is it just me or does hd seem very dark at night, is there anyway to brighten up picture besides exposure or backlight and black stretch? Is there a brighten feature or something?

First we need more details. HD of itself is not dark. It's your equipment, scene, and setup. What are you shooting and how?

I'm just shooting on an a1u, but i dont want to have lighting i want to use natural likght however i can see in it it still is very dark even in decent light.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the a1 doesn't do very well in low light as far as I know. I think it's sensitivity is like 7 lux... which is about the same as a GL2 I believe

You're right, the A1 is a 7 lux camera - like the PDX10. So the order goes like this:

VX2100/PD170 - 1 lux
VX2000/PD150 - 2 lux
Z1/FX1 HC3 - 3 lux
Al/HC1/PDX10 -7 lux

These are Sony's fiigures so can be taken as being pretty accurate.

To put things in perspective, the PD170 will be at maximum aperture and zero gain up when the A1/HC1 is at maximum aperture and +18dB of gain up, and the A1 will still be under exposing slightly.

The A1 has a slower lens at max telephoto, so it gets worse as you zoom.

Jack - you've just got to add more light I'm afraid. You can grab a stop by shooting at a shutter speed a stop down, but that will seriously affect the way your film looks.

tom.

HC3 is not 3 lux.

Here's a night clip of fireworks I shot with the hc1.

http://hmcindie.pp.fi/movies/Ilotulitukset%202006.avi

Encoded with divx6.

HC3 - 3 lux
Hi Tom - i'm pretty certain that the HC3 is rated at 5lux actually. So its kinds between FX1/Z1 and Hc1/A1. Good post though.

Mikko, great low light clip!

Oops, sorry. Yes indeed, Sony rate the HC-3 as 5 lux, as you say.

http://tinyurl.com/p7s2l