OT: MiniDV vs. DVCam

I have been covering a church seminar for several months shooting XL2 mini DV, upon missing a few weeks the other church videographer shot DV Cam. I was amazed at the quality difference between the two formats, sharpness and seperation of subjects from back ground. All footage from both cameras had the exact same lighting and stage. This was my first time comparing the two formats, am I seeing this right, or is there something I can do to improve the XL2 shooting, I do white balance etc.

I don't think it's that likely you're seeing a difference between the two formats. More likely is that the other videographer used camera filters, different techniques, or exposure.


www.derekmok.com

I'd lean more towards perhaps the other camera had better CCDs, too.

deb

what was the other cam?

not sure what the other camera was , they just gave me the tapes to edit and put on DVD, and asked if I could work with tapes from a DV Cam camera. I will find out what the camera was, the biggest thing I noticed was the image edge sharpness.

I think you'd find if you were to do a test shoot of both miniDV and DVCam on that same camera, the difference would not be nearly as dramatic between the two.

It all comes down to the lenses and the chips...

deb

Nobody is beating down the door to praise the optical quality of the Canon lenses. That and yes, the quality of the format does improve, too. It wouldn't surprise me if you saw both at the same time you would spill your coffee.

Koz

I agree. The difference is most likely the quality of the camera, not the format.

Excuse me for butting in but there is NO difference between DV and DVcam relating to the files. It's digital. The tape speed and helical angles are different; 40 min vs 60 min. per tape. The audio in DVcam is "locked".

So, quality issues are the results, as stated above, of other characteristics of the cam, lens, filters, settings like edge enhancement etc.

Phil in Indy, IN

Phil Cramer
Indianapolis

Hey Phil, that's not butting in. That's contributing.