I just wondered if anyone that has this camera has used the canon's XHA1 or the XLH1. I'm thinking of selling my Canon and dropping down a size and I'm torn between the Sony and wondered the pro's and con's between them. What would you settle on ?

Thanks

Hey Adrian,

I had the FX1000 which is pretty similar to the Z5 and I have a XHA1. There are so many minor things that I really disliked with the Sony cam that I had to get rid of it. The most major annoyance was the placement of the front hot shoe. It is to close to the LCD. You'd have to remove what ever device was on the shoe to open or close the LCD. The scroll wheel on the left side which is used to scroll through the menu and select a desirable shutter is to far into the camera and you had no real traction to move the wheel as desired. The other thing is that the LCD was very hard to use in sunlight. So is the XHA1 but it was even tougher with the Sony LCD. The color reproduction was very nice with the Sony's but sometimes to contrasty for my liking. Over all a very nice camera but those minor issues got me to get rid of the cam. If you can wait till a bit longer it looks like Canon has a nice update coming in the next week. You can also check out the AX2000 which looks like a nice camera as well. Take Care

Just be aware that the AX2000 is the exact same cam as the FX1000, minus the tape deck (with added XLRs), so all Monday's issues would be the same on both cams.

I don't think the AX2000 is the exact same camera as the FX1000. I believe that there are a lot of differences. Lens has Active OIS so elements are different, LCD is different and higher resolution, has XLR's etc, etc ( don't know final differences from NX5 yet not having seen a manual). I accept it has a lot in common but what is different we will have to wait and see.

Ron Evans

Physically and ergonomically, it is the exact same cam, with the exception of the XLRs. According to Sony, the LCD is the same. They yanked out the tape deck, slapped in a card reader, bolted on the XLRs and tweaked the firmware. The "Active" mode for OIS does appear to be an enhancement.

I'm not at all saying the AX won't be a great cam (it likely will) or that it doesn't have some enhancements over the FX (of course it does) -- only that the specific ergonomic issues mentioned above with the FX are unlikely to be any different with the AX. It's the same chips, lens, body, chassis.

Guys lets not start a war here, My issue is that I have a XLH1a and I can not stand the weight and size of this cam and I am plain sick of the ghosting this camera has in record.

It has turned me off so much that I would soon change to Sony just to get away from it. The HVR-Z5u is about the size i'm after....

"My issue is that I have a XLH1a and I can not stand the weight and size of this cam and I am plain sick of the ghosting this camera has in record."


Did you make sure that NR1 is off? That causes ghosting. If you're going from a XLH1 to a Z5 you may find that more appealing. Best of luck.

I have not used the Canon cams you are comparing to. But, like Monday, I was annoyed by the LCD brightness. I used it that way for weeks until I found that there was a brightness option burried in the menu system. Turned it to the bight mode and made a HUGE difference. No problems now. I will agree that the menu dial is not optimal, but to me it isn't the deal-breaker that I read about on forums prior to buying the cam. I fully expect sony to revise it in a future revision (I think the NX cam has a better wheel).

The benefits are a great, wide angle to the lens and I personally like the formfactor (guess that's why I'm here, right). Do you have a major store anywhere near ...or a place tha rents cams that you could check one out? Keep in mind that a Z7U and even an EX1 (though slightly different) would be similar enough to get a feel for the cam if you were holding it. Good luck

Mark G

Thanks guys for your opinions,

AJH

Adam it was pointed out, somewhere sorry I don't remember where, that the menu dial isn't as recessed as the FX1000/Z5 menu dial. So it seems that Sony listened to customers complaints in regards to this.
Too bad Sony never redesigned the FX1000/Z5 with the new dial. It's also too bad that it took Sony so long to put XLRs in their prosumer cams. If they would have done this with the FX1000, they would have sold a lot more units.

I agree 100% with that Michael. Their loss though.

Actually it's a loss for me. As I like the aspect of shooting HVD tape still, and would have loved to have been able to get a FX1000 and team that up with the MRC1K.