Sony HDR-FX1000

[Nate2006]

Sony has built a new camcorder geared for low-light much like the Z7 (which is what we had originally been looking at), but is at a much more relieving price tag of $3,200 vs the Z7 at $5000. Unlike most, it offers true 1080p, at 24p and 30p, and really unlike most, sports the full 1920x1080 res, vs the typical 1440x1080. It uses minidv, which many of us prefer, so this may be just the camera we've been waiting for even moreso than the Z7 (I hope).

Can we get a feature smackdown between this bad boy and the Z7, anyone?

[HankCastello]

Nate, note that while the 1000 does capture 1920 images, it records them in the hdv format which is 1440 which sort of negates the "advantage" as far as I can tell.  Also, this is a CMOS camera, thus it comes with all the faults that CMOS is noted for.

[Nate2006]

Yep, the 1920x1080 being brought down to 1440x1080 is correct now that I have checked in some more detail. CMOS on the other hand is apparently being better utilized by Sony with both of these cameras. Much of what I had heard (and seen on a huge screen-footage from the Z7 at a reception) at WEVA and online was that these new cameras sporting 3CMOS rather than 3CCD are actually performing better than their 3CCD counterparts. The picture quality of the reception footage shown in 1080p (really 1080p as it was recorded at 24p, but obviously was not 1920) was quite impressive given the lowlight situation as any of us would expect of a reception, it was color rich, and minimal noise, these cameras are certainly the best HDV for lowlight so far with their 1.5lux ratings, think the next best is at 3lux...

I don't want to draw any conclusions just yet, we should look in to this some more, but I do have a hunch Sony may really be getting a good handle on the long-mentioned capabilities of CMOS, and especially in using 3 of them, one for the reds, one for blue, and one for green, just like the CCD's. It has been for a couple years been said eventually CMOS would be utilized properly enough to replace CCD altogether, maybe it's already starting, but then again, it could just be a breakthrough with still some more steps to take.

[HankCastello]

I need to spend more time playing with our Canons to see what we can wring out of them in low light, but out of the box - before messing with the myriad of settings - there is no way our Canons come close to 1.5 Lux with acceptable grain.  There has never been one camera that was best for all jobs and it just may be that the CMOS cams are becoming the best tools for wedding work, even if their quirks make them unsuitable for some jobs.