HC1 or A1U?
 

Ok, my situation. I'm going to move into HDV. I've been trying to find the differences between the HC1 and the A1U. So far I've found these:

A1U comes with the XLR adapter/ the "black stretch" option and a shotgun mic. What other differences are there?

I really like the idea of having 2 balanced audio imputs, but I don't know if I want to spend the extra money for it.

If someone could just list any differences that I don't know about, that would help me decide.

Also, does anyone edit HDV in FCP 5 with an iMac G5? If so, tell me your experiences with it. Thanks.

May not be that much extra money. Sony is offering $500 rebate on A1U- You can net it at 1999 at B&H.

Still $500 more. The HC1 goes for 1499 and B&H. $500 could buy a lot of accessories. :)

I have seen a lot of discussion on the difference between the two, and you seem to have them covered. And mic is not supposed to be that great on A-1, so that is not a benefit.

I've had to make the decision on two Sony purchases PD 150 or VX 2000 and
Z1 or FX1. I ended up with VX and FX1 for same reasons you cite..

Anyone have any experience with this? http://www.beachtek.com/dxa2s.html

I know it's probably a lower end piece of hardware for this forum, but I figured I could get the HC1, then add this when I need the better audio option.

If you go with an HC1 and the BeachTek, you've closed about half the gap in price between the HC1 and A1U already, and then you need a microphone to plug into the Beachtek (the shotgun that comes with the A1U may not be a Sennheiser, but it's got to beat the mic in the HC1, so it is worth something).

cine gamma
black stretch
underscan / bw - viewfinder
XLR
- go for A1.

A1
 

A1. You want the balanced XLR's.

For $500, you get:

XLR inputs on an amazing audio module (at least $250)
A pretty decent microphone ($200)
Better lens hood w/ auto lens cap ($70 for the A1's lens hood)
Traditional shoe adapter (priceless)
Black Stretch
DVCAM
Peaking
B/W EVF
Full scan mode
CinemaTones
CinemaFrames
Excellent timecoding
and much, much more...

There are over 40 features that the A1 has over the HC1, making $500 a small price to pay.

However, it all depends on your needs. What do you need the camcorder for? If all you're doing is family videos, save the money and buy some accessories. If you plan on doing some indie-filmmaking, I would definetly go for the A1 as XLR will be essential.

I use DXA-4 on my VX 2000 and my FX1, and it works fine.

I'd pick the A1U too, especially if you're considering the Beachtek. You'll have to un-screw the Beachtek from the HC1 everytime you change tapes. It's already a big hassle if you're using a tripod. Stretching your money a little now, can save you a lot of aggravation later.

An even bigger plus for me, the Sony A1U also has phantom power, which gives you more choices when selecting and using mics.

I think i read someewhere that somebody said that the Beachtek modules were a problem with HC1 due to bottom-loading. May be true, may not.

Something to consider.

Sorry Mike - i hadn´t read your post when i posted about the bottom-loading thing !
I agree about the XLR module with phantom power - it keeps your options open for a much bigger selection of mics going forward.

Wow, awesome help! Thanks everyone. Couple of questions


Why is a B&W viewfinder better then a color one?

can someone explain full scan mode?

Thanks


Oh, I'd be using the camera for a wide range of projects from home use to lite wedding use to commercials for my church, ie skits and or topical illustrations. Thanks.

Actually another difference that I caught was the button on the right side of the lens barrel. On the HC1 it is a flash adjust button (?). But on the A1U, it is a user assignable button. HUGE!
I got this through documentation so if an owner can verify this, I would love to know.

meaning you can program the buttons? No way!

I forgot about bottom loading issue. That is big ith the XLR adapters. So go A1U. They do have tripod adapters to allow tape change on tripod, but that won't work well with XLR adapter.

Like a different computer?

Editing without a second internal dedicated media drive, or the abolity to create a second firewire bus is a huge factor in DV, and certainly a bigger factor when working with FCP 5 which you need to native HDV editing.

A single firewire bus iMac is NOT optimal.

Why is a B&W viewfinder better than a color one?

Because you can focus more accurately...if you use the manual focus.

Sorry, I missed the question about Full Scan.

Makes possible to record by all pixels regardless of the zoom possition.

OK, now I'm wondering if my skill level is even up to the task for this camera. I'll be living in China for about 10 months to teach English, and I wanted to bring back some good HDV footage to use for a short documentary on Student University Life in China. I like the idea of having lots of controls, but I don't even know where to start learning. I'm used to a PV-GS150! This will be a big leap forward! haha.

I'd suggest putting an emphasis on practicing manual focusing first (and using the push auto - at least I hope an A1U has push auto, but I'm not 100% certain). Shooting HD is much more sensitive than SD to the precision of focusing (a good reason to want the B/W viewfinder). It's like anything else, put your mind to it, practice, and you'll keep improving your skills.

full scan / underscan: shows really everything of the recorded image. Consumer Cams and even an XL2 only show the action / title safe area plus some additional pixels in the VF, so you simply don´t see what´s up on the edges! p.ex. if the mic is in at the edge you don´t see it or you need an additional underscan control Monitor to check this.
Therefore the usable image area decreases about 15 - 20%, real resolution / pixel loss.

You are absolutely up to it--- even if you have to put onfull auto. Don't let techno freaks destroy your opportunity to get some great hdv footage. Just shoot it and enjoy it.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm leaning towards the A1U. Now I just have to get myself ready to edit HDV on a iMac 17". I guess since iMovie is HDV ready, why would it totally tax my system out in FCP?

I'm a PC man myself- so someone else will have to give you heads up there. But if system on Imac isn't up to it, you can shoot HDV, and downconvert to DV temporarily, as you do your initial shooting. I'm thinking that you're going to have access to some pretty good deals in PC equipment, DV equipment, and software while abroad, and if not, there is nothing to say you can't do your edit when you get back..

B/W viewfinder: As stated, it is much easier to focus when watching something in B/W as contrast and edges are more evident. You'll see what I am talking about.

The neat thing about the A1, is that you can have both, the viewfinder and LCD, simultaneously on at the same time. This provides you the ability of using the B/W VF for focusing, while being able to see the colors your frame is emcompassing. Really convenient!

Assignable button: I definetely forgot to mention that on my list of main features, but that is indeed true. You can assign a function to that button quite easily such as stabilization, white balance, zebra, etc. Very, very useful. I recommend you assign it to white balance as it will be something you'll constantly be tweaking.

a bit delayed with the response, but im sure you dont mind.

pretty good for what its doing. strongly suggest against multitracking and massive effects. even slower going through an intermediate codec. just make sure you master in another codec, such as dvcpro hd so you dont get some crazy artifacting.

but heck, i dont care, its a mac :-)

China
 

Hi Alex:

Been to China. You are definitely up to the A1. In 10 months, you will grow into the camera, and with the extras on it, and the extra 500 bucks, you will thank yourself for the extra margin the camera will give you.

Jack

Audio is important
 

I think the A1 is worth it just for the XLR. You will just have so many more options with XLR inputs, even if the mic that comes with it isn't great. But I'd be willing to bet it's worlds better than the mic that comes with the HC1! -- and at least with the A1 you can always get a better mic. (even wireless lav) --

The A1 appears to be the HD equivalent/replacement to the PDX-10 -- which I had and used extensively a couple of years ago, though the A1 is not 3CCD.

Full Scan Mode has something to do with image stabilization, I think. For example, in full scan mode the camera would scan the entire image (say 1920x1080), but for the image to be stabilized it has to use some of those pixels to auto-adjust the image, reducing the resolution to, say, 1440x810... So in Full Scan Mode, you get full-resolution 1080i --
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/archive/i...p/t-46534.html

Or, as has already been suggested, full scan might just show you the entire image in the viewfinder so you don't miss anything on the edges...