Finally See my HD... in HD (but with the green cast)!

[drbill]

Was invited over to one of my occasional dive buddies tonight for dinner and to see his HD footage from Fiji. He shot his with the Sony HC-3 and it looked pretty darned good.

I brought a tape of some of my footage shot with the Sony HC-7. This is the first time I've seen my own footage on an HD screen (30") instead of my computer or an old 20" analog TV. About time since I've had the camera for four months.

Definitely a step up from what I've been shooting in mini DV the past 6 years. Liked what I could see... details and hidden subjects I didn't see while filming or editing.

However, my buddy also noticed the wierd green cast in the shadow areas that I've complained about since I got the camera. As long as the lighting was perfectly even over the subject area, everything looked great. However, when I backed off a subject so that it was just partially (say half) illuminated and the rest was in shadow, there was that hideos green cast.

Since I saw none of this in my buddy's video, I have to wonder if this is an artifact of the imaging sensor used in the HC-7 (which differs from that in the HC-3), or whether I have a defective sensor.

I'll post some pictures to illustrate this when I get a chance.

 

[pakman]

for whatever it's worth, I noticed that too when I was first shooting with my HC7 and a single light in low light situations. Nice ugly green in the shadows...

 

[somewhereinla]

Sony is having a tough time with HD technology and with their cameras... They have been loosing a lot of ground to Panasonic for pro.HD and to Canon for consumer HD.

With your particular camera model, Sony has incorporated a propriotary color space call x.v.color, the problem is that no device can properly display the video yet. I am sure that sony will incorporate the new color space spec. in their upcoming video displays, but they may be the only one...As no other video manufacturers have been willing to addopt it. That will probably explain the green cast since the video was output to a "regular" HD video monitor. The HC3 and the HC5 has a universal HDV 4:2:0 color space, so the color will display correctly on any HD and non-HD video screens.

 

[drbill]

I'll have to check the manual to see if I can turn off the X.V.color and test the camera. Why do manufacturers have to adopt their own "standards?"

I'm hoping the green cast will disappear, or at least be greatly reduced once I get dual HID lights.

 

[pakman]

you can disable it in the menu. I don't recall seeing any noticeable difference switching off.

 

[PerroneFord]

Why do manufacturers have to adopt their own "standards?"

They don't, but Sony makes a habit of it. Witness the Betamax, the minidisk, the PSP fiasco, etc. Sony does not play well with others, and I avoid Sony like the plague where possible.

 

[somewhereinla]

Why do manufacturers have to adopt their own "standards?"

I agree.

Sony has been behind in the past few years and a very badly managed company. I remember the days (before HD) were most of the equipment we used was Sony... The industry is now mostly using Panasonic for ProHD. Canon is very good for consumer HD.

 

[drbill]

If only Panasonics had a LANC connector and would work in my housings. My very first camcorder was a Panasonic. I dropped it hard, but it still works to this day... although the clanking and crunching of the drive mechanism after being damaged in the drop makes the audio portion unusable!

 

[PerroneFord]

My Panny has a LANC connector.

 

[diversteve]

My Panny has a LANC connector.

What model is it? And can you get a electronic housing for it?