The Lowdown on Zooming

In this post, I'm going to shed some light into zooming, a feature which most of us do not understand properly. Zooming is often seen as a great tool which could actually make a camcorder more expensive and valuable. Unfortunately, most of us think a camcorder with a powerful zoom is much better than others which does not offer such characteristics, but not always this is such a great quality as we would think.


Avoid zooming whenever possible
Try moving closer to the subject instead. Image quality will be lost whenever the camcorder zoom is used. Zooming increases the image size by amplifying pixels which causes the subject to loose resolution and quality. The more you zoom in, the more pixels become amplified and the more image quality you loose.


Pay attention to optical zoom
The more powerful an optical zoom is, the less resolution you would loose. So if you want to get a digital camcorder which would allow you to zoom in by loosing the less amount of quality possible you should pay attention to its optical zoom more than the digital zoom.


Digital zoom numbers are not important
Digital zoom numbers do not really tell much of a digital camera zooming quality. In fact, digital zooming has no limit. It is possible to create digital cameras which offer a digital zooming as powerful as they wish. The digital camera feature which allows us to measure its zooming quality is the optical zoom, and it is recommendable to pay attention to that characteristic rather than to the digital zoom numbers.


Optical zoom vs digital zoom
The optical zoom of a camcorder determines the number of times a camera can magnify an image through its lenses. Take note that this is different from digital zoom which simply takes a portion of an image and enlarges it, resulting in a loss of quality. Optically zoomed images enlarge the picture without sacrificing quality. Bearing this in mind, it is important to look at the optical zoom power rather than the digital zoom rating on the camcorder to determine the actual amount of zoom you need. In fact, it is not recommended to use digital zoom at all since it affects the quality of the video capture. Instead, look out for at least a 20x optical zoom lens which is commonly found on most camcorders today and would generally be more than sufficient for most users.


Now you know why camera phones boasting 10-20x digital zoom take such bad images after using the zoom feature.

Source: photoxels.com

Panasonic Releases the 16GB P2 Cards

Panasonic is now shipping 16GB P2 cards. The AJ-P2C016RG storage cards, which retail for $900 or RM3100, double the highest capacity of current offerings. That is considerably expensive for just a storage card and for that amount, you can get a pretty decent camcorder. With two 16GB cards in the AG-HVX200 camcorder, users would be able record 32 minutes of uninterrupted DVCPRO HD footage. The 16GB P2 card is, in essence, four SD cards fused into a single package, working at a higher transfer speed. Panasonic has been pushing P2 cards for several years now as the tapeless media of choice for broadcast, competing with Sony’s XDCAM. P2 cards, which are applicable in a growing number of pro-level camcorders, were slow to catch on due to high initial cost. Panasonic has worked to counter that argument by citing its speed, reusability, and weather-resistance.
Apart from the large storage fitted in a small card, here's why you pay a hefty amount for the P2 card or shall I say, the benefits of the P2 card:

Instant on for faster acquisition and playback
Unlike tape or disc-based camcorders, the P2 camcorders has no mechanisms, so you can upload cards and start recording instantly enabling you to capture critical moments other systems miss.

Edit directly from the P2 card
The P2 card mounts directly into the PC card slot of a PC providing instant access for nonlinear editing.


Runs on virtually any laptop PC
The P2 card slips into the card slot on almost any laptop PC with the installed P2 card driver.

Ingest up to 10X real-time
High speed data transfer can be done through USB 2.0 interface. You also get blazing fast results when uploading files to a server or copying to a hard drive.


No Moving parts makes it reliable in any environment
The rugged P2 card can withstand severe shock, temperature and humidity changes allowing for less maintenance higher productivity.


Hold on a second there, Panasonic also stated in the press release that the long-awaited 32GB P2 cards will be available by the end of this year at a cost of $1800 or RM6200!

Source: www.huliq.com