Hello,

I'm looking for some opinions out there. I currently shoot in a live music theater environment 6 nights a week. We're shooting for image mag purposes so I don't have a deck attached to my camera. I just use BNC out. I've been shooting with a full sized Hitachi Z-One C for the past 10 years and it has served me well. That being said it's definitely nearing the end of it's life. I need some opinions on a suitable upgrade. I realize that camera's have greatly evolved in the past 10 years so maybe I could get away with something a little cheaper than what we paid for the Hitachi. I've been looking at the Panasonic AG-DVC200 or similar full sized DV cams or maybe even an XL-2. Can I expect similar quality/ performance? How about the ruggedness. The Z-One C is a beast but it's withstood many bumps and bruises. Maybe these new digital cams are more fragile? I'm not completely ignorant with dv as I briefly owned a GL-2 for my own personal use last year. The other advantage I see with a DV cam is having a deck attached. Any and all opinions are welcome. Thanks in advance

Max

We use the Z-One at our TV Studio, great camera. Definatly my favourite.

I agree. I think we're definitely sticking with Hitachi in our upgrade. Maybe the Z-3000 or Z-4000. Great, reliable workhorses....