Sony DCR-HC1000 overexposure

7 Sep 2005 9:16 AM

John Chin

Hi,

I have an extremely annoying problem. When an area is overexposed, there is
a vertical white line from the top to the botton of the screen (both on the
LCD screen of the camera and the actual footage!).
I use the automatic exposure setting.

Regards,
John.

7 Sep 2005 2:33 PM

Cail Young

On 7/9/05 7:16 PM, "John Chin" <j*@jc.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have an extremely annoying problem. When an area is overexposed, there is
> a vertical white line from the top to the botton of the screen (both on the
> LCD screen of the camera and the actual footage!).
> I use the automatic exposure setting.
>
> Regards,
> John.

Almost all CCD-based camcorders will do this for bright points of light.
It's called 'vertical smear' and only the very high-end video cameras have
the chips that don't produce that effect. Basically, there's nothing you can
do other than try to keep the bright lights out of the picture.

7 Sep 2005 4:01 PM

John Chin

Cail Young <nospam@anywhere.com> wrote in
Show quoteHide quote

news:BF453763.8347%nospam@anywhere.com:

> On 7/9/05 7:16 PM, "John Chin" <j*@jc.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have an extremely annoying problem. When an area is overexposed,
>> there is a vertical white line from the top to the botton of the
>> screen (both on the LCD screen of the camera and the actual
>> footage!). I use the automatic exposure setting.

>
> Almost all CCD-based camcorders will do this for bright points of
> light. It's called 'vertical smear' and only the very high-end video
> cameras have the chips that don't produce that effect. Basically,
> there's nothing you can do other than try to keep the bright lights
> out of the picture.
>

I was afraid this would be the case :(
Thanks for your response, Cail.

John.

7 Sep 2005 2:36 PM

PTravel

"John Chin" <j*@jc.com> wrote in message
news:431eaffe$1$28735$ba620dc5@nova.planet.nl...
> Hi,
>
> I have an extremely annoying problem. When an area is overexposed, there
is
> a vertical white line from the top to the botton of the screen (both on
the
> LCD screen of the camera and the actual footage!).
> I use the automatic exposure setting.

Are you sure this is happening on over-exposure? Sony consumer camcorders
use HAD ccds, which have a tendency to smear a point light source
vertically, e.g. if you shoot a lit light bulb in front of a dark
background, you'll get a vertical streak.

It's not a malfunction. It's part and parcel of the HAD ccd, and the trade
off that you make for increased low-light sensitivity. It happens with my
prosumer Sony VX2000, but it's not something that I particularly mind.

Show quoteHide quote

>
> Regards,
> John.

7 Sep 2005 4:29 PM

John Chin

Show quote Hide quote

"PTravel" <ptra***@travelersvideo.com> wrote in
news:VVCTe.934$JN5.610@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com:

>
> "John Chin" <j*@jc.com> wrote in message
> news:431eaffe$1$28735$ba620dc5@nova.planet.nl...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have an extremely annoying problem. When an area is overexposed,
>> there is
>> a vertical white line from the top to the botton of the screen
>> (both on the
>> LCD screen of the camera and the actual footage!).
>> I use the automatic exposure setting.
>
> Are you sure this is happening on over-exposure? Sony consumer
> camcorders use HAD ccds, which have a tendency to smear a point light
> source vertically, e.g. if you shoot a lit light bulb in front of a
> dark background, you'll get a vertical streak.
>

I was shooting in a restaurant, without video light. The lightbulbs
on the wall resulted in this vertical streak.

> It's not a malfunction. It's part and parcel of the HAD ccd, and the
> trade off that you make for increased low-light sensitivity. It
> happens with my prosumer Sony VX2000, but it's not something that I
> particularly mind.
>

I experience this as a HUGE drawback.
I think I will swap the HC1000 for a Panasonic GS400, which (I hope) will
not have this problem.

Thank you for your response, PTravel.

John.