HMC150 Digital Zoom Review

[jeff9329]

Yesterday I tested the digital zoom feature on the HMC150 as I routinely take a lot of long shots and can use the longest lens possible. Also, I wanted to see if this could make up for the 13X versus the 20X lens on my Canon XH-A1.

I captured a few different scenes at 13X and then switched on the digital zoom at 2X, 5X and 10X. I reviewed the footage at home directly on a 51" HDTV and by rendering a 720X480 DVD to view on a 25" SD monitor and DVD player.

Good news first.

Using the 2X digital zoom introduces very little visible noise on the 51" HDTV monitor. Probably no one would ever see it. There was no noise or effects visible on the 25" monitor. It looked great. I would consider the 2X digital zoom usable any time. Still, you should test it before depending on it. Some backgrounds other than my test shots may be better or worse.

Then the (expected) bad news.

Using the 5X digital zoom introduces a lot of visible grain and noise. Im not sure what you would use this for on a HD camera except some extraordinary event you just had to get closer too. It does really extend the reach, but even on the 25" monitor, it looked bad.

Like you might have guessed, using the 10X digital zoom was horrible. It went way beyond visible noise and grain to actually seeing blocks visible. Why this would be put on this level of camera is beyond me. Totally unusable for anything.

[mcsmooth]

I also found that 2X could be useful, but it is noticeably less sharp in HD, so I would try to only resort to it for SD (or web) applications. Anything else I would leave to post... or try to get closer. One of the best uses for long reach zooms on 1/3" chips is decreasing DOF, but digital zoom doesn't help there.

I can't think of any other use for 5/10x other than using your viewfinder as a telescope, haha.

Another odd thing is the way zoom works. On most cams they allow you to zoom optically, then once they reach their limit, the digital zoom goes into effect. On this camera you simply go into 2/5/10x mode. Personally I'd rather have the ability to crawl to any value in-between, like 1.5x.

[Thomas Lew]

Where exactly is the digital zoom feature?

[VideoMaker]

Jeff, if you have zoomed to 13x optical, then add 2x digital, doesn't that yield 26x, or more than the 20x the Canon XH-A1 provides optically?


Yesterday I tested the digital zoom feature on the HMC150 as I routinely take a lot of long shots and can use the longest lens possible. Also, I wanted to see if this could make up for the 13X versus the 20X lens on my Canon XH-A1.

I captured a few different scenes at 13X and then switched on the digital zoom at 2X, 5X and 10X. I reviewed the footage at home directly on a 51" HDTV and by rendering a 720X480 DVD to view on a 25" SD monitor and DVD player.

Good news first.

Using the 2X digital zoom introduces very little visible noise on the 51" HDTV monitor. Probably no one would ever see it. There was no noise or effects visible on the 25" monitor. It looked great. I would consider the 2X digital zoom usable any time. Still, you should test it before depending on it. Some backgrounds other than my test shots may be better or worse.

Then the (expected) bad news.

Using the 5X digital zoom introduces a lot of visible grain and noise. Im not sure what you would use this for on a HD camera except some extraordinary event you just had to get closer too. It does really extend the reach, but even on the 25" monitor, it looked bad.

Like you might have guessed, using the 10X digital zoom was horrible. It went way beyond visible noise and grain to actually seeing blocks visible. Why this would be put on this level of camera is beyond me. Totally unusable for anything.

[VideoMaker]

Thomas, think of it as taking a crop out of the center of the full capture. A 10x digital zoom would have 1/10 the vertical and horizontal pixel count.


Where exactly is the digital zoom feature?

[mcsmooth]

I think he meant, where is the feature. You just enable it on one of your user buttons, then click that button to cycle through the zooms.

[jeff9329]

Jeff, if you have zoomed to 13x optical, then add 2x digital, doesn't that yield 26x, or more than the 20x the Canon XH-A1 provides optically?

Yes, that is what I meant. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

So I tested at:

26X
65X
130X

The 26X zoom level seems to match or probably exceed the A1 zoom. But I did not shoot them side by side for a comparison. I shot some surfers at the oceanfront from the boardwalk, which is a good distance from the water, and the optical zoom was fine. The 2X zoom was just a bonus for static shots and testing.

I programmed the digital zoom to my #3 user preset button. Those buttons are a nice feature although testing the zoom was my only use of them so far.

[Thomas Lew]

I think he meant, where is the feature. You just enable it on one of your user buttons, then click that button to cycle through the zooms.

yeah that's what I meant lol. Alright. I don't think it's entirely necessary though.

[mcsmooth]

Ok, I just realized the best use for this feature. Use it when you are setting up your scene file settings and you do not have a monitor. It is much easier to see the differences on some of the settings, like detail, with the pixels blown up.