All of the small chip camcorders fare about the same in the low light category; it's the DSP in the various cams that make one preferable over the other, but none of them are out so far as front runners that I would be comfortable using low-light ability as any sort of criteria for saying XXX is better than XXX.
It's no secret that I prefer 1080 vs 720, because it offers me more options. I have both Sony and Canon camcorders. Both have their advantages. I really like the Sony V1 for low-cost ground use, and really like the A1 for aerial work. The Z1 is an awesome camcorder as well. That said, all our long shots are accomplished with the Canon XLH1, and I just picked up a Canon A1, but haven't used it on a job yet.
You might find this article to be of use in seeing some of the ways I've used the various HDV cams.

The Sony VX2000/2100 and the Sony PD150/170 are absolutely legendary for their low light capabilities. Currently, no HDV camera can come close. My V1u is about three F-stops less sensitive than my PD150. The Z1 is ever-so-slightly better.

John

Great. Thanks again for the info and I'll check out that article.

currently, my budget allows for one camera only, (indie films). I have an XL2 so I want to upgrade to HD for my next short. I'm getting my feature funded though so my plans on that is to rent 2 PDW-F350's for it.

But to own, I'm thinking more about the sony. It's small, it's 1080p plus has the HDMI port. And it's almost half the price of the 720p JVC. Yeah, I think the chioce for a one camera only job, it's probably the sony for me.

bummer. Oh well, I'll just have to learn to light better in the dark then, haha.

Great article. Thanks! Love that that site offers a printable version too. :)

Does anyone here know why Quicktime doesn't support the M2T file format? Is this a licensing issue (related to the need for the MPEG-2 Playback Component ) of some other issue? Is there any hope that these files will be supported in future versions of Quicktime? Converting these files is a pain and archiving 2 file types consumes a lot of disk space.

4:2:2 is the info in the v1?
 

Douglas, Is the info avil in the V1 ... how do you record the HDMI?
thanks!

Here are a link to get you started. If you do a quick search for the blackmagic intensity card you will have plenty to read.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...hdmi+intensity

Also the manufacturer site for the intensity card is here:

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

Chris

switching hdmi cameras live!
 

I read this with great interest... although it only runs on a macand we use pc's here... would be interested to hear reviews of this....


""Live Production with On-Air 2.0
Experience the incredible excitement of filming events live. Included with Intensity is Blackmagic On-Air 2.0 which allows two Intensity boards to be plugged into an Apple Mac Pro system for live mixing between two HDV cameras. On-Air includes everything you need for a live production studio including camera monitoring, program monitoring, graphic keying and recording to disk.
""