DVX100 is not HD, it's standard definition DV.

As for the FX2, I'd expect one at some point, but currently there's no real competition to the FX1 and Z1 so I doubt Sony will be in a rush to replace them. Most likely it will be an FX1 with real 1440x1080 CCDs rather than 'pixel shift'.

I'm using the HDR-FX1 for my new film. It's a great camera. Trust me when I say that HD is the best thing that has happened to us indies since the DV and computer editing. It's not my camera, though. I'm renting it. But I really don't see any point in buying the camera when you can just rent it. After all, you probably don't make films that often. Or do you?

The only HD camera that I know of that is worth buying and somewhat close to your budget is the "AG-HVX200" from panasonic its almost 6,000 dollars but its the most innovative handheld camera. It can record on DV tapes or p2 diskettes? Im not sure what p2 is but it isnt a tape. go to:
http://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/cat_camcorders.asp
click on either of these two when you click the link?:
DVCpro has some good DV cameras and in the Cinema Series you can find the good filmmaking cameras. The AG-HVX200 is in the cinema link, click on it and on your right, click on on Brochure and if you want click on operating instructions to read the manual.

Oh and I was wondering if you got confused with the "AG-DVX100A" becasue the one on the site is called "AG-DVX100B"

so anyways this is what I want to buy hope this helps.

That whole Panasonic set up is pretty expensive.

A 4GB card for the Panasonic runs about $600. According to the website shooting DVCPRO HD 720/24p you get 1 minute per gig. So you can shoot for 4 minutes and then you have to stop. Or buy more cards at $600 a pop. That seems a little expensive for the low budget filmmaker.

You're going to have to have at least 5 cards to get 20 minutes of record time making the investment in that camera over $9.000. That's a lot of money for technology that?s changing fast.

And the fixed lens turns me off, too. That's fine for a comsumer camera, but if I'l dropping six to nine large I want to be able to rent some pro HD lenses every once in a while.

I don't like HDV, but the JVC HD100u is a great camera.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Wow are you serious? Can you look at the brochure I mentioned ,theres a chart that talks about the different formats and how many minutes it can record of it.First of all can you tell me the difference and second of all why doesn't it tell me that it only records 4 minutes?

Thanks

"Metal never dies it only hides"- Aaron

IMHO the HVX200 is an expensive toy... not only is P2 stupidly priced and a lousy workflow, but reportedly the picture is lower resolution than competing HDV cameras and noisy to boot.

I can see P2 appealing in niche markets like news, where you can live with short recording times and not having to capture footage from tape is beneficial. But if you're shooting TV news, why would you use a $6k Handycam with a fixed lens?

thanks for all replyers.
i thought about rental.how much rental cost?
you can get SONY HDR-FX1 on EBAY for bout $2,500.
and, any1 can tell me about editing software, that final cut pro 5 thing is way to expensive.
i need a software that around 400 $. but with that price can you edit the film like pro?

You're going to have to have at least 5 cards to get 20 minutes of record time making the investment in that camera over $9.000. That's a lot of money for technology that?s changing fast.
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They have HD type things called the Cineporter and Firestore
The Cineporter is 100 gigs for 2 grand.

http://www.spec-comm.com/cineporter.php

Still a heck of a lot more than $2 an hour for DV tape... and you need some kind of backup system so you don't lose two hours of footage when your hard disk system crashes.

Still a heck of a lot more than $2 an hour for DV tape.
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True, but the AG-HVX200 is the only true HD camcorder at this price range, the rest are HDV if I am not mistaken.

AG-HVX200 cost more than twice as much as sony HDR-FX1( with 16:9 aspect ratio, 3 CCDs,1080 lines and 24p) .
cant find a reason you choose AG-HVX200 over sony.

if i shoot 2 hours with it(sony), how much more money will i need to spend for those DV tapes and other crap.

if he/she can make it anybody can make it.

quote:

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True, but the AG-HVX200 is the only true HD camcorder at this price range

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I'd be interested to know what your definition of 'true HD' is for it to cover the HVX200 and not cover HDV cameras. Particularly when Sony's new XDCAM HD cameras are basically just souped-up HDV.

BTW, here's an interesting thread on the HVX200 in the real world, rather than the brochure:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=61086

quote:

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Originally posted by fd2blck

Wow are you serious? Can you look at the brochure I mentioned ,theres a chart that talks about the different formats and how many minutes it can record of it.First of all can you tell me the difference and second of all why doesn't it tell me that it only records 4 minutes?

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I took a look at the brochure on the Panasonic site. On page 5 it lists recording time. In DVCPRO HD 720/24p it says you get 16 minutes using two 8GB cards. That's 16GB or one minute per gig.

Just under that it says 720/24pN will record 40 minutes on two 8GB cards or 2.5 minutes per gig so a $650 2GB card will record five minutes. And the "N" means Native which the brochure says means it records only active frames. I don't know what that means.

As MPW pointed out, you're going to have to invest about ten large. Anyone who can invest ten large better be making more than five feature length movies a year with budgets of over fifty large apiece to justify that kind of investment. Especially on a fixed lens camera.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)