I was indeed talking about harddrives for backup, Scott.

@Tom: what are your considerations when comparing the EX1 and Z5 for your line of work? You do a lot of weddings- the big chips/lowlight performance of the EX should be a winning factor for you. Not to mention the variable framerate for all that romantic stuff...

The EX1 is going to give better pictures, period. And I'm talking SD DVDs in an upscaling player into a big, modern flat panel. I know - I've tried it.

It'll also be better in low light - chips with nearly twice the surface area will see to that.

Slo-mo at the scene is a wonderful idea, but in real-life run'n' gun wedding work it's as well to capture what's happening as it unfolds as cleanly and 'normally' as possible.

Then you can filter and (variable) slo-mo to your heart's content in post, and more importantly, hit the undo button.

But I just love the 17 mm equivalent non-distorting wide-angle that I use on the Z1 and that I expect to work on the Z5. The Fujinon-lensed Sonys don't like my Aspheron, so they drop a notch in my wants book.

Also, my charge rates to brides don't (in my view) warrant using a camera that costs the same as a car, so the EX1 stays as wishful thinking. The Z1 makes lovely wedding films, gain-up and all.

tom.

Z5 is going for USD4700 without the CF writer. The Z7 is USD5700. Prices are from expandore.com without warranty. The street prices in the US should be above those listed. The $1000 diff makes the Z5 a good choice. One thing you will not like about the Z5 is the rolling shutter issue that happens in all CMOS cams.

I used to use an FX1 for weddings and gone up to the EX1 this year. I look the EX1 but it is a lot more demanding on the operator as it has to be operated 100% manually or u will get into big trouble any time. The FX1 was quite a nice autopilot cam which did the job well. HOwever I have no regrets for the additional func to over/under crank and the low light of a 1/2" CMOS is indeed a gem for those nasty ballrooms.

Biz perspective wise, u will have to call the shots based on how much yr customers will be willing to pay if u shoot in HD. After all, we will still be delivering SD on mpeg2 for one to two more years in my opinion so unless u like to use timelapse shots in yr wed videos, the Z5 is the obvious choice.

Today, B & H lists the Z7 @ $5379.95 USD. Last week I found some box store that had it for $5099.99. And they had great feedback, as well. If the current rumors are correct about the street price of the Z5 being $4800 - $4900, it makes the Z7 look pretty attractive since it already comes with the CF card recorder.

Z7U all the way!
 

I choose Z7U for the following: Removable lens with true manual, 18x digital extender (very good, no digital artifact), tape and CF record at the same time (a must for event videography), ergonomics, very good price at $5399.95 at B&H, and looks sexy too ;), very good in low light and best of all, mic attenuation from -18db to 12db(I need this when shooting a very loud live band). There are a lot more features, but these are all my favorites. I do event videography, so make sense to choose this cam.

Jun

I chose a Z7 six months ago for the dual record format, the ability to do DVCAM and HDV and the interchangeable lens.

I have now added an S270 a mike tapa nikon mount and now have a great HDV workflow with compact flash and tape back-up producing new TV strands in final cut pro with pro res masters in full 1080i 25p HD 422.

I've just had a good play with the Z5 at the IOV's video forum up in Coventry. I like it - though there are no street prices here in the UK to be had yet.

The 20x zoom is f/1.6 to f/3.5 (as the Canon XH-A1) and best of all the v'finders have no overscan at all. At last! On top of that it works beautifully with my Aspheron wide-angle converter. The same lens vignettes on the Z7's Zeiss lens and won't focus at all on the EX1's Fujinon.

Must look to sell the trusty Z1.

tom.

I'll be repeating a lot of what has already been said, but wanted to throw my 2 cents in.

Z5 + CF card adapter is your best choice if:
1. You want tape back up.
2. You have no plans of buying another lens
3. You use auto focus. (A lot of people here have issue w/ the Z7 auto focus, imho I wouldn't recommend spending $2k+++ on any camera if you don't know how to focus on your own.)
4. You like to put a lens on a lens. (ie wide angle / telephoto adapter on a lens).
5. You want 20x lens standard.
6. You don't mind CMOS.
7. You want better low light.

Z7 is the best choice if:
1. You want the option of different lenses. (MTF Nikon adapter is a cheap way to get a freakishly amazing telephoto lens at a great price).
2. You want tape back up.
3. You don't mind CMOS.
4. You want better low light.

S270 is best if:
1-4: (same as Z7)
5. You want 4 channels of audio.
6. You want HD/SDI output.
7. You want a shoulder mounted camera.
8. You want to use large size DVCam tapes.

Canon XH-A1 if:
1. You want CCD.
2. You want good low light.
3. You don't need to zoom & focus at the same time.
4. You don't need easy non-tape recording.
5. You might be shooting w/ other top of the line Canon HDV cameras & want easy "scene sync" between cameras.

Sony EX1 if:
1. You want the best picture quality for the price. (Full rastor baby!)
2. You don't need tape back up.
3. You great frame rate control.
4. You have lots of hard drive back up.
5. You want even BETTER low light.
6. You don't mind CMOS.

Sony EX3 if:
1-6. (Same as EX1)
7. Want to be able to change lenses.


did I miss anything?

You two things on EX1 and EX3; more expensive memory cards and there is no SD. You have to convert the HD files to SD which to me seems a waste of time. Or has it been solved?

The EX1 and EX3 can also use cheaper SDHC cards with the Kensington Reader and you can convert to SD with clip browser 2.0, but why would you want to do such a thing.

FX1000 or Z5
 

We need to pick up another 2nd camera for our weddings and I'm having trouble deciding on the FX1000 or Z5. Is it fair to say that its a similar situation to the FX1-Z1 cameras? They are mostly the same, but without XLR's and a few menu options? Are the optics the same? Low light performance?

Yes, I'd say (without seeing the FX1000 yet) that they'll go after the same market that the FX1 and Z1 did. So the Z5 will have DVCAM and SP whereas the FX1000 will have SP and LP.

Optics and lowlight will be the same but the FX won't have black stretch or so many menu options.

tom.

Is the z7 PAL/NTSC switchable?

No - the Z1 was switchable, but Sony seemed to have dropped that now - though the Z7 cammera can be converted (presumably for a cost).

Z7 PAL/NSTC conversions
 

I spoke to a high level Sony rep once and and he confirmed that it's possible to have a Z7 converted to be switchable between PAL & NTSC. Unfortunately, Sony will not perform this conversion in North America, presumably because they're afraid of the market being flooded by grey market cameras:-(

Hoi