Analog versus digital camcorder dilema - need advice

[arcorob]

I have recently discovered something I would like to verify.

It appears under lower light situtations (in my case wedding receptions) that my analog camcorders record MUCH brighter and much better than my digital. No matter what I do with the exposure, etc on the digitals, my old analog TRV16 (real low level) has em beat.

Is this normal ? In mid to low light, I can get away with the digitals but they are darker. In low light the analog gets a bit grainy but the digital is downright grey....

I am thinking..For the wedding itself and for the key reception scenes where I get them to turn up the lights. But for the dark , party, dance scenes, use the analogs. Sound right ?

By the way, thank you in advance for any suggestion to use lights BUT i already have two SOft boxes that are more than enough BUT They wont let me use them. Have had some real good battles there.

Bottom line question, is it worth me getting two more NICE quality SONY TRV87 analogs to compliment the set ? Or is my analog brightness an anamoly ?

[arcorob]

Wow ? no one have any thoughts on this ? surely someone othert than I have both a digital and an analog camera ? C'mon guys...help a fella out...LOL

[Craig Tucker]

Well I only have digital so I cant compare, but it does get very grainy in low light conditions.

[davideck]

I was shocked to discover that my old Panasonic SVHS camcorder outperformed my new JVC MiniDV camcorder at low light levels. I assumed that it was an anomaly of the JVC MiniDV, but maybe not. I also notice that the JVC picks up operating noise from the camcorder into the sound channels. What good is 16-bit stereo if it is accompanied by noise? But I have digressed. I agree with your assessment. Digital for normal light; analog for low light.

[tlegion]

Wouldn't the low-light characteristics be a property of the camera itself and not what format it is using?

On the other hand, with a digital camera, the image is spread over more CCD elements than with an analog camera so it may appear darker.

So... never mind.

[arcorob]

thanks for the responses folks..I just wanted to see if other had experienced this. Sony must have gone south on digital versus analog abilty in low light which again makes me wonder...what do I do when analog is gone ?

I may just write to sony.......hmmmm