hi there
I am after a full upgrade to my current prosumer camera and I am considering a solid state professional one.

now, i have read good things about all these 3 models and I could afford any of them by now, but the Canon has some limitations even though the footage I have seen looks awesome.

my problem with the Sony (apart from price) is that most of the footage I have seen on-line shows quite some noise at low light (which is how I shoot most of the time), whereas the Panny looks much better

for example have a look at these great low light examples for the Panasonic:
YouTube - Panasonic HMC 151 Lowlight Test HD Leipzig at Night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BopoRQPRLPA&feature=related)
YouTube - Brady Turner Improv Jam HMC-150 Low Light Test (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTWhZgZpGJs&feature=related)
YouTube - Metallica - Enter Sandman (drum cover) / TEST Panasonic HMC151 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6uAjiYSeks)

and now the EX1r, where you can definitely see a lot of "blocks" and noise in the background which i didn't expected to see:

YouTube - Sony PMWEX1 Low Light Test by Marcus G (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC9bcuCB0sw)
YouTube - low light test (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KcXRWDxk0c&feature=related)
YouTube - AMINISHIKI: (Letus Extreme 35mm/Sony EX1) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFNl78adTHw&feature=related)
YouTube - lighting test (sony ex1) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l7H1VSyP-o&feature=related) (ok this one is pretty good)
I guess I am confused, but I struggle to understand how the Ex1r can deliver such a higher quality so many people talk about?
can you help me understand?
thanks again
Federico

My guess is that most, if not all of the macro-blocking in those clips is a result of Youtube compression. So I wouldn't use that to make your decision.

We really need to know what you'll be shooting with your camera to give you the best advice, but my very general advice would be not to have the 5d as your only camera, especially if you will be doing any work in uncontrolled (live) situations.

thanks John
I mainly shoot indoors, especially low light (as I need to shoot interiors of houses including furniture and items and sometimes interviews)

I am tempted by the Canon, but I often need to shoot for more than 30 minutes in one time, and also as well as initially cheaper, the Canon choice means you have to pay more on lenses....

I agree with youtube degrading the videos, but the same should then apply to all videos, so I still can't figure why most videos with the 150 hmc end up looking cleaner and with less noise....

You absolutely cannot make a camera choice based on compressed YouTube footage. Take the time to find native footage from all of the cameras, there should be plenty of it around

thanks Steve
that's what I intend to do...

do you have any links you can share?
any thoughts on these camcorders?