Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: hd, camcorder | Themes: Digital Entertainment, Digital Cameras
7. Color Rendering
- Test 1 of image quality: Color rendering in full light. This is a test of the camcorders’ behavior in automatic mode.
- Color rendering in full light, white balance, contrast, and image sharpness are tested. The color pattern is there to check fidelity. We used a model F1 car on its pedestal for checking the precision and color rendering, and the blue table that takes up most of the lower half of the frame is there to make the white-balance function work harder. See the results in video and HD photos with comments.
Canon
The Canon delivers an exceptionally sharp image, and the color rendering is vivid. The color pattern stands out very well and is very precise. The results are still imperfect, obviously - the red has a tendency to appear a little pink - but the image is brilliant and precise. You can even make out the dust on the pedestal. Score 3.4/3.5
Sony
The first thing you notice is the failure of the white balance. The dominant tone of the image is greenish and the colors are cold. That’s a damning result, especially since the error wasn’t detectable on the display at the time of shooting. Leaving aside this problem of white balance (which drags down the overall score), we compared the color rendering. The blacks lack depth and the colors bleed slightly, though the color rendering is still good (white balance excepted).
The bottom line is that the Sony fails this test, led astray by its sensor. We should make it clear that these are lab tests under fairly demanding conditions, but the comparison with the Canon is merciless. Score 1.3/3.5
Panasonic
The same error as the Sony regarding white balance, and similar results, except that the Panasonic’s image tends toward the blue. The contrast is a little better than the Sony’s, though still well below the Canon’s. The colors are a little pale and washed-out - the rendering is thrown off by the white balance - but the result is still reasonable. The sharpness of the details bring the overall score up to average. Score 1.8/3.5
Hitachi
The Blu-ray model avoided the white-balance pitfall, but its colors were a little pale. One surprise (not perceptible in the viewfinder) was that the image is slightly less sharp on certain details. The reds had a tendency to bleed on the color pattern, but the color is true, as can be seen from the racecar. Score 2.1/3.5
- Previous page Sony: Simple but Effective
- Next page A Day in the Street for Contrast
Caveat emptor...
Be aware that there are some poorly-advertised issues with at least some of these cameras.
It is common practice for cameras with full 1920x1080 sensors to scale the images to 1440x1080 before compression.
Also, camcorders that record progressive frames at 24pf tend to store their data as if it were 60i (60 fields/sec, interlaced) by duplicating and reordering parts of the video data. Most applications (Ulead Video Studio, Sony Vegas, etc.) believe the video files when they say they're 60i, so they try to interpolate between shifted and reordered fields in a process called deinterlacing. This results in smoother images that are not as sharp as they could be and ghosting of fast-moving objects. Camcorders that record to 30pf or 30p should not have this problem.
Also, as mentioned in the article, it currently takes some special applications (like Video Studio or Vegas) and/or a bit of technical know-how to even be able to read the M2TS files many of these camcorders produce.
You need to update your info. SDHC costs about $70 for 16GB not 4
You talk as if greater depth of field is a good thing. Actually, most camcorders have too much depth of field, causing the desire object to be in focus, and the undesired object to also be in focus. Pro lenses have a much shorter depth of field allowing the subject to be in focus and the background to be less distracting and out of focus. I would give canon more points for the shallow depth of field.
HD Camcorders are in their infancy at the consumer level. Expect lots of changes quickly right now. Even Pro HD cameras are changing quickly right now.
When viewing image19canonhr10 I see the famous Chroma Sampling Bug in the reds of the car contrasting against the black. Is this a bug native to the Canon camcorder, or a bug caused by the screenshot/editing software?
The Tomshardware image with the Bug:
http://media.bestofmicro.com/0/P/9 [...] nglish.jpg
More about Chroma Sampling Bug:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/vol [...] -2001.html