What I need from either a Sony HDR FX1 or FX7
 

Here's my second post for the day. I'm upgrading all our equipment for our shooting gigs and it is imperative that I do it very soon. Now for camcorders.

I'm looking at either a Sony HDR (there's no Sony HDV, right?) FX1 or FX7. I've seen an FX1 available for $999 and the FX7 for $1300. It's mandatory that I shoot in high-def from now on. I also need to buy a 0.7x lense because this is all POV, anyplace I can get a zoom through 0.7x lense that's less than $500?

What I need to know from you guys is what do I need to buy to make this work properly. After shooting I need to be able to hook this up to a system with windows xp and download the video from the camera afterwards.

Give me a list of everything I need in the package you recommend to make a decent POV for huge cumshot videos and do all the computer uploading myself. We're pure amateurs right now, but we'll get there. I don't think the weight of the FX1 will be too much of a burden for my actor, will it?

Any decent response is appreciated, any nonsense and you can "go fuck yourself!"

I'll be checking this post periodically today.

You will be hard pressed to find a 0.7x lens for those cameras for $500.00 that does not create a vignette. I'd be interested in finding one too.

There are a number of software packages that you can use to import the video and edit it. Pinnacle Studio or Sony's Vegas Video are some of the more popular and less expensive options. You can get them for $80 to $150 or so. Features along with price go up from there.

As for your PC, you will want at least 7200 RPM drives, a good processor and a lot of ram. And of course a firewire port.

My current video editing machine is a Dual Core 3ghz machine with Crucial Ballistix 3GB DDR3 12880 memory and multiple 1TB 7200 RPM SATA HDs.

That'll work.

Any advice for the camera.

Just bite the bullet and get the $700 0.7x zoom lense?

I use an FX1 quite a bit. It's a decent camera for what most people in this business do.

If you are truly that concerned about spending another $200.00 for the better lens then maybe you should reconsider your role in this industry. :2 cents:

I wouldn't even buy the $700.00 lens unless I could put it on the camera (or one similar in their store) and make sure it is decent quality. If it costs $700.00 and gives me the results I want THEN I would buy it.

I used an FX7 for quite a while and loved it.