Hi Mike,(posted 9035 days ago)I am far from an authority on which camera to reccomend. With that said, I have been undergoing the same question as we are making finishing script changes and preparing to shoot our own Indie Film. (Here in Indy as a matter of fact.)
At any rate, we researched the net as much as we could and this is what we concluded. I am sure there will be other opinions and who knows....maybe they know more than us.
01. XL1 if you can afford it. About $3,500.00 for the average lowest price.
02. Sony TRV900. A little less than $2,000.00. It has received a tremendous amount of good press. Some techs are reportedly using it as their benchmark in some areas. This suprised us however we confirmed it on one of the sites. If you would like to verify, I can see if I can find the bookmark.
03. Sony DCR-VX1000. Still a great camera and has shot alot of Indie films and documentaries. Around $2,900.00 low price that we could find.
With all this said, we were determined to go with the XL1, when Canon muddied the picture a little with their response to the VX1000's success. They have a brand spanking new camera due in the middle of September. It is called the GL1 and it looks very similiar to the VX1000. However, it has an flip out LCD screen. It still uses Canon's "pixel-shift technology" or so the Canon rep we spoke with last week assures us. He reports it's finished product is XL1 quality or better due to their adding one of their "pro line lens" (they are not interchangable). This camera has a MSR price of $2,699.00. It sounds very, VERY interesting. We are considering it as it SHOULD be available RIGHT around our two week shoot window. Anywayz...I know this is very long, but thought I'd offer what little we know about the situation.
Best of luck,
--Greg