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Cheap Div X cameras ?? 19-Sep-2003 At 3:04:03 PM Mike

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A little later in the year I might be tempted to sell my Sony PC120 (see: About page on Chockstone), for, well, lets say around $3k if I could get it. Simply stunning video quality. Two years ago it was the best 1 chipper on the market, but is due to be replaced by a new version, the PC330, in October, which is esstentially the same camera but with greater stills abilities. I'm drolling at idea of upgrading, but unless I could get an excellent price for the old one I doubt I could afford it.

It terms of video quality you get what you pay for. You might think, well the DV standard is like 720 x 576 (0.4 Mega pixel or there abouts), so how can buying a 1.3 mega pixel or greater video camera possibly do better? Well if anyone has even shrunk a digital photo they'll know. The more pixels you start with the better (sharper, more accurate) the smaller image looks. Plus some of those pixels are used by stablisation. Often also, the more you spend the better the lens and metering systems, etc. And you might get a bigger CCD, able to handle low light better.

But, that said, you need 3 chips to satisfy the likes of Neil. From comparisons I believe my PC120 produces results as good as some cheaper 3CCD video cameras, and has the advantage (for climbing), of being very small. But if you didn't care about size, there are good 3CCD video camera's about for less than $4k.