I have a Z7 & from the gains I get from the CF recorder, I'll take the extra removing it to change the battery.

It is fairly sturdy in my opinion & I think it would probably survive a 4-5' fall. Though I'm not going to try it out. But like anything that has a lot of plastic, gravity + hard floor rarely mix.

I also learned to shoot on much older / larger cameras that sucked down power. Since I used to be lucky to get 45min of shooting w/ one NP1 battery, it feels like I never have to change batteries w/ my Z7. Reality is that in an 8 hour day I probably use 2 batteries, which means I pop off the MRC1 three times in a day.

I actually have dropped the MRC while changing batteries, but fortunately all was fine. I generally use AC power for most of my shooting (and the way the Z5 and all Sony's other "pro" cams except for the V1 handle the connection drives me crazy -- but that's another thread) and haven't found the repeated connecting and disconnecting of the MRC to be much of an issue as long as you are careful and treat it like it's made of plutonium covered with eggshells.

without wanting to change the subject, am I right in saying the Z7 has interchangeable lenses? The only thing that leaves me undecided on the Z5 is that my search for a new cam started when I saw footage filmed on the Canon 5D MkII with a f1.8 lens and I just thought "i want that...."

I'm worried I'll go for the the Z5 and want to upgrade to something that can use a prime lens within a year or two...

Just make sure you have a lot of money for a lens and adaptor.

Rob, do sony have a list of their own lenses for use with the Z7 or is it more of a makeshift method where by you have to buy a compatible adapter to use existing DSLR lenses?

Have you got any examples on price?

Sorry David, I don't own a Z7 and am basing my statement on other people's grumbling and my own experience with the cost of lenses. I would post that question in the Z7 area. I'm sure some people have gotten creative at this point.

doesn't really require much more than googling to answer your question.... eg:

Sony New HVR-Z7* HDV* PAL Camcorder with changeable lens* HVR-Z7P, HVR-Z7E

adaptors around $600, and then bang on the lens of your choice. of course, if you want a 'good' lens then add a few $k....

not rocket science to figure out that to make any half good camera great requires more bottle than technology ;-)

There's another Z7 forum here with plenty of good info guys. I'd like to bring this back to the Z5 and a question I have about audio input:

I shot an event last week at which I was getting a line level feed from the PA mixer. Usually, I use the on board shotgun in ch. 1 so that I'll have some ambience/applause when needed for the final mix, and the line-level direct feed in ch. 2 . However, I couldn't seem to get any audio level with ch. 2 set to "line" input. The only way it worked was to set it on "mic" at -18db. I tried the same feed in ch. 1 with no problems - the line level input worked exactly as it is supposed to. Any thoughts as to what might be going on here?

Sam