At the recent Asia Pacific launch of Sony's HDR-FX1 HD-capable Handycam in Tokyo, we had the chance to have a quick evaluation of the HDR-FX1. It won't hit our shores in a retail sense until November, but it's certainly a product that's likely to shake up the existing pro-camcorder market when it does.
Upside: The major upside for the HDR-FX1 is pretty simple, really. It lets you record video footage in HD quality, up to the 1080i specification, with a maximum resolution of 1440x1080. The HDR-FX1 records using standard DV camera tapes, and in a neat bit of engineering, can record the same length of SD or HD footage onto a tape.
While it's certainly much larger than the average consumer camcorder -- the initial market is more likely to real video enthusiasts and even possibly for more professional use such as on-the-spot news features. The engineering on the HDR-FX1 has taken into consideration the fact that consumers are less likely to tripod mount the camera. It's weighted well in the centre of the camera, so it's less likely to tilt around too much when being held, although its size and weight does make it difficult to hold unless you prop it onto one shoulder.
It took us some time to get to grips with the HDR-FX1's button layout -- practically every surface you look at controls one function or another, with just about every setting enjoying either manual or automatic modes that worked well in our brief time with the camera. The HDR-FX1 supports user-defined profiles -- Sony calls this feature "Picture Profile" -- so you don't have to remember the precise details of each setting you used in a particular shoot.
Sony's employing two proprietary technologies in the HDR-FX1, Cinematone Gamma and Cineframe, that allow you to simply give your shot footage a real movie look, changing the frame rates and colour tones to better give you that professional film-like look. In our quick test, we found the HDR-FX1's zoom capabilities to be quite slick, with the 12x optical zoom working smoothly either in hand-held operation or on the optional tripod. There's a pretty chunky array of accessories for the HDR-FX1, although it's not clear how many of the Sony-branded accessories will be available in the Australian market. A number of prominent editing software packages, including those from Apple, Canopus, Ulead and Adobe either support HD format video editing natively, via a plug-in, or will do in future revisions.
Downside: There's always a penalty with being the first to market, and in the case of the HDR-FX1, there's a single major quirk you'll have to deal with, although it's not really the fault of the camcorder itself. The HDR-FX1 is quite far ahead of the technology curve, and as such, the facilities to do things such as burn your home movies in HD format that'll be playable don't yet exist. As yet, the specification for HD DVD is still totally up in the air, so although you can record content onto DV tape, and transfer it over onto disc for storage, there aren't any DVD players you could then play that content back onto. You can directly connect the HDR-DV1 to a television -- via component or i.link, depending on your exact feature set -- to play back content, but at the time of writing, the main reason to get an HDR-FX1 would be to capture content today that you should be able to watch on the DVD formats of tomorrow.
Outlook: Putting it simply, you can't buy a camcorder with better visual quality than that of HDR-FX1. Exact pricing has yet to be set, but Sony Australia representatives told CNET.com.au that they expected it to come in at under AU$7,000, so if you were hoping for a completely inexpensive solution, you'll probably have to wait for a few years for the technology to filter down to the lower end. Early adopters who want to archive what's happening now, however, should be well pleased with the HDR-FX1 when it launches in November. We'll have a more comprehensive review closer to that date.
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mknz
03/11/2007, 02:37 AM
rating
10/10
it's great in a lot of different settings. It DOES 24P just fine...not sure why it says it doesn't here
Pros: it's great, does the job. has iLink port...have to buy the cable. had mine for two years and they still work great, even in really tough conditions.
Cons: linear ripple in low light and high motion (drummers in low or back lighting), but for most uses, that's not an issue.
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nylseye
09/05/2007, 03:14 PM
rating
6/10
I have not bought one as yet.
Pros: I like to top mounted controls
Cons: I do wonder how the recording is transfered to a PC if there is no Ilink (Firewire)
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04/10/2006, 03:37 PM
rating
9/10
Great upgrade from my 900E
My old camera gave up the ghost suddenly and, en route to a wedding, I had to buy something fast. Sure, the credit limit was stretched but the resultant wedding was the best yet as ease of use, superb balance and options for holding this somewhat larger camera meant further options with my creativity.
Pros: Ease of use. Top handle with controls opened up new active filming methods. Viewfinder positioning better. Able to use all the old accessories. Filming in HD and ablility to edit in DV perfect for current scenario while giving me a tool for when Blu-Ray becomes viable.
Cons: Still working on getting best out of audio. Not as inobtrusive as my previous toy (that lens, when pointed at you, is hard to ignore!). Please bring down the price of the HD tapes!!!!
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Jags Inc.
17/09/2006, 05:48 AM
rating
9/10
great for corporate work
HDV FX-1 is the camcorder to have for online corporate videos.
Pros: Great on automatic for corporate video - downconverting HDV to DV and then to web format via a compression utilty. I use Sorenson Squeeze to compress to Flash video. Online videos retains great clarity and detail with small file sizes for progessive download.
Cons: Bulky and fairly heavy. ND1 or ND2 filters will kick in when in full auto - can create a continuity problem. Camera doesnt come with ILink (for transferring video to PC) and the included battery runs about 2 hrs.
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08/09/2006, 09:37 PM
rating
8/10
Good value for the money
This is the only HDV camera in it's price range. If you want ANY better you must pay $1000 to $1500 more and on the other side you don't get 3CCD and manual controls if you think this is too expensive for you.
Even very professional quality results can be reached with this when you know what you are doing.
Pros: Good zoom and focus rings. Good manual controls.
Very nice HDV picture quality; good lens, very sharp details, good color reproduction. I haven't faced noticeable mpeg compression artifacts. Quite good picture quality in low light.
Cons: No XLR connectors. Unbalanced 3,5mm microphone plug is not good at any demanding production. Internal microphone is crap; however internal mic of any camera can not be used in any good quality procuction anyway.
No progressive scanning. Sometimes 1 to 2 frame drops per tape even with the best Sony HDV tapes.
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