lOW LIGHTING, PD170 OR Z1?
 

Hi everyone,
I'm buying two camera's next week for making dvd's for live bands and am needing a camera to perform well under low club lighting. How much better is the pd170 be with its 1 lux compared to z1's 3 and is not having true wide screen with the pd170 going to be a big issue? Can you please give me as much feed back as possible. Thanks,
Tonyz Tours.

If low light is the *single issue* you need to make your decision on, then I think the PD170 is the clear winner.

If you care about other things, like true 16x9 and HDV, then you've got to balance the difference in low light capability.

Check out this concert video I produced for a celtic rock band called "Enter The Haggis".

http://haggis.msshost.com/video/CongressWebpf.wmv

It was shot with 7 DV cameras and edited in post! The cameras were a mix of PD-150s and JVC DV500's. You must add a certain amount of base light to make it look halfway decent for TV. The PD-150s were better in low light by about 1.5 stops over the JVCs. However, they all cut together pretty good after all was said and done. This was for a Public Television program that aired in quite a few markets in the US. Full DVD available on their website! (sorry for that plug but there is an extensive extra feature on the DVD that explains how we made it that may be of interest to anyone who is going to try this!)

Oh yeah, we spent alot more on sound! It's imperative you get good sound. This was done to 32 tracks and mixed latter on Pro-tools.

I have an FX-1 now and the low light is worse than my PD150, but as was stated before, what is your final market? If true 16x9 is a must and/or the added bonus of an HD cut down the road then I say the FX1 is the way to go. Add some extra stage lighting and keep a base light on and your good to go with the FX1's.

Forgot to mention there is another web clip available on their website and it's at www.enterthehaggis.com.

These are early test edits. The finished video is quite a bit better.