Digital Zoom and telephoto adaptors at DVinfo.net

Boyd Ostroff · September 6th, 2003, 09:20 AM

I never took much stock in the digital zoom feature before, but last night I was taking some shots of the moon with my PDX-10 using a Sony VCL-HG2037X 2x telephoto adaptor. Just for fun I switched on the 24x digital zoom. The results were surprisingly good! I guess the high res CCD's are able to pull this off much better than I had expected. Individual craters are visible, and the moon disc doesn't even completely fit vertically in the 16:9 frame.

I haven't had a chance to shoot a resolution chart this way, but subjectively it looks nice. Just thought it was worth mentioning since it's a feature that many of us don't bother to check out. If there's any interest I can post some example frames.

FWIW, the HG2037X gives really nice results but it's pricey. When I first got it I nearly returned the lens. It didn't appear to focus properly. But after experimenting I learned that setting the camera for infinity doesn't work through the adaptor lens. Using manual focus you can get a razor sharp image however. The autofocus seems to work under some situations, but I get the best results by focussing manually. There are no filter threads on the lens unfortunately. But putting ND filters between the adaptor and camera lens seems to work fine.

Jean-Denis Borel · September 13th, 2003, 10:28 PM

Hi !

I am now travelling abroad with a PDX10 and had some preety rough situations, especially concerning low light situations. At first I decided to set the gain max. at 6dB (in the Custom preset menu) in order to avoid too much noise in the picture in case of low light. But then I had a try shifting the gain manually to 18dB and I was actually quite surprised by the sharpness the picture still displays. I was wondering if the Megapixel CCD quality is playing a significant role here, just as it seems to do in your Telephoto / digital zoom story. I do not have precise control facilities with me at the moment, I did not have the opportunity to export a still frame and enlage it on a computer, nor to shoot a chart. But simply by trying to view the picture on the LCD switching the PB zoom, it seems quite blowing...

Have a try, I would be interested what you think about it.
Cheers,

JDB

September 6th, 2003, 09:20 AM	#1
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Digital Zoom and telephoto adaptors I never took much stock in the digital zoom feature before, but last night I was taking some shots of the moon with my PDX-10 using a Sony VCL-HG2037X 2x telephoto adaptor. Just for fun I switched on the 24x digital zoom. The results were surprisingly good! I guess the high res CCD's are able to pull this off much better than I had expected. Individual craters are visible, and the moon disc doesn't even completely fit vertically in the 16:9 frame. I haven't had a chance to shoot a resolution chart this way, but subjectively it looks nice. Just thought it was worth mentioning since it's a feature that many of us don't bother to check out. If there's any interest I can post some example frames. FWIW, the HG2037X gives really nice results but it's pricey. When I first got it I nearly returned the lens. It didn't appear to focus properly. But after experimenting I learned that setting the camera for infinity doesn't work through the adaptor lens. Using manual focus you can get a razor sharp image however. The autofocus seems to work under some situations, but I get the best results by focussing manually. There are no filter threads on the lens unfortunately. But putting ND filters between the adaptor and camera lens seems to work fine.

September 13th, 2003, 10:28 PM	#2
Jean-Denis Borel New Boot Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 12	digital zoom / Gain max. Hi ! I am now travelling abroad with a PDX10 and had some preety rough situations, especially concerning low light situations. At first I decided to set the gain max. at 6dB (in the Custom preset menu) in order to avoid too much noise in the picture in case of low light. But then I had a try shifting the gain manually to 18dB and I was actually quite surprised by the sharpness the picture still displays. I was wondering if the Megapixel CCD quality is playing a significant role here, just as it seems to do in your Telephoto / digital zoom story. I do not have precise control facilities with me at the moment, I did not have the opportunity to export a still frame and enlage it on a computer, nor to shoot a chart. But simply by trying to view the picture on the LCD switching the PB zoom, it seems quite blowing... Have a try, I would be interested what you think about it. Cheers, JDB