Sony HVR-Z1U

[Clay Hayes]

Does anyone have any experience with the Sony HVR-Z1U.  It's one of the higher end, profesional cameras.  I was looking to buy something to shoot a documentary with and was looking for some input.

Thanks,

ch

[dave hiltz]

the Z1U is a great camera, I film for a well known outdoor hunting show and that is what I use, I also have the A1 which is smaller and that camera does just as good of a job. It is great in the tree stand.  The quality of the footage that both of these cameras take is great.  If you have any other questions let me know, glad to help, Dave.

[swampjoe]

Clay I've sold a bunch of those cameras to be used in diverse environments from the Arctic to Afghanistan so I can tell you that they are pretty rugged as well.

[Clay Hayes]

Thanks for the info.  I haven’t looked into the A1 yet, but I'll do that.

Is there a different model that uses a hard drive instead of MiniDV to store footage?  Would there be much of an advantage?  I'm just now trying to learn about this stuff and I'm a little technologically challenged.

[swampjoe]

Clay, Sony has just come out with a new model, the HVR-Z7U, that records to a standard flash memory card as well as tape.  It also accepts different lenses, which may be an advantage for you depending on what you're shooting.  

I had mentioned Afghanistan above - those Z1U's are with Canadian armed forces in Kandahar and they've just purchased a whack of Z7's in the hope that the flash card recording will save them getting their tape transports full of sand:).  

Here in Canada the Z1 goes for around $5200 and the Z7 is about $6400, not sure about the States but that should give you an idea of the premium for the Z7.

Don't worry about the technology Clay, you're coming in at a good time - the new formats and advent of HD mean there's good value for your money and the stuff is easier to use than ever.  

Hope that helps and have a good one!