Minimum Luminance: 3 lux !!!
 

How good is that !!

If you properly light your subjects like any decent self-respecting HD videographer would, then it's just great.

Ahh, but the lower the light sensitivity a camera has, the more options and approaches an artist can take to shoot something "properly." I love a classically lit scene as much as anyone alive but some of the best cinematography I've had the pleasure to view recently (from "Spotless Mind" to some documentaries to Soderbergh all the way back Bergman's films of the 60s) were shot more or less with available light--and so the closer cameras get to the sensitivity and latitude of the human eye (and hopefully someday beyond the human eye) the more filmmakers who want to use a naturalistic approach (either occasionally or primarily) will get to explore the fresh dynamics that low light/available light situations have to offer--and the more we'll get to enjoy a symphony of cinematic styles rather than having everything looking like a sitcom or a Ron Howard movie, like they did a few years ago (nothing against sitcoms or Ron Howard). And anyway, a lot of the reasons established filmmakers wanted to dip into the digital realm to begin with was not cost but the ability to be light on their feet and not have these stodgy, lumbering movies that reflected a stodgy, lumbering shooting style--and if they have to deal with cameras that require tons of lights AND an extra guy on the set just to switch the P2 card out every five minutes (or whatever) then filmmakers are forced to sacrifice one of the chief and basic appeals/advantages of digital--the one that drew the big boys into the new medium to begin with. So yes, forgive us for being disappointed that Panasonic will require an outside hardrive that won't be released until a year after the Panasonic was announced in order to have a semi-sane workflow situation when they originally implied a full working camera was but a handful of months away.Don't get me wrong: the new Panny's going to be great and I'll be the first to put up with all its crippling hindrances to enjoy it's superb advantages--I'm not saying otherwise. I just like to have steak AND lobster rather than chose between the two, whenever possible:)

Isn't the Firestore coming out in March?

And you can also record to P2 and dump directly to an external hard disk with no laptop at all. Heck, the P2 card never leaves the camera. Just plug in a cheap, off-the-shelf Firewire Hard Disk, and transfer from P2 to disk, rinse and repeat.

Please let's have this clear! Is it possible or not to transfer directly to any firewire hard disc without a laptop? As I understand it requires an "intelligent drive" not any "cheap, off-the-shelf firewire hard disk".

You can TRANSFER recorded footage from the P2 card within the camera to a dumb drive with no laptop.....If you want to RECORD straight to the drive, it needs to be through an intelligent system such as an NLE or a firestore/cineporter

But can you transfer AND record at the same time?

No -- transferring is done in VCR mode, recording is done in camera mode, so it's one or the other.

lux comparison
 

So can someone list the lux ratings for each of the current 4 new HD cameras covered under the "Affordable HD Acquisition" heading of the DVinfo site?
We have the Pany HVX200 at 3, what about the rest.
Thanks,
Stephen

nuff said.

Yes, but what about run n' gun shooting at night on the street? Nocturnal wildlife isn't very cooperative with artificial lighting situations either. Not that I really deal with either situation, but there are plenty of circumstances where it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to "properly light your subjects." But hey, we can always duct tape a flashlight to the top or bottom of the HVX :)