Personally, I'd avoid that camera. One simple reason, the Rolling Shutter Effect. I tried the camera about a week ago at an exhibition.. Panning from left to right I could easily notice straight vertical edges become diagonol. Very disapointing.

These camera companies should stick with CCD's, at least until the problem's sorted and CMOS can capture an entire frame simultaneously. I have a bunch of footage taken from moving trains that I shot with my HC1 that's pretty useless really, all because of the HC1's CMOS chip and the rolling shutter effect it causes. As soon as I can afford it I'll be buying a Canon XH A1.

The rolling shutter effect that is common to any small format CMOS chip isn't visible at slow/normal shutter speeds, for the most part. Having both a V1 and an A1, there are tradeoffs with both. Both are exceptionally fine camcorders for the money.
CCD's don't offer the opportunities that CMOS does. RED is a CMOS camcorder for a reason; RED is the most advanced camera available at this time in terms of design, and CMOS is the future. CMOS offers greater latitude, offers smear-less images,
I'd have to see your footage to accept that you've shot the rolling shutter effect with the V1, and while the HC1 can easily demonstrate it, it's also only at high shutter speeds, which cannot be manually controlled with the HC1, but can be controlled with the V1.
the V1 is significantly more clean in low light than the A1. That alone makes for a big difference. The form factor of the A1 is very nice by comparison. True 24p vs 24f may be a big deal to some, not to others. For me, not a big deal at all, but I'm not the world's biggest fan of 24p anyway. A1 has a slightly better balance in my hand, but the V1 is slightly lighter with a significantly longer battery life. I like the iris ring of the A1vs the iris knob on the V1. I like the color saturation better on the V1. Unfortunately, the A1 cannot be used for high vibration use such as in skydiving, ATV acquisition, or horseback acquisition. This won't matter to 98% of the users out there.
Back to point, Steve Mullen and myself among others, looked out specifically for this issue after seeing it on the Sony HC1 at high shutter speeds. We didn't see it, and after shooting both extremely fine vertical lines and picket fences, we'd have seen it. It can be seen at very high shutter speeds, so the point is, avoid extremely high shutter speeds. Even the very high end Dalsa, can be forced to show rolling shutter, and it's got a very complex multi-port/5 transistor sensor.

Spot,

How does the V1 compare to the Z1 and PD150/170 for low light performance? I guess I'll find out on Tuesday when the V1 arrives, but I thought I'd see what you had to say on the subject.

John

V1 is less sensitive than the Z1U, oddly enough the DSP does a better job with added gain than the V1. Then again, it's third generation DSP. I haven't compared it to the PD 170, as I don't have one, but it's gonna be significantly less sensitive. You'll love the cam, I'm sure. The color depth is very sweet; nicest I've seen from any lower cost HD camera. About the only feature I think is less than useful is the super slo motion. If you're going to SD output, it's barely acceptable, but for HD...it leaves a lot to be desired.

Spot, yes I agree the CMOS sensors produce a great image, and those in the V1 especially. Although upon testing the V1 at the DMW show in Sydney last week I could notice the wavey warping effect that the rolling shutter produces when I panned the camera quickly from left to right and back again continously. Where 90º vertical edges start slanting to the side. It took a few fast sweeps to see it, but the effect was definitely there.

For anyone doing visual effects work combining live footage with 3d using matchmoving software, it just won't work accurately. The matchmoving or tracking software locks onto certain points within a shot and tracks those. With the rolling shutter effect, those points could end up in different locations from one frame to the next in an unnatural way. 3d set extension would also be a problem where there are straight edges that need to remain straight.

From what I've read about the RED camera system, apparently they're using different kind of CMOS that does capture a full frame, but time will tell.

Avene,
"...rolling shutter produces when I panned the camera quickly from left to right and back again continously."

Will you be shooting this way all the time when you do camera tracking in 3D? Or even in most shooting conditions?

GG

Spot,

You said, "V1 is less sensitive than the Z1U, oddly enough the DSP does a better job with added gain than the V1."

Was that a typo or did you mean that the V1 does better with gain than the Z1 because of the V1's advanced DSP?

John

Typo, sorry.
The HVR V1 does a better job with gain than the HVR-Z1, and I believe it's due to the third generation DSP on the HVR-V1.

Thanks, Spot, I was hoping that's what you meant!

John