I have to make a purchasing decision very quickly on a HD Camera as I leave for Honduras early January. Frankly, my research efforts are starting to overwhelm me. I use a camera primarily in Central and South America, many times in tropical rainforest enviornment. Important items for me are: holding steady for hand held shots, battery management as recharging sometimes is problematic, don't mind shooting manual modes. My final product is on DVD.
My work is video for humanitarian projects, but do want to other projects here in the States in the future.
If you have had experiance in this type of enviornment, or if you have suggestions, I would love to hear from you
Many thanks in advance....jon Rivers of the World

I would suggest, that the HVR-Z1 is the choice. But if Your final product is a DVD, why not shooting with an SD camera? They are much cheaper and often better for SD shootings.

Agree - go with the Sony. Great for hand held steady shots. It is very compact.

Rob

Another camera that might be of interest is the HC1 or the A1 Sony. Single chip cameras but still they are a great value and very portable. For 3 chips the only choice that fit's your parameters in HDV is the FX1.

good luck...

If your final product is DVD and you shoot with a standard definition camera you can only distribute standard definition DVDs. But if you shoot with a high definition camera you can distribute your DVDs in a 2 DVD set. The first DVD will be a standard definition DVD playable on any DVD player and the secound DVD will be a WMV HD (Windows Media High Definition Video) playable on most windows XP computers. IMAX movies with footage from Central America have been distributed using this high definition format and are sold in many video stores. The JVC uses the 720p format which requires lower minimum computer system requirements than 1080p.

battery management as recharging sometimes is problematic

This could be a dealbreaker for the JVC then.

If you do a lot of handheld work, the Sony has the optical stabilization. On the other hand, the JVC is a shoulder mount camera. For me it's easier to get a steady shot with a shoulder mount camera. However, in your case I would have to recommend the Sony. It's more compact, it's cheaper, and it's been out and in use for much longer.

It would be also easier to get the Z1U across boarders when traveling because you could pass it as your personal consumer camera. The JVC is a tad too big for that and its lens kind of sells it as a professional camera.

I have to agree that for you applications, I would go with the HC1 or the A1.

Seems to me like the Z1 is the logical choice between these two.

It has superior battery life, is smaller and easier to carry around. The PAL modes allow for film-like motion, and the CF25 and CF30 modes should be very comparible to the 25/24P and 30P on the JVC. In addition the camera records in both 50i and 60i modes, which are great for capturing rapid motion and unpredictable scenarios.

-Steve

The CF25 and CF30 modes should be very comparible to the 25/24P and 30P on the JVC.-Steve

Please no. They are in no way like progressive.

There was just a letter to the editor from the manager of a huge corporate shop telling everyone how bad HDV was. For some reason, he decided to shoot cf24 and decided the results were far worse than SD camcorder he had ever seen!

I agree with the choice of the Z1, but shoot 1080i50 ONLY. And, be sure to order a copy of my "Sony HVR-Z1 and HDR-FX1 Handbook: HDV Technology, Production, and Post-Production" before you shoot a frame with your Z1.

www.knowledge-download.com/SonyHDV/index.html

Not only will you learn ALL about both progressive and interlaced HDV, and learn the best ways to shoot with the Z1 -- you'll learn before your trip about both PC and Mac post solutions. Having a pre-view of what you'll face when you get back can really help -- especially when you plan to convert to a DVD.

And, that raises the issue that by shooting true 24p with the HD100 -- you are in a position to make both PAL and NTSC DVDs. That's something to consider.

Thanks to all that responded to my inquiry!
jon haskell
rivers of the world

Out of curiousity - since it is comprably priced -
Why not go with the Panasonic AG-HVX200 whuch should be out by Dec/January?

You get 1080 & 24p, in a smaller camera
and the only drawback I can see is no changable lenses...

J

The HVX200 doesn't seem very suited for documentary work like that, unless you were using it to simply shoot DV. The P2 card array only allows for a maximum of about 16 mintues of HD footage, then you have to pull them out, download the footage, erase them and reuse them. Unless you have a few thousand dollars extra to buy enough to last the whole trip. Even if you got their 60 gig portable hard drive, it only holds an hour of HD footage, so you'd need quite a few of those too. If you're going with a non-tape based recording system, Sony's XDCAM makes a lot more sense at this point.

Thanks Bill,
I hadn't realized that the HVX200 records to tape only SD and the HD is only on the P2 cards

That's how they manage to make the camera so cheap. IF the prices come down on the cards and IF the capacities increase, then they'll have something very cool. For now, though, the camera seems best for studio shooting or for where you have plenty of crew and time and storage device availability. Under those situations, it may be an excellent camera, assuming the camera part itself is as good as the Z1 and other new 1/3" chip cameras.