Best HD camera (under $6,000)

[kwshaw1]

I would wait until they get the vignetting problem fixed. Other than that, it looks like an incredible camera for the price.

I tested the EX1 and didn't see any vignetting which would be an issue under normal shooting conditions, plus Sony has announced a fix for the problem. Looks like a heck of a camera for the price, and if you need something better that's going to cost a lot more money.

[Blast1]

hi guys..
has any one try HVR-HD1000?

I'd buy a FX7 instead, the HD1000 is basically a HC7 stuffed in a bigger case, not knocking a HC7, I own one and think it's a nice little HDV cam for it's price(under $1k)

[fukly]

HVR hd1000 anyone?

hi guys..
has any one try HVR-HD1000?

[Jerry]

From Sony:


Since the launch in November, the PMW-EX1 has been received extremely well within the

market with a huge level of order commitments and very positive feedback from customers

using the product.

I am still going to wait until NAB. That should give them plenty of time to fix this or any other issue related to 1st gen problems.

[SRsupport]

I would wait until they get the vignetting problem fixed. Other than that, it looks like an incredible camera for the price.

From Sony:


Since the launch in November, the PMW-EX1 has been received extremely well within the

market with a huge level of order commitments and very positive feedback from customers

using the product.

Sony regrets to inform you that there have been a small number of reports of a specific lens issue

with the camera, which upon further investigation by our engineering team, has been identified

as ‘unbalanced light falloff’ at the edge of the picture. The cause of this has been identified as

being a result of a mis-alignment of the center of the lens and the light axis. Sony takes such

technical matters very seriously and although this issue has only been seen on a very small

percentage of the units supplied worldwide, Sony has implemented a full review and

modification of the manufacturing process in order to alleviate any re-occurrence of this issue.

Sony will re-align any camera exhibiting the symptom described above at no charge to you at

the highest priority. If your camcorder exhibits the symptom described please call our Product

Operational Support Center at 1-800-883-6817, option 2-5-2 for advice on how to proceed.

[STORMDAVE]

I have to jump in here as a DSR300 owner. I own 3 DSR300A's I routinely gain them up to 9db in dark reception halls and I have very little grain. The image quality has always been fantastic. I also have owned the vx2000, pd-150, and currently use the dvx100a. The smaller cameras can not hold a candle in low light to the 300A's.
Chris

Lower end HD cameras have grain issues because the camera manufacturers are trying to cram in cheap CCD's (or CMOS) into a tiny form factor and cheaper prices...it should improve in the future with small cameras such as the EX1, but nobody should expect the quality to rival a 2/3" chip high end DVCPROHD or an HDCAM camcorder. The gap is still pretty large.

[ChrisFar]

I have to jump in here as a DSR300 owner. I own 3 DSR300A's I routinely gain them up to 9db in dark reception halls and I have very little grain. The image quality has always been fantastic. I also have owned the vx2000, pd-150, and currently use the dvx100a. The smaller cameras can not hold a candle in low light to the 300A's.
Chris

[Jerry]

You might want to take a look at the new PMW-EX1 XDCAM, its going to be in the neighborhood of $6K, just do a web search for it, you will find plenty info

I would wait until they get the vignetting problem fixed. Other than that, it looks like an incredible camera for the price.

[fukly]

hi guys...
sorry to interrupt..has anyone try HVR HD1000??
i'm planning to buy 1 unit this week for my backup camera...it looks pro,i know it got only 1 cmos and a 'stupid'design of the lcd touch screen menu for the manual shutter-iris-focus ring..... i've heard an issue that it has a bad performance in low light condition.
is it true? i'm expecting comments from the one has used it...
tx.

[mcity]

HDV is OK unless there is no so much fast action or fast object movement and or
fast movement of camera, the DVD made out of of HDV is better than DVD originated in SD. But in above said situation the visuals tends to deteriorate.


Rajiv.

[Khoi Pham]

Is this not because the downconvert softens the picture so much?

Nope, I think you are confusing clean versus noisy, some people thinks that picture with a little bit of noise is sharp, and when they look at the same picture with less noise they think it is soft, when I look at my SD DVD made from DSR300, it is alot more noisy and the edge is broken up, SD DVD from A1 is clean and smooth and the edge is tight and sharp. I know you are not happy with your A1s, maybe you are just not use to looking at a clean picture, I don't know.

[Martin_Gleeson]

but HDV camera gain is clean, even when it is so dark that you have to use high gain and it might look grainy with HDV but by the time you downconvert it to SD MPEG2, most of the grain is gone, here is an example, open up a 1920X1080 file with white background in photoshop, put a 1 pixel black dot in the middle, now resize it to 720X480 and see if you can find that black dot, it is very hard, same thing happen with grain on HDV original footage that you have to downconvert to SD MPEG2.

Is this not because the downconvert softens the picture so much?

[mattmatt]

This thread has been very helpful, thanks again guys :) This is exactly what I was after, real life experiences, not just spec sheets :)

[Khoi Pham]

Gary,

with all due respect your comments re the A-1 vs the DSR-300 is a little qustionable. Maybe you can elaborate about the comment "look better than what I was doing with my Sony DSR-300's". Try using the two cameras in a low light, maybe candle lit wedding reception, without gain and maybe a 20w light at the most. If you still believe the A-1 looks better.... you may not be using the 300 properly.

I'm not Gary, but I have been shooting ENG type camera 4ever, way before digital age, and I do know how to use them, he is right, even low light candle lit wedding reception, IF you know how to use the A1, it is better than DSR300 when using final SD DVD as a comparison, and even as good as original footage shot from DSR570 which is even a bigger chip camera than the DSR300, but if you want to compare original footage from DSR300 and A1 footage and HD on Blu ray as final delivery then that is not even a comparison at all, I was using DSR300 for 3 years and often rented the DSR570, I bought the FX1 and Z1 and did real life comparison for 5 weddings then I sold both of my DSR300 and VX2000 and got all Sony HDV, now I'm using all A1 and it is even better, the new Sony should be even better cuz it is 1/2 inch chips, but I'm not going to touch that until the memory stick get really cheap. Technology is moving fast, you can't think that just because the DSR300 has professional lens and is a professional camera and cost 3 times as much should has better PQ than and prosumer HDV but it is not, yeah it is brighter under low light, it has shalower DOF but that is all it got, I'm not missing the brighter picture under low light, brighter does not mean better, I only missed the DOF of the DSR300 and 570.
Now about the gain, DSR300 is grainy at 6db or above, that is why you said don't use gain with HDV camera, but HDV camera gain is clean, even when it is so dark that you have to use high gain and it might look grainy with HDV but by the time you downconvert it to SD MPEG2, most of the grain is gone, here is an example, open up a 1920X1080 file with white background in photoshop, put a 1 pixel black dot in the middle, now resize it to 720X480 and see if you can find that black dot, it is very hard, same thing happen with grain on HDV original footage that you have to downconvert to SD MPEG2. I was pretty ps when I first got the FX1 cuz I can't believe this toy handycam actually has better pict than my trusty bread and butter DSR300 that cost 11 G when I first got it but hey I accepted and move on, don't get stuck behind time, that new Sony 1/2 HD should be one killer bad a.. camera.

[kwshaw1]

I heard several months ago that B&H stopped taking DSR-300s for resale because so many people were trading them in for HDV cameras...