Hey eveyrone,

This is my first post so if I screw up or this has been done to death I apologize.

I am a very new indie film maker (just finished my first short) and I was really un happy with the quality (currently using a Canon XL-1S.) and I am now considering the switch to HD the HVR-V1U and the canon XH-A1 are both with in my budget and what I want to be able to do is get that real "Film Look" (24p? I guess?) So that I can take my movies more seriously and so will other people hopefully?

What I am looking for is that pictures speak louder than words, so who has footage from their own short films on each these cameras that they are willing to share? Thank you so much for your help!

Aaron

YouTube - The Battle For Crete (ep 1) || New Zealand WW2 Series (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsqV_ziboHw)

This was shot on a V1. One of the best shorts i've seen on a V1 to date, shot by Logan Mcmillian, he posted the video here http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-hvr-v1-hdr-fx7/469717-ww2-short-film-shot-v1.html

You can achieve that 'film' look all in post these days mate. The V1 is a very versatile camera and i would highly recommend, however it does suffer in low-light conditions.

I've used the FX7 and XH-A1 side by side, so here's a few of my observations:

The Canon is bigger - MUCH bigger. You don't realise until you hold them both side by side but there is a big size and weight difference which may or may not matter to you.

The Sony is cleaner at 0db but you'll need to kick the gain in alot sooner with the V1. I find the XH-A1 has a fiarly noisy image at 0db but it doesn't add too much noise when you go up to 6 or 9db. The Sony, on the other hand goes from really clean to really noisy really fast.

The Canon is alot more complicated to use. However this is because you have alot more options. t could also be because I've used Sony more often so am used to their menu system and their little push/scroll wheel.

I didn't like how the XH-A1 was configured out of the box, but if offers plenty of options for tweaking the colours to pretty much whatever you want/need.