I am a beginning videographer and film maker. I am deciding between an HC7, HC1, A1U or FX1?

Question

I am a beginning videographer and film maker. I am deciding between an HC7, HC1, A1U or FX1.
I am likely to be doing a lot of my shooting in a church low light setting. Great audio sound and the finest image quality are important to me. My budget is a maximum $2500.

Please advise me on which of the camera above i should get and WHY. I will appreciate if you can give me the pros and cons also. HELP!

Answer 1

Hey, I think you should check out www.camcorderinfo.com!

The site has reviews and comparisons of most cameras!
Hope this helps!

Also, I just noticed that they are all Sony brand, so also try sonyhdvinfo.com!

Answer 2

you might want to reserve some of you budget for light and audio gear.

test the lighting with a regular still camera, if you set your camera for 1/60 second, iso 100, and the aperature is f4 or less, you don't have enough light. you will have to find a way for illuminating at least the most important locations. (lecturn, pulpit, front of alter, choir). perhaps putting a halide replacement bulb in the existing fixtures will work, or you may need to add special fixtures.

any location that will work good for video will not allow the camera mic to get good audio. you will need a dual channel (two mic) wireless system at the least. more that 2 audio sources will require adding a mixer. if the church services feature an audio system, then a connection to that is needed. Most services require you get two different speakers, music performance and organ/piano.

your money would be better spent on getting a simple miniDV camera and taking care of the light and audio issues.