Zebra Settings

HDR-HC9 (2008). HDR-HC5, HDR-HC7 (2007). HDR-HC3 (2006). HDR-HC1 / HVR-A1 (2005).
Shoulder-mount HVR-HD1000.
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sean2212
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Joined: 29 Jun 2010 18:37
Location: Edinburgh, UK
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Zebra Settings

Post by sean2212 »

Please excuse my woeful ignorance on this topic, but what is the difference between Zebra 70 and Zebra 100? Thanks in advance....
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Stephan
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Joined: 20 Mar 2010 18:51
Location: Paris, France

Re: Zebra Settings

Post by Stephan »

Zebra 70 will show zebras in the viewfinder (or LCD) on those parts of the picture which reach a brightness of 70% approximately, whereas Zebra 100 will show zebras on parts which reach a brightness of 100% (approx).

In practice:
- You want to use Zebra 70 when doing a close-up interview, because 70% brightness is a reasonable value to have good-looking human faces (valid for caucasian skin only though, or close enough). Never used it personally.
- You want to use Zebra 100 when your objective is to avoid overexposure. With Zebra 100, any part with zebras on it is getting overexposed and losing detail.

Well, this is only the simple story for Zebra 100, because it is actually a little more subtle. With Zebra 100, I realized that you get zebras not just when overall brightness reaches 100, but also when whichever color channel (red vs. blue vs. green) reaches its maximum and starts 'clipping'. Which means that, although you haven't reached maximum brightness overall, you're still losing color and detail already on that part of the picture (the color is bleaching out, basically).
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