What do you all recommend

I am new to the underwater video world. I have done numerous of on land shots.

Now I am getting ready to purchase some equipement and the camera that I had in

mind was the Sony DSR PD 170. After spending days of reading and research on

wetpixal.com and other sites. I changed my mind and want to get the Sony FX7.

The thing that bothers me is that it does not have XLR connections for other mics.

However, this can be fixed by purchasing a XLR adapter. The reason this is important to me

is because I will still be doing land shoots.

The thought has run across my mind to purchase a lessor expensive HDV camera just to

do underwater shots.

So, you guys tell me, would I be better off purchasing the V1, FX7, or an inexpensive camera just for underwater shots?

Have you thought about the Sony A1U? It has XLR connections. I am not sure it is available new anymore but you can find them used i am sure. It also will have some sort of WB control which i find very important.

We have the little A1 and it works very good for uptop sound capture.

Get a small clip on condenser mic for it as well if you are interviewing folks.

ECM-44B is the one we use with it and just leave it on auto and away you go.

Use the FX7 for underwater.

We have the little A1 and it works very good for uptop sound capture.

Get a small clip on condenser mic for it as well if you are interviewing folks.

ECM-44B is the one we use with it and just leave it on auto and away you go.

 

Use the FX7 for underwater.

The reason why I did not go trowards the A1 is because I believe it has the single

CCD cmos and believe that the FX7 would deliver a better quality.

What do you all think?

I did notice that the A1 is price slighty less than the FX7.

I should have added early, one of my intent is to have my work aired on tv.

Wagsy,

I have spent some time on your website. Do you any footage on there that was taken with

the A1, if so which one?

I think you are right that the FX should deliver better colour with the 3 chip.

But, that is just my thoughts. I have not seen them side by side and can't offer a justifiable opinion.

The single CMOS does give out a different background blue colour than the 3CCD does. More like a purpley blue.

It also WB at 18 meters with the URPRO filter in no probs.

It's runs about 3 fstops lower than the FX1 at the same depth on 50 shutter speed with the URPRO filters in.

I'll see if I can load up some side by side shots of both.

I would consider the low light performance on one side and weight and size on the other, as the key elements to evaluate and take your decision (without taking into consideration budget limits...)

Low light performance is more then an issue underwater but you may be happy with a poor low lux performance if you plan to dive mostly in tropical/blue water and good visibility.

On the other side weight is not a real issue underwater (actually it may be an issue in strong surge conditions) as far as you can reach a neutral buoyancy but it becomes a real pain if you plan to travel often with you full stuff.

Concerning the low light performance these figures are self explaining (low figures are better):

A1: 7 lux

V1: 4 lux

Z1: 3 lux

PD170: 1 lux

So the low light performance of the little A1 is really poor, the "large" Z1 it's Ok but none of Sony HDV camcorder's on the market can beat the PD170 on the low lux performance.

Personally I own an a1 and I am definitly not satisfied with low light performance but since I dive mostly in tropical/blue water I am happy with it and I appreciate its lightweight during travel and boat/bus commuting to the diving center; at least until a new hdv camcorder with 1 lux will come out and I will decide to ruin my life with a new bulky and heavy baby

Have a nice (and hard) choice.

Alberto

Thanks, I appreciate everyones input.

Wagsy,

I am interested in seeing the side by side shots. If you don't mind when time permits you.

I do like the price range of the A1.

Also, most of my dives would be in the caribbean.

For now here is a clip shot with tthe A1 at 12 meters with the URPRO filter in.

AE set to -2 in the menu.

Shutter locked at 50

Focus locked full wide

This clip has had no CC done to it. It's as shot on the day..

WB on whatever we found down there.

As you can see if you are diving in conditions like this the little camera works fine although it seems to gives out a different blue to the water than what the 3 CCD does.

More purpley blue kind of thing.

CLIP HERE

It's almost a $1000 more but what about the HVR-A1U. Same basic camera as the FX7, XLR inputs, does 1080i/24p and 3lux instead of 4. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...oughType=search