Summary: Sony HDR UX7, a steal
Comment: I owned a DCR DVD 305 previously and decided to take the next step.
Glad I did. Nothing compares to AVCHD. Except maybe real film.
This cam is prosumer. I cont care if it doesn't look like an FX-7.
The selling points for me were:
1. The assignable dial for manual control of shutter, exposure, focus, whatever you decide to assign to it. Having auto settings can be great but some shots require some tweaking and manual control is a must.
2. 6.1 mega pixel still shot. The 305 had a lousy 1mega pixel still shot. Not worth a darn. The 6.1 quality is an option I can boat about. 6.1 mp may be a few years behind, but this is not a digital slr folks. It's a video cam. Often camcorder shot leave traces of interlacing and such that reveal the source of cam it was taken with. Not this one. It looks like a still right from an early digital slr. No interlacing.
3. Mini DVD storage. It seems most the newer AVCHD cameras are going HDD. Hard drives crash. They are prone to incurable errors. If you have ever own a PC with windows XP, you know this. Lesson learned. My previous camera the Sony 305 was a mini DVD storage based cam. When it failed, I was able to recover the disc out of the cam and rip it from my DD drive on the PC. If this had been a HDD cam, I would have lost the footage forever.
4. External mic option. I plan on using a lav mic for interview types of footage. This has the option for an external mic. Super.
Besides the jump to HD, those were the main reasons I bought it. It has all the normal options you will find in a DVR. I used Sony's website to compare shop. Very helpful.
Some things to think about when you go AVCHD.
Editing software is still behind the ball. I managed to score a copy of Sony Vegas Pro 8 which totally supports the AVCHD format and the 5.1 surround audio. Nero 8 Ultimate supports it to but, Nero is limited if you want to get creative. Adobe products, so far are still just supporting HDV, not AVCHD. If you like editing, get a MAC or go with Vegas.
The software bundle with the cam is necessary. I tried to bare bones the install and it would not recognize the cam as a valid drive. Take the hit on your start up and install it ALL.
Some additional cool things about this camera are that fact that if the cam is on and running on AC power, then a screen saver that is also a tutorial on how to perform tasks runs. Not sure if it is standard but a nice hefty NP FH-70 battery comes with it. Thats about 120 mins of recording. Most Sony cams follow the same ergonomic design so no learning curve required. This cam is not light but also not dead weight. You know you are holding cause it just fills up the hand without rendering your digits feeling fat and uncoordinated. I thought this was the icing on the cake and decided to write this review.
And NO I do not work for Sony, but let me tell you this, they have a very fair Customer Service Department.
Dave T