Thanks Chris, I definitely understand your statement.

Chris is the fellow whom I was going to buy the new in box HD100A from....his price is very good and anyone looking to buy one should contact him- he's in NY!

(He's a standup guy as well and even agreed with me about my concerns of the HD100 and the FX1 and thought the FX1 was better for my purposes- no hint of dissatisfaction of my backing out of the possible sale- he get's thumbs up from me!)

I'm in Chris Basmas's spot. I started out on pro gear from day one having never touched consumer or prosumer gear, and only lately have I started shooting video on prosumer gear like the XL1. When you move between pro and consumer gear you start to find that all of the features that consumer gear gives you to "help" like autofocus, image stabilization and auto exposure are really just getting in your way. In the end they can give a poor videographer acceptable video, but will drag great videography down into mediocrity. The HD100 is the only piece of consumer gear that I would even consider using because it's designed like a piece of professional equipment even at a consumer pricepoint.

View some footage/try the camera
 

Steve,

Have a look at some of the footage on my site, www.vidprostudios.com ... all shot hand held/on the shoulder.... most of which is fast moving sports ... in some very challenging (uncontrollable) lighting situations, almost all footage shot in 30p.
The most recent skateboarding shots "Hastings" are the most dynamic and a good demo of what can be done without a tripod, completely manual settings, manual zoom handle etc ...
I run with the A/B set up which, as stated previously in this thread provides excellent and neccessary balance as well as power for many hours.
My suggestion is; If you are really not sure, rent the camera for a weekend and see what it can do for you. I would also suggest that you rent the camera already prepared with the knowledge of all the recommended camera settings etc ... (see Paola's V3 settings in the scene files sticky thread)
Best of luck
cheers
Pete

PS: When shoulder mounted, I shoot with the viewfinder extended out to my left eye. This has made a much steadier camera for me ...

It's good to hear that IS isn't really necessary on shoulder-mount cameras. I just got back from a camping trip & I took my FX1 to shoot some HD video at the beach (the Lake Michigan coastline is a beautiful place). Anyway, I was shooting a lot of things at full telephoto & was considering how it might look without IS. I tried turning it off & it became very shaky and consumer camera-like. Naturally this is because of it's smaller size & the fact that it's not steadied by more weight & resting on my shoulder. I was interested to see how the HD-100 would handle in the same situation as I'm getting one fairly soon.

The FX1 is a great camera for many reasons. I'm glad I'll have it in my arsenal for when I need it. I only wish it were a bit more versitle in rendering highlights & shadows, but the Z1U goes a little farther down that road. Looking forward to the quality of the HD100.

Great points, but for now the FX1 is going to be the camera for me...I'm also buying a new Intel Mac to edit the HDV files as my dual 2.5G5 really isn't happy with 1080i footage (although it does well with 720p).....so today is gonna be a costly day for me.

Thanks for all the remarks and support guys- this is a great online community.

Off to B&H in a few hours......