Which small camera should I get?
 

Hi guys! I'm looking for a small camera to compliment my Sony HDR-FX1. I use the FX1 for weddings and I wanted a small camera for back up wide angle shots of the ceremony. Should I purchase a Sony or perhaps a Canon? Will it be hard to match the color and white balance of a FX1 and say a Sony HDR?

I'd also like this new small cam to shoot 16:9 HD, and take mini-dv tapes as well. What do you guys think? Are the small Sony cams up to the task or should I get a canon HV30?

My budget is around $1100.00.

Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

The HV30 or the Sony HC9 should both fill the bill quite nicely. Neither will match the FX1 precisely but the HC9 should come pretty close.

HC9, HV30... toh-may-toe, tah-mah-toh... Either should meet your requirements, lots of postings on the HV20/30, a few on the HC9 if you want to find out more from users. I'd say the HC9 is going to be easier to color match, being a Sony, and it's going to better build quality than the Canon, have LANC, and it's a nice camera.

The HV's are no slouches though, and either cam should come well under $1K - probably around $800, so you'll have extra $$ to accessorize the little cam properly!

I own the HC9, and have been pleased with it. And surely you can find one on Amazon for less than your budget. Course, if you go into a Sony Style store, tell them you got screwed at Best Buy or something, they might just drop the price. I sang that song, and banked the camera for $900, and got a lens out of the deal as well. Overall, I can't say I've used it for any major productions, but for $1100, and a non-AVCHD format camera, I'd suggest the HC9. Anything you can do to improve the quality of the production will help, but it's a sharp camera with loads of features.

As Dave Blackhurst knows, I recently purchased a Sony HDR-HC9 as well.
If you go to B&H, they have it available now for $899.95
That's what I paid for mine.

I got a 0.7 wide and 1.7 tele lens adapter as well.
And the SportsPak.

Having shot some test footage at my church and a church service, I am very happy with it.

It may be small, like the HV30, but it feels really solidly constructed.
The things that were important to me that the HV30 doesn't have is LANC.
To me it means regardless of the manufacturer's menu madness I have a real direct manual control over zoom and focus functions.
Which in my case also means that once the event has started, the small roller used for manual adjustments gets used exclusively for exposure adjustments.

YMMV.