[Leica] Good stills AND videos?

[don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory)]

Try looking at the Canon TX-1.  1080p Hi-def and I believe a 7mp file with a
decent zoom.  P&S still quality and the low light capability are not
fabulous put still a pretty good compromise about the size of a extra long
cigarette pack.

On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 1:35 AM, Howard Ritter <hlritter@bex.net> wrote:

> OT, but maybe of general interest, and maybe answerable by someone with
> more knowledge than I.
>
> I like to shoot both still and video targets of opportunity that I may
> encounter in daily life. For this purpose I have two very nice pocketable
> digital cameras that I like to carry with me or keep in the car, a Canon G9
> still camera and a Sony HDR-TG1 miniature HDTV camcorder. Both are about 
> the
> same size and weight, of comparably high quality, autoeverything digital
> point-and-shoot, recording to a memory card, and if both were manufactured
> by Canon in the same quantities as the G9, both would cost about the same.
> Much the same thing can be said for any of a few dozen other digital still
> P&S cameras and at least a couple of miniature camcorders.
>
> The G9 takes excellent still pictures and as a bonus takes video. The
> video, while serviceable, is comparatively crude and suitable only for
> amusement and last resorts, not as the intentional permanent record of
> important events.
>
> The TG-1 takes excellent high-def video and as a bonus takes stills. The
> stills, while serviceable, are comparatively crude and suitable only for
> amusement and last resorts, not as the intentional permanent record of
> important events.
>
> WHY?
>
> Why doesn't anyone produce a camera of comparable size that will take
> stills of the quality of the G9's and HD videos of the quality of the
> TG-1's? Admittedly the sensor chips are much different, 12 Mpix v. about 2
> Mpix, and the larger chip of the G9 can't readily be read out at the 30 fps
> demanded by video. However, a central 16:9 rectangle of the G9's 4:3 chip,
> comprising about 8.3 Mpix and extending very nearly the full width of the
> chip, could be "binned" 2x2 for readout, in order to give it functionally
> the 2,073,600 pixels of the HDTV picture. This seemingly can't be beyond 
> the
> limits of affordable technology, so why isn't it being done? It's logical
> and do-able, and would be a boon to people like me.
>
> Surely the big mfrs aren't so crass as not to make dual-purpose cameras
> simply because this would dent their sales...instead offering cameras that
> do one thing well and the other thing not so well, because everyone else's
> camera does, but not well enough to deter purchases of the other type of
> camera by those who need to do the other thing well also, thereby 
> preserving
> profits?
>
> Never mind.
>
> --howard
>
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-- 
Don
don.dory@gmail.com