wouaaaaah! im so piss off! I was planning buying the Pal HC3 soon but suddenly B&H raise the price to 1599$ compare to 1359$ for the ntsc version...

last week it was only around 50$ more!

is it a strategy cause they have short supply or what? no way im gonna buy it at this price.

Generally speaking, B&H sells PAL cameras for more than NTSC - or at least that has been the case when I've looked at them before. Since we're in an NTSC country they obviously sell a lot more NTSC cameras which I assume gives them a price advantage.

the pal version of the hd100 is 4$ more...

Maybe you should buy an HD100? ;-)

But seriously, if you don't understand their pricing policy then give them a call and ask. I don't think any of us can really answer your question....

hd100... haaaaa! if only I could!

yeah, you right... but if somebody have a good alternative for buy Pal cam online with international shipping, I will be pretty interrested earing it!

I actually start to give up the pal thing... maybe I should get the ntsc and start shooting today giving up the nice 24p conversion...

EDIT; wow, you have 7000 posts!

I think it is quite logical that a US store selling PAL equipment will ask a premium for that equipment. It is harder to achieve, and I still think that the pricing is amazing considering the fact that they will have to pay import taxes. I would go for PAL equipment if you live in Europe and vice versa.

Am I right that with HDV, there is no big difference anymore between PAL and NTSC models?

The only difference with PAL and NTSC High Def cameras is their SD modes. If its HDV, we all use either 1080, or 720. And sooner or later, it will all be 1080i and 1080p. HD is the media answer to globalism... *shakes fist at G8*

Don't forget the framerate! 50i PAL, 60i NTSC

I just picked up a PAL HC3 in Australia for ~ $1500 USD and that was the lowest price I could find...so $1600 seems normal to me.

along with file sharing! ;P

The hdv format will be the same but the framerate will change from ntsc to pal; PAL will be 50i and ntsc 60i (for hc3) along with shutter speed. Using a pal camcorder in america will give you flickers if you shoot fluorescent lights.

I will get a better convertion to 24p with pal by slowing down the footage by 4% keeping the audio on pitch. A lot better than the stuttering compromise with 60i footage.

Also some report having better compression overall. (marginal at best I think)

What piss me off is the fact I miss the chance to get it for 200$ cheaper last week... Im quite on a tight budget and that 200$ was suppose to go on a M2 35mm adapter...

Martin, does your HC3 do 1080i at 50 fps? I was under the impression that HDV was always 60i.

Martin, does your HC3 do 1080i at 50 fps? I was under the impression that HDV was always 60i.jumping in slightly......
PAL HDV cams shoot at 50i. Default shutter on the Sony HDV cams i 1/50th sec PAL and 1/60th sec NTSC. Frame rate obviously is different : 25fps PAL and 30fps NTSC (29.97 for the pedants..)

I'm kind of confused about this. The PAL version of the FX1 (FX1E) doesn't list 50i in HDV. It only lists 50i for PAL recordings.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=356387&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

I believe the Z1 can do 50i can't it? That's why I was wondering if the HC3 could do 50i at HDV resolutions.

FX1E definitely shoots in 50i, in HDV mode and in DV mode.
1080/50i in HDV and 576/50i in SD PAL mode.

All models of the Z1, Z1U / Z1E etc, are switchable between 50i and 60i so basically you can shoot in PAL mode or NTSC mode, so footage can be shot for global markets whether they be PAL or NTSC based.