I am a videographer at http://sweetheartproduction.com. I used the HD1000u for the first time in a sporting event last weekend. Here's my first impression.
The goods
1. Auto focus was solid and confident. If doesn't drift with uncertainty when faced with complex audience background of a sporting event; this is a problem on my DSR250.
2. Onscreen display was good. It has a nice array of indicators telling my settings. The onscreen histogram was also helpful.
3. It is not as heavy as it appears. This can be viewed as good for some and bad for others. Some may feel it's made of cheap plastic. For me, not having to haul 15pounds on my shoulder for 3 hours is certainly a good thing!
4. In well lit scenes, image quality was good.
The bads.
OK, this camera definitely does not have all the required manual settings easily accessible like the standard professional ENG shoulder mount cameras. Here are my complains (in the order of my priority)
1. The camera does not tell me what aperture setting it is in; nor does it tell me what Gain level is currently set to. The only exposure indicator is -…… || ……+. This is a show stopper for me. I need both the aperture setting plus gain level indication to judge whether I need force the gain down to limit noise. You cannot effectly tell the gain-noise on the small viewfinder or LCD. And when you realize it during post, it's too late.
2. There is only one ring instead of three. User can program the ring to adjust zoom, focus, exposure and other settings; but in the heat of live event, it’s not easy to change those settings. Again, going back to my complain#1 above, the exposure “setting” was not helpful even when I set the ring to adjust that due to lack of information.
3. The viewfinder will most likely be too short to reach your eyes if you try to put shoot from your shoulder because your ear is hitting the camera body. There is no adjustment for the viewfinder. Work around is to rotate it upward slightly. This can be awkward for some. If you have a narrow face, this may not be an issue.
4. Low light performance is not ideal. I am used to the vibrant color produced by my DSR250 in very low light.
Overall, I do feel it is a solid backup camera. I would not trust it as my primary cam, yet.
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