I'd buy the FX1 and record sound direct to the camera: seperate sound recording is usually a pain in the butt... though it does have benefits at times when you don't want the sound recordist plugged into the camera (e.g. if the camera is moving around a lot in a shot and you don't want people tripping over cables).

Thanks for your reply. However, I still would like to know a little more about your expertise on cameras. I find that the Canon XL2 seems to have more features as compared to the Sony FX1, or is it inspite of the manufacturers say; the Sony out performs. Which camera do you use? Would you recomend any other model for me? I want to dedicate myself full time into film making, therefore am keen to know some more. Looking forward to your expert comments and wish you have a good day.
Thank you,

Bobby Cash

I use a Z1, which is just an FX1 with more features. The big benefit the XL2 has over the Z1 is that you can use interchangeable lenses, but very few people do. The big benefit of the Z1 over the XL2 is that it shoots HDTV rather than SDTV.

So the only reasons I can see to prefer the XL2 are:

1. you'll definitely be using other lenses on the camera.
2. you want 24p shooting.

Thanks Mark for your prompt reply. I too have been very much in favor of Sony, and am glad I could discuss this with you. Further did you mean the model # Sony HVR-Z1U (because I also found HVR-Z1E) I agree that the Canon XL2 will benifit only if I use interchangable lenses which again I find will not be necessary. How do you edit your films? What editing system would you advice? Looking forward hearing from you and wish you have a good day.
Thank you

Bobby Cash

I have a Z1E, I'm not sure what the difference is from the Z1U.

For editing I'm stuck with Liquid Edition 6.1 at the moment, it's the only editing program I own which edits HDV. Avid should have HDV support out before too long, then I'll switch back to Xpress Pro HD.

Thanks Mark. I appreciate your reply and have been studying the Sony Z1E, I would surely choose to go with this set for my films. I will need to ask you the following;

I want to shoot my film on digital and also edit using the digital features, and thereafter make the same into DVDs. If I need to transfer the film after it is completed into the cine format, should I shoot the entire film using the 24 fps option?

What is the difference of shooting a film on 60 fps vs 24 fps? Is it that 60 fps is used exclusively for DVD and television productions and 24 fps is used exclusively for cine, only? Or there is any difference in the quality of picture too?

Looking forward to hear from you.
Thank you

Bobby Cash

I wouldn't use the 24fps mode on the Z1: the camera can really only shoot at 30fps (60 fields per second) or 25fps (50 fields per second), the 24 is faked up by mixing frames.

If your primary market is US TV, then shoot 30fps/60Hz, or if it's film, then I'd shoot 25fps/50Hz. If you shoot 25fps you can then deinterlace the footage with a smart deinterlacer and slow it to 24fps... that will give you a much better picture quality than the internal fake 24fps mode. You can also convert to 30fps for American HDTV by taking that deinterlaced 24fps footage and using normal film pull-down techniques.

Thanks for your reply. My Primary market would be USA, Canada, UK, Europe and India. Secondary, I would consider other Countries. I may sound too ambitious, but I would like to give it a try for sure. As I had said earlier, I would like to use a Sony HVR - Z1E to shoot my film, edit the same digitally and thereafter use the DVD media to launch my movie. I would like to keep my options open for cine. Please suggest me what mode I should use to shoot, should I shoot the entire film on 25 fps (50 fields per second) or 30 fps (60 fields per second).

Please provide me with your expert comments.
Thank you

Bobby Cash

Unfortunately there's no 'perfect' answer if you're aiming for both PAL and NTSC countries. I'd go for shooting 25fps and converting to 30fps afterwards, it will be easier and look better than converting 30fps to 25fps.

At DVD resolution you can easily deinterlace the footage as a single field will be 1440x540 pixels, which is close to PAL height and more than NTSC height. So it will be similar to shooting 24fps on DV: on the negative side you'll have to slow it 4% and then use pulldown to get 30fps, on the positive side you'll get better color than DV if you work with the footage as uncompressed SD (DV has one color sample per four pixels, as does HDV at HD resolution, but downconverted HDV will effectively have one color sample per pixel).

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Lets say I forget the cine option. Do I still need to look into the 30 fps and 60 fps options? Or can I shoot using any one of the two and thereafter go for the DVD media? Which of the two would you suggest?

Looking forward hearing from you.

Thank you,

Bobby Cash