Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: hd, camcorder | Themes: Digital Entertainment, Digital Cameras
9. Focusing
Test 3 is of the camcorders’ autofocus performance, and their ability to focus in several planes. The autofocus is on the center of the image and the levels of detail are obtained with a zoom on the image. View the results in video and HD photos with comments.
Canon
Once the camcorder was focused, it wasn’t bothered by the movement of the leaves. The AF spot was on the center of the image; the wall in the background is out of focus. It’s a very handsome image, with an impressive level of detail. The contrasts accentuate the sharpness of the picture; you really feel like you’re looking at a high-definition shot. Score 3/3.5
Sony
The AF had a tendency to focus on the wall, and we had to force it to focus on a leaf at the center of the display (by zooming on it in Auto mode). But once the focus was set, it was excellent and wasn’t disturbed by movement visible on the display. The Sony can be excused, since it does have the widest angle and the wall took up a good deal of the frame. The important thing is that it didn’t insist on focusing on the wall after we told it what we wanted. The depth of field is better than with the Canon, and the sharpness of the image is good, if not quite ideal. Score 2.8/3.5
Panasonic
The Panasonic had the greatest depth of field, and produced the only image where the wall is in focus. The autofocus is stable. The image quality is very precise, with details and relief perfectly visible in the zoom. The image shows less contrast than the Canon, but is more precise, which earned it a full complement of points in this test. Score: 3.5 /3.5
Hitachi
The Blu-ray model performed acceptably this time. The autofocus is good, but had a little trouble fixing on a precise point. It reframed numerous times, and the image still has a slightly out-of-focus look. As a result, the details don’t render enough detail; a shame. Score 2.3/3.5
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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