KevinShaw
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Apr 5, 2006, 1:21 PM
Post #7 of 8
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Re: [danielrudd] Sony FX1 Users
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My brother bought an FX1 for me to try out and I liked it so much I bought a second one, plus I just added an HC1 as a "B" cam. (Or would that be a "C" cam?) I'm a little concerned about low-light issues but get by in most situations and use an on-camera light when needed anyway, so that's no change from my Canon GL1/GL2. As others have noted the FX1 has a clean, fine-grained image which can tolerate a healthy amount of gain: I usually let mine go all the way to 18 dB or lock it at 12 dB to be on the safe side. I've also been experimenting with using brightness curves instead of straight light/dark adjustments to boost the appearance of FX1 footage in post, which helps noticeably with both very bright and very dark footage.
As far as other alternatives are concerned, the FX1 remains an unmatched value almost 18 months after it started shipping. Nothing else even comes close to being able to record such clear images on a $3000 camera using widely available media costing just $3-5 per hour of recording time. HDV isn't perfect, but it's such a brilliantly practical use of technology that it will probably take a full five years before something better can match it for the price. And if something better does come along sooner, I'll line up to buy that too and have two FX1s to use as "B" cams. Without question the FX1 should go into the history books as the camera which made decent HD videography affordable for almost anyone, with the understanding that it's no match for cameras costing 10-20 times as much. (Yeah, JVC came first but they botched the camera features.)
Once again here's one of my favorite early HDV clips: http://www.videomem.com/hdv/yosemite_720p.wmv
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