Perhaps this is a naive question and I've been looking a little on other sites , like dpreview,etc. , but I find no info on using the new still cameras movie mode which shoots an ,almost, dv resolutionof 640x480 with a more filmic 30fps and is only limited by storage size of cf cards (or microdrives ). Any experiences ? Seems to offer some interesting possibilities like depth of field and progressive frames . Still cameras seem to have a more filmlike color space. Perhaps the lower resolution might be worth the advantages? All opinions are welcome and appreciated. thanks - Kurth

2/3" ccd w/ 30progressive fps for $1000?How about a 1/3" CCD with 30P for under $1000?! Yup, that's right. There are used JVC GR-DVL9500U cams on the market for under $1000 US! Oops. You mean still cams. These still cams shoot MPEG and not DV.

Good question.
However...
I think the worst DV camera ever made produces better video than the best still digital camera.

I have a brand spanking new Minolta A2 and the 30fps VGA video it produces is good for fun use only. My little Canon ZR40 $300 miniDV camera blows it away. Plus a 1gb card only holds 16 minutes of video and costs more than the whole ZR40.

I own a Fujifilm s602 Digital Still camera, and up till a few months ago I use it for video as well as stills, I consider the video and color to be very good at 640x480, although lack of features like ZOOM and FOCUS during capture are a major flaw, not to mention the extremely poor audio. (8khz)

I agree that alternate video sources are possible, unfortunately still cameras are very limited in almost everything but the picture, that makes them very hard to use practically, but possible.