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General discussion

prosumer with good low light

Mar 11, 2011 2:49AM PST

Actually, I have a couple requirements and am having difficulty tracking a camcorder down with all of them: good in low light, external mike input, manual focus (it can have automatic, but I need the manual option), HD, and a fire wire port. Help me out here, I've looked at a lot of Sony HDR-FX7s and HVR-Z1U, but the problem I run into is poor lighting.

Discussion is locked

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I ran into a similar issue when I was looking.
Mar 11, 2011 12:36PM PST

The HDR-FX7 (prosumer) and the HVR-V1 ("pro") are "siblings". They have a 62mm filter diameter lens and 1/4" 3CMOS imaging chip system.

The HDR-FX1 (prosumer) and HVR-Z1 ("pro") are "siblings". They have a 72mm filter diameter lens and 1/3" 3CMOS imaging chip system. The FX1 and Z1 have essentially been discontinued.

As the lens system filter diameter gets larger and the imaging chip size increases, the low-light behavior improves. The HDR-FX1000 is the prosumer and the entry level pro is now the HVR-Z5.

I use an FX1 and like it a lot - even in low light. It *can* get grainy. If you want that eliminated, then you need to move out of this "low end" and into DVCPRO HD (Panasonic), HDCAM or XDCAM (Sony). Another option is to shoot in better light, then darken down when editing.

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I've decided to go with the Sony HDR-FX1000
Mar 11, 2011 8:45PM PST

Thanks for the feedback, it really helped. I've decided to go with the Sony HDR-FX1000. I found a good deal that works with my budget. I wasn't going to buy it because it didn't look like it had an option for an external mike. However, the owner told me it did and he had used it. That coupled with reviews stating how good it performed in low light sold me (that and the price). I plan on upgrading within the year, this is just a start.

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As a "prosumer"
Mar 11, 2011 10:00PM PST

the audio-in connection is a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo connection. If you are using mics with XLR connectors then using an XLR adapter (I use a BeachTek DXA-6 which is no longer made or a juicedLink CX231 - there are others around).

As I recall, it was the FX1 (or possibly FX1000 that was used for the original "Paranormal Activity". Hopefully you have some control over the lighting and can get to the low-end of the camera's threshold to keep the graininess to a minimum. The FX1000 has some other useful things the FX1 does not have... better 24p capability (assuming your video editor can deal with it), bigger zoom, and a few others.

If possible, be sure it works with your editing hardware and software. I would be wary on a "too-good-to-be-true-price". The only way that video will get into a computer for editing is connecting the camcorder's DV port to the computer's firewire port with a firewire cable. No USB.

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good info on the audio
Mar 11, 2011 11:09PM PST

Thanks for the audio info, that will come in handy. I plan on taking a look at the camera before I buy it. The guy said that he used Final Cut Pro on his, which is what I plan on using. I specifically looked for a camera with firewire port.

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Digital tape cams will generally
Mar 12, 2011 9:04AM PST

have a DV port. This is an IEEE1394 compliant port - also called i.LINK or Firewire. The other concern is the computer. Since we don't know what computer you are using, we don't know if it has a firewire port...

At the consumer and prosumer level, I am not aware of any flash memory or hard disc drive (or DVD) cams that have a firewire port.

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OK - not exactly accurate...
Mar 12, 2011 11:45AM PST

If you are using Final Cut, you are using an Apple Macintosh computer.

Current MacBook and MacBook Air laptops have no firewire port and no way to add one. MacBooks have alternated with/without a firewire port in various releases over the last couple of years. All other current Macs: MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro Tower all have a firewire port. For HDV format video, the Mac need only be a G5 or newer (though there are some "expectations" you need to know about if your Mac is a PPC G5). It will be a lot more "convenient" if your computer has an Inter CPU - even better, Core Duo. 4 gig RAM is *strongly suggested* and you will want lots of available hard drive space, preferably on an external drive (not the drive that boots the computer).

Without knowing which Mac, we don't know if you need a
4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable
or
4-pin to 9-pin firewire cable
(The camcorder's DV port is a 4-pin firewire port.)

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Another option on the audio...
Mar 12, 2011 9:08AM PST

Use an external recording device ("field recorder"). I use a Zoom H2. The H1, H4, or those from Edirol, Marantz, Tascam, and lots of others will work just fine. When the video is edited, import the audio, synch, mute the audio captured by the camcorder. It is an extra step, but the results can be very compelling.

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I like the idea of the "field recorder"
Mar 12, 2011 2:32PM PST

I will look into the field recorder. In the mean time, the guy sold the camera to me as well as shotgun mic and a sound mixer (I don't understand that yet). I'm pretty new to this stuff. But I do have a 2010 mac book pro and the camera came with a firewire.