Hi;
I'm hoping that owners of the AC160 or AC130 can help me out by shooting some tests and posting the links.
Some of you may know of my struggles since Oct. 2011 to find my first "pro" cam. I've bought, tested, and rejected: three separate Sony NX70s, a Sony NX5 and a Sony VG20. The Panny AC160 is now on my radar. it has a lot of features I will love, some that will annoy me, but I really want to make sure it does not suffer from my biggest show-stopper fail - excessive coma/CA.
One positive thing that is making me lean toward buying the Panny is the fact that Jan Crittenden seems to be an active participant in these forums. (Jan, we are hoping for good word about the AVCHD 2.0 upgrade for the AC160 tomorrow!) Jan, any insight you can give about the coma/CA I describe below would be greatly appreciated.
I've been looking at various videos from the AC160 on the 'net, and I've noticed a disturbing pattern: red coma above overexposed objects. They are particularly noticeable on car headlights or streetlights at night. Please watch the following samples at 1080 and look closely for the coma/CA:
Here are three vids that show what I mean:
( 1:59 for an example)
(besides the lights, check our the bokeh at 3:49 - CA is always red on top)
But, not all the vids I have found show the problem. In particular, this one looks perfect at 1:04 during the undercrank test. (makes me wonder if there is something special happening during undercranking?)
I would greatly appreciate everyone's input on this. I really, really don't want to have to return another cam to B&H. Aside from the hassle and shipping costs, I fear that they are close to cutting me off!
Thanks,
Steve
Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V
