Sony HVR-HD1000U

[Kevin Olmsted]

Hello all...

 

I'm fairly new to this particular forum. I've been in video production for almost 10 years now; I don't know why I haven't been here sooner!

 

Anyway, I mentioned in an earlier post that I just purchased an HD1000U. I'm really happy with it so far, despite being on the lower end of the prosumer scale it's got a nice selection of features and a nice picture. I've been shooting HD professionally (at my regular job) for about half a year now but wanted to dabble a bit at home and didn't want to shell out a lot of money yet. Definitely worth the money.

 

I have a question about a feature on the camera. I hope no one thinks me a fool for asking. The camera is equipped with a histogram. There is no explanation in the manual as to what function it serves. It looks to me like the 'Levels' adjustment in Photoshop but when I experiment with the things I focus the camera on it doesn't seem to respond the same way as the Photoshop adjustment.

 

What function does this histogram serve? It seems to be based on luminance but it could be color. What things can I adjust if I want to use this function to it's fullest? My last two cameras (Pan DVX-100 & Canon XL-2) didn't have this, and at work we use waveforms and vectorscopes, which I'm not sure if a histogram relates to, function-wise. My digital SLR has a histogram but I'm only an amateur photographer so I've never really tried to utilize it.

 

Any advice, help or info would be greatly appreciated... Thanks.

[Michael Nash]

A histogram is just a display of luminance levels, similar to a waveform monitor. It doesn't let you adjust anything, it just shows you what you've got in the frame -- just like a waveform.

 

You can learn what it does here.

 

I honestly don't know why Sony does stuff like this, putting a still camera feature on a video camera so that NO ONE understands it. Makes about as much sense to me as changing all the buttons and menus between professional and consumer gear so that both types of users are confused by the other's gear.

[Kevin Olmsted]

Hello Michael!

 

Thank you for the info! The link looks great, I'm going to read it through. If anything it'll help me with my photography.

 

I think the histogram thing is probably coming from the same place as the rest of the 'sell' for this camera. It's inexpensive but it LOOKS very pro. When you show up to the event/wedding (the people Sony really seems to be selling to) the average joe won't know you only spent a few hundred more on this than he would spend on a nice HD camcorder at Best Buy.