I've read in this forum that the A1 can't beat the FX1 in a low light situation.
I currently own a Canon XL1 (circa 1998) and the manual states that the minimun lux rating is 2 lux, and the recommended is 100 lux.

The catalog for the A1 states that the minimun is 7 lux but doesn't say anything about "recommended lux". Does anyone knows it?

To me the recommended lux is somehow more important than the minimun because sometimes the minimun is simply not worth it.

I brought the XL1 issue here because I have done a great job with the XL1 in wedding during nighttime. So, is buying a HVR-A1 an upgrade from the 1998 CANON XL1 in terms of quality?

Will the 2005 CMOS beat the 1998 3 CCD of the Canon XL1?

-EDWIN

The HC1/A1's lux is 5, which is mediocre compared to other consumer/prosumer camcorders out there nowadays. You will notice a huge difference between the low-light performance of your XL1 (2 lux) and the 5 lux performance of the A1. However, with proper lighting, it shouldn't be a problem.

The recommended lux is just an arbitrary shooting lux range that should yield the best performance out of the chip. Those numbers are not important at all as in outdoor situations, all the camcorders should perform as good as they are capable of.

I can't believe that the XL1 performs at all decently at 2 lux. Can someone confirm that ?? My experience is that it was not that great in the low light situations, and for that reason, low light shooters went to Sony VXs or PDs. I have shot a comparison with the FX-1 and the VX 2000 in shadowy room, and it shows the FX1 doing fairly well.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Sony-HCR-HC1-Review.htm
According to that review, Sony says the HC1 is 7 lux minimum. I believe the HC3 is the one that is supposedly the 5 lux.

Chris -

There's no real standard for Minimum Lux ratings (so one manufacturer's rating can be considerably different than another's in actual real-world performance). Basically it is supposed to mean the absolute minimum amount of light needed to acquire an image at all. Shooting in lighting at those bare minimum levels will result in a poor image at the very best (essentially, below that minimum, you won't see anything you can make out).

At the minimum lux rating of the HC1/A1U, you could roughly expect it to perform at about the level of a consumer camcorder (as far as lighting needed to aquire an image).