Sony HXR-NX5U NXCAM Professional Camcorder

I went straight to 720 60p and have not shot in anything else since i bought it... Its just so clear and sharp... I'm so happy with the image quality (out of the box), i have not even felt the need to start tweaking, plus i think i'm now a AVCHD convert too, seems to handle fast motion really well.

The real kicker is its just so nice to pop the SDHC card out and be able to instantly view the footage on my laptop, without the whole tape download/cineform convert/render thing ....

This is easily one of the best HD Cameras on the Prosumer level of any kind. The quality of the image, thanks to the Zeiss lens is incredible. I shot on the run in New Zealand in the middle of winter, and was able to get great definition from everything from the foreground to the background. Leaves and grass are clearly separated and not like in most HD cameras all bunched up together. Stunning. Audio real good, but you need to buy an extra mic/mix as the one that comes with the camera does not work for filming, but it's good enough for quick stuff.

To export footage into computer is a breeze, but time consuming. I use Final Cut Pro 7 and it took no time to get the footage into bins directly.

F-stops/shutter/focusing is manual, which increases the quality of the picture shot. Zeiss lens is incredible. Low light is beyond believe and we pushed the grain as high as possible, and the range is quite big. Great for low light situation. We pushed it as far as a night shoot in a moving car with only the inside light on, and you could still get definition on the blacks. Granted in the end the image is way too grainy, but this is an example of how far you can push the camera.

You can use up two mics at the same time. Cards are regular SD cards for media.

Overall an INCREDIBLE camera for most indies and even a b-camera for bigger projects. It's light and portable. Only negative, if you can say that, is that you can't change the lens but then again for under $4,000 this is FAR SUPERIOR to the EX1 series (obviously not as good as the EX3).

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I am not a professional videographer but have been creating and editing training videos in digital since 1998 or so. The camera is surprising light for it's size, easy to operate and has a wonderful variety of configurations for audio. I recorded some samples using a 32GB SD card (very cheap!) using the highest FX 1080i setting. when you go straight to a TV via hdmi to view footage it is absolutely stunning. Even with no lighting except indoor flourescents i found the video sharp and bright. Editing was a snap using sony vegas 12. It handles AVCHD files extremely well (hello, sony) and gives a staggering number of ways to render your master video. I found that even when things are compressed considerably (9mbps for DVD quality) the regular DVD produced is still remarkably good (for DVD mind you) What I like is that I can take the highest resolution video and use it to create either blu-ray or standard dvds. I also purchased the sony uwpV1 wireless lavalier mic and though it is pricey (500-600 bucks) it is easily the best wireless mic i've ever used. Works easily with the camera with the receiver mounting to the camera shoe. You can also use two sources at once (audio) and alter the levels. The camera is just a joy to use and even if you're not very sophisticated you can pretty much point and shoot using the standard presets. I like the dual SD slots too. If you use both slots and two 32bg SD cards (you can get two for under 100 bucks) you could record at the highest possible resolution and bitrate for something like 7 hours or so and transfer couldn't be easier, just pop out the card and pop it into a usb card reader and boom! I'm very pleased with the purchase so far!

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DV tape is a thing of the past. Tons of recording formats to choose from, personally love the 720P quality. Operating in full manual is a bit tricky but not bad. There are 8 preset buttons, 2 XLR inputs, plenty of outputs, which together make this camera AWESOME.

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Product Highlights

3 1/3" CMOS Sensors

1080i/1080p/720p AVCHD (@24Mbps)

Native 1080/24p, 720/60p

Wide Angle 20x G-Lens

HD-SDI & HDMI Output

SMPTE Time Code In/Out

Dual XLR Inputs

Simultaneous HD/MPEG-2 SD Capture

Uses Memory Stick PRO Duo / SDHC Cards

Built-in GPS