I recently purchased a Sony HVR-Z1U for our church. I looked at the Canon, but the cost difference was extreme.

Did I make the wrong choice? What did I miss out on by buying the Z1 over the H1?

Just thought you guys might be able to give me some pros and cons, since i know some of you have both.

Any insite would be great. Who know, we may need another camera one day. :)

Maybe, the XL H1 will give you marginally better resolution, but more noise (according to the recent HDV shootout).

The main practical difference is the XL H1 has the HD-SDI out, timecode out and genlock, and an changable lens. The 24 frame feature is probably better, but not hugely.* see edit

If these issues and the marginally higher res aren't an issue to you then no, you did fine.

Anyway, I wouldn't loose any sleep over it. The Z1 is a great camera. A friend once asked me "If you could buy the XL H1 or the Z1 which would you get" - I said, "Give me the money to by the H1, I'll get the Z1, and book a great holiday to use it on." - there's ALWAYS going to be a better camera at a higher price anyway. The H1 is probably pants next to the new Sony F350. ;-)

* Whoops, realised I messed up here, the Canon 24f mode is temporarily more accurate than the Z1, as the H1 scans at true 23.976, whereas the Z1 CF24 still scans at 60i, and then drops and shuffles fields and adds a pulldown to get 23.976 fps. What I meant was the resolution of Canon's 24F is better but not by much.

I'll say what I always say. Take the aditional money and buy a nice 35mm adapter and a bunch of 35mm lenses. You'll have a very very cinematic look. Oh, I think you have Cineframe25 on the Z1, which is not true progressive but works very well unlike the jittery CF24.

rafael,
Which specific adaptor are you talking about?
Bruce Yarock

Probably this one is the one he is reffering to. http://www.redrockmicro.com/ i don't have one, but boy do I want one!!!

Thanks Dylan. You always have the regrets after you buy something and you read something you never found in your previous research. I LOVE the camera. Not shooting HD yet (PC can't cut it), but the quality is miles above what we were using (standard sony DV handycam).

Thanks again for the information.