…ROCKS.
That’s it. Full review.
Oh, you want some more? Okay then–
I just got back from Snaders 2007, & yet another ‘heads-up’ between the top HDV cam’s. What are my comparitors?
- visual quality
- useability
- features
…in that order. Basically, I figure what’s the use of a great lens, if you can’t focus it? (*cough* Canon *cough*). Or if the chips display a ‘messy’ image, etc. We’re comparing ‘complete packages’ here, lens + viewfinder + chips + recording format. The object being, how to get the best looking image out of the camera, suitable for broadcast and/or film-out (cf Billups’ book).
Another guideline is “utility”, or if you will, “simplicity”. If in order to make a camera work at its best, one needs tons of outboard peripherals, this is not a good thing. Example: if you have a great lens, but the viewfinder’s low quality necessitates using a broadcast monitor in order to focus accurately, you’ve just eliminated ‘run & gun’ type shooting. Correspondingly, if you need an extended “DOF Adapter”, then why use a small-format camera? You might as well shoot with a shoulder-cam, & get the better chips & better recorded format, & when you tally rental fees, might cost nearly the same.
Beyond all that, here’s the brass tacks:
Despite all the FUD re. the difficulty of getting short DOF w/ the 1/4″ chips of the V1U, getting short DOF is actually quite easy… due to the length of the lens (20x vs. the normal 12x of the Z1U, HVX200, etc). From 5′ away, I was able to shoot face-size objects, & throw objects 5″ further away, significantly out of focus. This is incredible– usually, one expects needing to sit waaay back, & zoom waaay in to get this kind of short-DOF performance. Nope– instead, at 5′ away, you’re well-within the normal (read: tight) tolerances available to the indie filmmaker, shooting in a borrowed apartment. You can easily shoot a cinematic two-shot in a living-room, from 5′ away, & rack between their faces.
And the focus was a dream, due to the excellently-executed peaking circuit. Multiple levels, multiple colors (I just chose white / bright), & a very narrow ‘notch’ of range, worked flawlessly together to create a focusing experience that was far closer to the CineAlta than I’d've ever expected.
Please check out my last review re. my experience focusing the other 3 cams… from the low-res of the XL-H1, to the wide peaking ‘notch’ of the JVC, & the ‘subtle’ peaking of the Z1, I was just not too impressed with the whole idea of peaking on the handicam form-factor. Well, hold the presses– peaking on the V1U reminded me strongly of the brightness, crispness, & tightness displayed by the CineAlta viewfinder standing right next to it… which cost ~3x the price of the entire V1 unit 
I was actually rack-focusing a cheeto, from the front to the back, & then further back to the pretzel, & then out of the bowl to the gambling chips nearby. This is just astonishing… you just don’t get this kind of short DOF with the HVX (or PD150)… & (almost) that much w/ the JVC. This tells me that the lens-length is key here, not the chip-size.
& let’s not get started w/ CMOS… more contrast-range than CCD, & better: more ‘organic’ response. From skin-colors which are reproduced more believably, to what you can only call an ‘organic knee’ that occurs when you shoot blown-out/specular highlights (try shooting a light-bulb, or a candle, in a dark room)… the image looks smooth, organic, like one of those Kodak adverts… completely missing the ‘crunchyness’ which occurs in CCD-generated footage.
Plus 24p. Plus a pretty-good cinegama mode. Plus fantastic form-factor & button-layout.
This is the “PD150 with 24p” we’ve been waiting for all these years… but look–
- 1080/24p
- 3x CMOS chips
- fantastic lens
- truly best-in-class viewfinder
- histogram to monitor image density
- peaking -and- zebras, at the same time
…simply brilliant. An absolute winner.
Mortgage something, honey. Me gots to buy…