Canon HF S10 Wow!

[ronscuba]

18db of gain is a lot. Usually that much gain adds "noise" to the picture. The noise might not look like much on the camcorder lcd, but when shown on a large HDTV...........

I wouldn't want to lock gain at 18db and then put it in the housing. It will make your normal shots too bright.

 

[uzun]

Leaving the gain set at a fixed 18db is certainly no option. Letting it go to as high as 18db might work well, if there's some low light setting or something like that. You would not want any camcorder fixed at a solid 18db gain for an entire dive, except in rare circumstances. If you are saying the Canon with its gain set at 18db is equivalent to the Sony with 0db gain, then you are saying the canon is not viable in the same low light situations that the sony is.

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Thats a good test. I agree with Ron, I am not keen on the use of the high gain shown. I ran into a situation in Palau where the AGC on my EX1 came on, and I did not realize it until reviewing the day's footage...and even with 6DB and 9DB showing up, the Gain was extremely noticeable when showing on my 30" monitor display.

 

[TheBigPhillyFish]

Well that was the thing the XR520V is auto gain, you can not change it. In all the reviews, test and comparisons that are on my vimeo channel. The Sony had major noise because there was no way to manually correct it. The Canon has far less noise even at the higher gains. A few of the folks had commented that it was kind of amazing that the Canon wasn't showing the noise that was expected.

But as I mentioned, for a new diver and new video person. The Sony would probably be the safer way to go. The Canon is more for people who are going to use more manual controls. In addition the new Sony image stabilization would probably be an added benefit for divers.

For me I have still decided to stick with the Canon HF-S10, as I do intend to do a lot of stuff topside. And feel the use of more manual controls, and easier manual controls out weights the low light performance. Another thing that I haven't mentioned, we still do not know what controls will be available with the new Gates housings. So things could still change, depending on what controls Gates and the other housing manufacturers decide to offer.

I would like to see what you guys thought about the comparisons on the HF-S!) Vimeo Channel.

 

[Empty V]

Yeah, I watched that clip in full res, and no artifacts, when I spoke to the producer, he stated not much post production...

It doesn't take much to make your footage look contrasty and over saturated like that video. From what I can tell in that low-res version it looks good but they definitely changed the way it looks. It's surprisingly easy to do as long as you have to tools hence the "not much post production" but they definitely sweetened it. If you took the raw files it wouldn't look like that, I'd like to be proven wrong though because that would kick ass.

Billy

 

[ronscuba]

Sometimes people have a different opinion on how much noise is acceptable to them. For example I limit gain on my FX7 to +6db. I know other FX7 owners that set their limit to +12db.

I looked at some of the videos, but to make a fair comparison you need to see the original raw footage on a HDTV. Especially if you want to compare noise. I'm not in the market for either cam, so I didn't spend too much time seriously looking at the vids. But it was a very nice job by paramon to go through the trouble of conducting the test and then posting the results on vimeo.

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Ed you brought up a great point, not knowing what controls the housings will offer make it a big unknown. However, John at Gates, and pretty much all manufacturers always do what they can to make sure all important controls are accessible through the housing.

 

[TheBigPhillyFish]

Ed you brought up a great point, not knowing what controls the housings will offer make it a big unknown. However, John at Gates, and pretty much all manufacturers always do what they can to make sure all important controls are accessible through the housing.

Yeah, Pam at Gates stated it should be the same available controls as the HC 9 housing. But I won't count my chickens until they hatch. My camera should be here Friday, B&H web site said in stock, so I ordered. Will see what happens. I will throw up some raw footage like Ron said. But if the Canon is as good as they say, its gonna be hard to beat it. And if you went with the baby brother HF S100 your talking $1,000.00 for a top of the line consumer camcorder. Not to shabby?

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Sounds great! Looks like you will have a fun weekend playing with your new toy!

 

[TheBigPhillyFish]

Sounds great! Looks like you will have a fun weekend playing with your new toy!

Mike it can't get here fast enough for me.

I will let you see the raw test footage when I get some.