i am going to be shooting a independent film this summer, and i have seen tons of clips of either camera, and teh NX5U has great picture, and great features....i love the fact that it has awesome xlr control over sound, and revised features....

however a side by side comparison shows the EX-1R to have a better low light picture, and to be quite a bit sharper...

while the NX5U has a6-blade iris, i am not sure if the EX-1R does or not...

the NX5U has "native" 1080 24p, while the EX-1R does as well. However the EX-1R does this in 1440 x 1080/23.98P (SP) mode, images are handled as 23.98P and recorded as 59.94i signals through means of 2-3 pulldown.

overall i am stuck between the cameras, as i am afraid that if i dive into the NX5U it wont be able to give the full sharpness that a film would need....and if i dive into the EX-1R it wont have the features i would need...

all input and help would be greatly appreciated...thanks!

Why shoot SP and which features is the EX missing? SP on an EX is basically HDV emulation, for backwards compatibility.

i wasnt sure, and i love the clear and sharper picture of the ex-1r....but is there any other way to record on the ex-1r? i dont see me spending 900 dollars for a memory card...

i did find this:

E-Films | MxR ExpressCard SxS Replacement Adapter | 1201 | B&H

but recording to a duo or sdhc card wont be as high quality will it?

The EX has two quality modes, SP and HQ. HQ is full raster 1920*1080 4:2:0 mpeg2 35mbit VBR.

The SDHC adapters make no difference in image quality. On an EX-1R you can even use them for full overcrank.

so recording to sxs and transfering to computer via pci express

vs

recording to pro duo hg plugged into a sxs > duo adpater and transfering through a 4-in-1 card reader

these will have the same 1920x1080 full raster 35mbps quality? if so then the only difference is speed correct?

Yes, it's the same.
It's all just data; if the medium works the camera records the requested format on the medium. Data is just 0's and 1's on any digital medium. So SxS or SDHC will contain the same data. And thus the same quality.
It's not like VHS where differences in tapecoating resulted in a (slightly) different image quality.

The only difference might be the restriction of the SDHC cards you use: it may not overcrank or it doesn't work at all or it just works flawlessly.

It may have more to do with how you intend to do your production. I've not used the NX5U. It's clear from all the comparisons that the EX1r is stronger if you want the best images and you have time for careful and deliberate shooting. My guess is the NX5U may be better for run-and-gun documentary type work. The best acquisition would be to not use cards and instead use any of a number of hard drive recorders that accept HSDI.