I'm about to purchase one of these cameras with a Gates housing to begin my introduction to video. I'm a long term still photog with both Contax and Mimaya 35mm and Med. format cameras.
Now that I'm about to take the plunge into UW video, I want to do so having researched my options as much as possible to get the most satisfaction with minimal regrets. Money's not a major restricting factor and I've been considering the FX1 but size makes me hesitate. I hope I won't regret the loss of low light ability ability that I'll get from one of the smaller Sony cameras. I'll just have to do as suggested in other posts and try to take advantage of its strengths and try to minimize my need to shoot where it leaves a bit to be desired. I'm prepared to get one of my computers configured with the necessary hardware/software but it all starts with the camera.
Back to the question at hand. I'm an American living in Asia and I'll want to produce output in both PAL and NTSC as well as HDV. I've read what seems like dozens of post on the subject but want to ask this as it pertains to these two cameras. If my options are an NTSC DV/DVCAM/HDV A1U or a PAL DV/HDV HC1, what would be best for converting between these systems/formats? If I want to output PAL from the A1U would I be better off shooting in DV, DVCAM or HDV? If I end up with the HC1E and want to produce an NTSC video should I shoot in DV or HDV? Of course if I know my output will be in one of the cameras native formats I'll use that.
Would shooting in HDV and converting to an SD PAL or NTSC output produce better results than converting from SD PAL to NTSC or SD NTSC to PAL? How about converting from NTSC DVCAM to PAL compared to HDV to SD PAL?
I guess I just don't know if the DVCAM would be a format that I use often. I'm wondering if it produces better output that might make converting to PAL from it a nice option. I realize there are other nice features with the A1U that make me lean that way. If HDV and DVCAM wasn't an issue I'd probably go with a PAL camera as I'm guessing I'll output to PAL more often than NTSC. However these are part of the decision making process.
Sorry if I used some improper terminology. You'll have to take my word that I've studied and researched this more than I may have let on. Hopefully I've clearly stated my interests. Thanks for your time, comments and opinions.
Oh yeah, I know there's always the Z1 option to get all systems/formats and I've considered that. I did say money wasn't the problem but this is a fair amount of money for someone not planning to use it to make money and of course size is a hurdle. To the argument of going with it I have to admit I don't plan to travel with it much at all but when I do that camera/housing combo is a big heavy muther.
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