blame. The Canons have color but they're full of grain. The JVCs don't have grain; actually they're smooth but they're "bottom of the pile" when it comes to image sharpness and color saturation. The only current manufacturers of 1CCD cams that are halfway decent in low light are Sony and Panasonic.

John Gaspain · November 24th, 2003, 05:43 PM

thanks!

I bet this footage would look alot better with a mid-day summer sun....ahhh the sweet sweet warm sun

actually, now that I thought about it. I just wish you would post a a better clip with better lighting for comparison purposes, I would hate for people to see that footage and say "the Red's look brown on the 953.", the DV953 is capable of MUCH more than that.

JG

Brian Sumpter · November 24th, 2003, 05:51 PM

Both cams did great when the sun was doing it's thing.

The Panasonic still whooped up on the single chipper in both color and sharpness, but at least the Canon footage was usable during the daytime shots (pretty good, actually). I think I could even mix them together without your average TV viewer knowing the difference. But when the sun went down, the Canon stock became useless.

I'll put together another short comparison for the daytime shots if anyone is interested. The racing started at 3:00PM, so I had about 3 hours of daytime shooting before we started losing the sun. This just shocked me when I pulled the night shots from the cams, so I put this together.

I knew everyone was concerned about the 953's low-light capabilities, and although I'm sure it don't match up to 1/4" or 1/3" chips, I just wanted to show that it's not that bad compared to some of the cheaper cams out there.

November 24th, 2003, 12:36 PM	#1
Brian Sumpter New Boot Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Greeneville, TN Posts: 14	Sample DV953 vs. ZR60 Footage Hey all! I shot some footage this weekend @ a local R/C car track, and made up a quick comparison between the DV953 and the Canon ZR60. Link is here (right click, and "Save Target As", 14.4 MB): http://emediadesigns.com/1_and_3_ccd.mov This was shot late evening, with the sun practically gone from the sky. There were lights around the track, so the environment was lit, but not super bright. Note the amount of grain in the Canon footage compared to the 953. Also keep in mind that the QT compression "smoothed" the Canon's grain quite a bit -- it looks much worse on a TV. I know everyone downs the 953's low-light ability, but it sure blows the pants off the single chip Canon! Canon was set up with 1/200 shutter speed, manual adjustments to get as much light to the CCD as practical. Any lower on the shutter helped the lighting, but the cars were just too fast for a slow shutter. The Panasonic ran 1/120 shutter speed with everything manual except the focus. Just to make those debating over the 953 purchase feel a little better. :) PS - Forgive the shakes! I handheld the Pana most of the day.

November 24th, 2003, 05:43 PM	#3
John Gaspain Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: WA-USA Posts: 371	thanks! I bet this footage would look alot better with a mid-day summer sun....ahhh the sweet sweet warm sun actually, now that I thought about it. I just wish you would post a a better clip with better lighting for comparison purposes, I would hate for people to see that footage and say "the Red's look brown on the 953.", the DV953 is capable of MUCH more than that. JG __________________ The glory of the World passes by.

November 24th, 2003, 05:38 PM	#2
Dave Largent Trustee Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,483	So, you saw the awful Canon 1CCD low-light grain. I wish more people were aware of this. No other manufacturer has grain anywhere near that bad. I suppose it's something in their chip technology. The only thing worse is the muddiness of the current 1CCD JVCs. I imagine here, too, it's the JVC CCD technology to blame. The Canons have color but they're full of grain. The JVCs don't have grain; actually they're smooth but they're "bottom of the pile" when it comes to image sharpness and color saturation. The only current manufacturers of 1CCD cams that are halfway decent in low light are Sony and Panasonic.

November 24th, 2003, 05:51 PM	#4
Brian Sumpter New Boot Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Greeneville, TN Posts: 14	Both cams did great when the sun was doing it's thing. The Panasonic still whooped up on the single chipper in both color and sharpness, but at least the Canon footage was usable during the daytime shots (pretty good, actually). I think I could even mix them together without your average TV viewer knowing the difference. But when the sun went down, the Canon stock became useless. I'll put together another short comparison for the daytime shots if anyone is interested. The racing started at 3:00PM, so I had about 3 hours of daytime shooting before we started losing the sun. This just shocked me when I pulled the night shots from the cams, so I put this together. I knew everyone was concerned about the 953's low-light capabilities, and although I'm sure it don't match up to 1/4" or 1/3" chips, I just wanted to show that it's not that bad compared to some of the cheaper cams out there.