HVRV1 vs XHA1 vs HDRFX1 lowlight performance

Here is a link to a lowlight comparison test between 3 HDV 3xSensor camcorders.

A few things to note:

The V1 is VERY close to the FX1 in performance. I think the db ratings on the Sonys are comparable, whereas the Canon at 6db is more comparable to 12db on the Sony.

Otherwise, it really just shows how close the HDV cameras are as each generation of DSP brings cleaner noise to the game.

Lowlight Comparison Test

That is the most useless camera comparison I have ever seen. Don't know what the point was in posting it here, as I see nothing useful towards underwater video, or video in general. A real comparison would be fine, but in this one, the cameras were not even close to being setup with equal parameters, which makes it totally useless. Sorry, just my opinion.

Dan

Wow, and they say New Yorkers are opinionated.

Dan

If you look at the pictures between the 2 Sonys, under the same light conditions, with the same settings, you're looking for noise characteristics at various db levels.

It's not a color chart or a light meter but it does show noise characteristics in the blacks. I'm sorry you don't appreciate that.

Although slightly different, below is a link to footage that I have shot at the same dive site and roughly the same visibilty (around 10m) depth 22m. First clip is the Canon XH A1 second is my little HC 1 all settings auto except white balance.

Big difference... but I suppose we all knew that anyway

http://www.stage6.com/user/jonnyshaw/video...1_vs_Canon_XHA1

Jon

Sorry if I sounded a bit harsh. I guess I expected to see a much better video link from Drew. This is a compliment to Drew, who I hold to a higher standard. The linked comparison video was poorly done IMO, but not the fault of Drew. I do need to sometimes keep my opinions to myself. I still do not see any validity or value in that comparison.

Dan

That's ok Dan. It's an abstract extrapolation of what the guy was trying to do. Noise performance at 6db and 12db for both Sony cameras are different. The V1 is actually a tad cleaner but I'm pretty sure that if we had resolution charts, it'd be on par with or still higher than the FX1. The XHA1 is simply almost a stop better than both.

Although slightly different, below is a link to footage that I have shot at the same dive site and roughly the same visibilty (around 10m) depth 22m. First clip is the Canon XH A1 second is my little HC 1 all settings auto except white balance.

 

Big difference... but I suppose we all knew that anyway

 

Jon

Jon, did you use white balance with both cameras? I ask because with my HC1 the manual white balance is its biggest shortcoming, which usually results in substandard color underwater. That would make a big difference if one was white-balanced and the other not. I've never been impressed with the HC1's low-light performance, but wonder what your settings were for both cameras.

Max.

Hi Max,

The HC1 was white balanced at about 10m and then taken down, no filter as the footage would have been even worse due to the light reduction. The HC 1 is bad in low light, I really only used to get good images sub 15m or if I was deeper I would do close up / macro with lights. Sometimes you could get away with a deeper wide shot but the increased gain (which you can't control) makes it pretty noisy.

The XH on the other hand white balanced at that depth and in fact in that shot the filter was down too, gain was set to 0db. I actually have done a few more dives with the canon and dropped the gain to -3db and still being able to get good images down at depth. I will post some more footage soon.

Jon