here's some low-light images I grabbed from video on that camera.

http://img179.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hdlowlighthvrhd1000ujf6.jpg[/link] http://img246.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hdlowlighthvrhd1000u2cn9.jpg[/link] http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hdlowlighthvrhd1000u3hd6.jpg[/link]

The only light source I had (besides any outside ambient light) was a flashlight with a 6v lantern battery.

Thank you, I am thinking about purchasing this camcorder as a backup camcorder for weddings, for the case another an fx1 would fail. With the experience you actually had with it, would you rate it usefull as this ? Is it the only hdv camcorder you have are have you already compared with another one ? The only thing that is missing me is an internal nd filter and the fact to access various functions without going through the menu, but I think as a backup camcorder, I could live with these restrictions. Did you personnaly miss the nd filter on this camcorder when shooting at dailight ?

Thanks in advance,
Bye,
David Arendt

i've only done tests with it, haven't done a "real" shoot with it yet. I intend to do some in-room (ie my room) vid's, film a wedding in july & take it down to dallas with me @ the end of july/aug.

I went from a hand-cam I owned, DV, 1CCD. That got me through a few jobs & was happy. This was to replace that. I've used some 3CCD hand-cam's & a Sony prosumer DV camera last December.

I've found it very easy to use. Looks good to me in outside/inside/day/night (I didn't try the nigh-shot, I'm not interested in that unless it's for a specific look). As you can see from the pic's, with a little bit of light (the 2nd pic with me unlocking the lock) it looks a little grainy in modestly low light (the motion looks better). I really like the start contrast seen in the first & third pics myself. However, the pic's look darker then what I saw with my own eyes (I haven't tested on a HDTV yet, just my monitor). I didn't play with any of the settings, I let everything on full auto.

I've never used a ND filter so I can't comment on that. Again, personally, I sometimes like things a little "blown out".

The menu is customizable so it's not as bad as I thought. In fact, I found it pretty friendly. Not as nice as full manual control but I could navigate easily. The annoying thing was that when I set something to the ring I need to hit the "manual" button each time I assign something. So, assign focus, hit manual then use ring. Change to zoom, then need to hit manual again. It gives a warning if you don't hit manual, I just wish it would auto-enable. :)

By motion looks better, do you perhaps mean that motion is stuttering when using low light ? In the 30 minutes I had to play with this camcorder in a product demonstration, I noticed that the camcorder will go to shutters lower than 60 in low light. Try setting auto slow shutter off and fixing shutter to 60 (50 for pal) this should give better motion (but unfortunately a bit more noise). It would be nice if you could post the second shot in the same lighting conditions with shutter 60 (50 for pal).

I actually played with the shutter. It's pretty cool. Wasn't exactly sure what it would do until I captured the tape. :)

What I mean by the image looks better in motion is that I was holding the camera with one hand, had the key (as you can see) in the other, & was balancing the light. :D It's full 29.97fps @ that quality.

i'll get some footage I shot with the camera up for you in the morning/afternoon. It'll only be @ 720p (to be smaller) but it's the same 1080i rendered down, no changes besides that.

EDIT: here's some footage:

http://www.sterlingshield.net/home/steve/video/Outside
http://www.sterlingshield.net/home/steve/video/Inside
http://www.sterlingshield.net/home/steve/video/Outside