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Sony HDR-FX1

By Alex Kidman on 01 January 2004

For the price, the best HD camera currently available.

User rating:8.4

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  mknz gave 10/10 on 03/11/2007 02:37

  • Good: 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.
  • Bad: linear ripple in low light and high motion (drummers in low or back lighting), but for most uses, that's not an issue.

  it's great in a lot of different settings. It DOES 24P just fine...not sure why it says it doesn't here

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  nylseye gave 6/10 on 09/05/2007 15:14

  • Good: I like to top mounted controls
  • Bad: I do wonder how the recording is transfered to a PC if there is no Ilink (Firewire)

  I have not bought one as yet.

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  Anonymous gave 9/10 on 04/10/2006 15:37

  • Good: 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.
  • Bad: 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!!!!

  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.

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  Jags Inc. gave 9/10 on 17/09/2006 05:48

  • Good: 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.
  • Bad: 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.

  great for corporate work

  HDV FX-1 is the camcorder to have for online corporate videos.

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  Anonymous gave 8/10 on 08/09/2006 21:37

  • Good: 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.
  • Bad: 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.

  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.

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