Should I buy an FX7?
 

Hello everyone,

I'm in a bit of dilemma, I now have an hv30 but I am not able to unscrew the step ring for raynox wide angle lens. I was thinking of selling it on ebay along with a t1i (not in the same auction). I do want to get in to film and make Christian movies and I know for the beginning filmmaker guys recommend the hv series. But as I was looking at how much I can make from these auctions, the fx7 came to mind and I was wondering if this was a foolish decision. Should I buy another hv30 or 40 and attach it to a brevis or letus instead, which is wiser, the latter seems to be but I wanted to some opinions from you all! Thanks in advance for the help!

Wrap a tight-fitting rubber band around the step-up ring, and twist.

depends.

Are you an audio freak?
If you want class A audio for your vids go for the V1. its pretty much the same as the fx7 just with XLR ports. If you are not so worried about the audio, just get the FX7, same quality and specs etc. Hey, If you need better audio for the Fx7, just get a stereo mic, plugs into ur stereo jack and you just sit it into your hotshoe.

FX7 is a really solid camera, but 2 HV30s would give you double the amount of footage
 

One thing that is nice about having two of the HV30's is that you get two shots of the same scene, thus saving the talents time. If you're not into manual functions, then get another HV30.

If you're into having more control over your light quality, the FX7 is a real good camera. The picture is clean, colorful and bright; the manual adjustments make the filming process less frustrating: manual aperature, shutter speed, and gain. There are also programmable settings. The manual focus and manual zoom rings have a good grip, during manual focus and zoom the digital display gives distance information. There is a button which magnifies a part of your subject for a few seconds so that you can ensure that your focus is accurate and crisp.

The viewfinder on the FX7 is essential if you are going to be filming with bright lights or filming outside, its ridiculous that the small camcorders with viewfinders are becoming a rarity.

I haven't tried putting a wide angle lens onto an FX7 yet, so I can't comment on that, but it has an optical zoom of 20x which gives you crisp telescopic effects, which I really enjoy. It also has good macro focus for close ups.

The handle on the FX7 is sturdy, the microphone juts out at the end, and the handle has a record button on it, so you don't have to contort yourself if you're trying to get shots that have the ground as a horizon, as well as decreases the need for pressing the thumb's recording button when the camera is set up on a tripod and you're not actively attending to the camera. There is also a zoom rocker next to the record button on the handle which is convenient.

The FX7 has got a pretty darn good mic attached to it for an on-camera mic, but you'll never get away from the internal hum of a tape deck, the hum is barely audible but I don't use it as my primary audio. I don't know if the HV30 hums, but you can check for yourself: if the camera makes a very quiet "whine" when its on, most likely you'll hear that whine in your audio, try plugging in a quality microphone to your camera and recording to see if there is a hum, use some good quality headphones plugged into your computer to check. If there is a hum, I'd suggest getting an external voice recorder. I'm not so sure that spending more than $1,000 for a camera with XLR inputs is better than spending $250 for a handheld voice recorder that takes 2 XLR inputs, has a set of good cardioid mics to collect ambient noise or voice-overs, provides phantom power, records onto an sdhc card, and allows the camera person to not be tied to the sound person: wires hanging all over the place risk a person tripping and pulling the camera to the floor. For a good voice recorder look into the H4n as an option.


- Nastassja
blog.sporecollective.org