Light Smear on A1

[Kholi]

Okay here's one thing that's been bothering me about a LOT of A1 footage. Go find a clip with a stoplight/greenlight in it, and check out the crazy smear going on. Is there any way to correct this or is this going to be a shortcoming of the A1, no matter what?

It's pretty bad, honestly. Makes me want to squit my eyes at times. Anyone know what's up with that? I just shot some street footage on my HVX200 and unless I just wasn't paying attention, I surely didn't see that smear going on.

Maybe it's settings that people are using?

[Barry_Green]

It is a byproduct of having such tiny pixels on a CCD-type device. Look at JVC footage and you'll see a comparable amount. You'll see the same thing happening with megapixel SD cameras like the PDX10 too, for the same reason.

The smaller the pixels, the more prevalent vertical smear will be. The Panasonic has bigger pixels and is quite smear resistant. The Canon has the most vertical smear, and the JVC is right behind it.

The Sony V1U should be smear-free because it's not a CCD, it's CMOS. Only CCDs suffer from the vertical smear issue.

[Kholi]

Poor A1. I don't like that smear, to be honest. I'm like "wtf turn the lights down.". You'd really have to avoid direct light or something with it. It looks like every stoplight has a star stuck inside of it.

[Barry_Green]

All CCD cameras can exhibit the problem, but the larger the pixels the less likely it is to happen. You'll see it on an A1 before you'll see it on an HD100, and you'll see it on an HD100 before you'll see it on a Z1, and you'll see it on a Z1 before you'll see it on an HVX, and you'll see it on an HVX before you'll see it on a DVX or PD170, etc.

[Elton]

Actually, the A1 has at least improved the rendering of the smear. With the H1 it wouldn't even make a pretty star. The HD100 had similar smear to the H1. I've seen those headlight star smears with the HVX too, although it does seem that the HVX may hold it's overexposure charge on the CCD a bit better.

It's a fact of life in this range, and the Sony may avoid it, but of course it may have other issues.

I still think this entire category is an embarrassment of riches. Two years ago this all seemed beyond miraculous.

[Barry_Green]

The Sony will definitely have other issues; according to Adam Wilt's first look it's already a stop and a half slower than an HVX or XHA1. That's a huge issue. It's three stops slower than the PD170.

But, it looks like it'll be sharp and will have nice dynamic range.


I still think this entire category is an embarrassment of riches. Two years ago this all seemed beyond miraculous.
Absolutely agreed, two years ago all of this would have seemed miraculous, and it gets moreso every day. And as far as on-the-market, in quantity, only the FX1/Z1 was available even one year ago. So all this stuff is new and only, really, a year old. The XLH1 is celebrating its one-year anniversary right about now, the HVX isn't even a year old yet, and my HD100 arrived September 30th so the HD100 in America is barely over a year old.