SH SONY FX1 - What`s it Worth?

stingman · Post by **stingman** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:01 pm

Dear all film makers,

My mate (At last!) is thinking of selling one of his Sony fx1`s! It will be in febuary (he thinks).
It is well used and will proberly come with a long life battery.

He will want about £800 for it! This is my DREAM camera, so i`m a bit bias towards it. I do want it!

Is £800 a fair price for it?
What would you all be prepaired to pay for it?
Is this price worth it?

Your views are ALWAYS welcome.

Be good.....

Stingman

billyfromConsett · Post by **billyfromConsett** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 3:42 pm

Get an FX1000 - sell one of the kids man!

daveswan · Post by **daveswan** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:26 pm

Save up for a 2/3" Scarlet!

Seriously I'm a bit leary of any long GOP format, and the first generation HDV's are not my fav cams.
When Scarlet does emerge, there will likely be quite a few HVXs turning up, at probably quite low prices, and of course they record in a much better format, and progressive too! (I have an HVX so I'm biased

)
Dave

tom hardwick · Post by **tom hardwick** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 6:51 pm

The FX1 at £800 is a snip. It's under half new price and seeing as how you know the seller - that's worth a lot when you buy secondhand. You say it's 'well used'. You mean tired and whacked out or just used weekly?

I've just sold a VX2000 for £750 so I consider the FX1 at £800 to be a fair price. Check carefully - the front element, the cassette deck and all the controls. They should all work beautifully or be wary.

tom.

Mike Shaw · Post by **Mike Shaw** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 6:52 pm

Well. I have an FX1, I paid £1600 for it brand new in January of this year, and I love it. Far far better than my HC7 (buying that was a big mistake, although that one is handy as a 'near' pocket size cam).

I'm not really an experienced camera man by a long chalk and I'm sure that the comments here about other cams are valid . But for sheer simplicity of use - with 'knobs' for everything (very little 'on screen' controls in complete contrast to the HC7), the FX1 has a nice 'feel' - in particular, I like the swivel screen being positioned 'on top'. I look at some of the other newer camcorders with higher specs and so on - but still prefer the 'layout' and features of my FX1. It is missing one or two features of the latest cams, admittedly, but they are features which I would rarely use, in all honesty. Although I shoot in HD, I haven't made an HD movie (I download HD and convert to SD, or simply convert to SD on capture). That's because I don't have the equipment to burn or playpback HD movies.

Just £800? It has to be a bargain - the long life battery will be a boon too. It needs that as it is a bit power hungry. Fortunately it uses the same batteries as my old TVR 900, so I'm well stocked with battery power.

Others know more about cams - but for £800, it has to be a real bargain. I sure wouldn't let mine go for that little - but don't let your seller know that!

billyfromConsett · Post by **billyfromConsett** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:50 pm

Mike - have you considered edting in HD, exporting a HDV movie file to your hard drive, (or a miniHDV tape) and then burning a HD disk of your movie maybe within the next 12 months.

I hope Biaff could accept HDV for even this year - though I've not looked at the entry form yet.

Stingman - £800 does appear to a good price if the cam has been looked after. I'll soon have my VX2100 on offer, and I'll want around £800 in all honesty.

Mike Shaw · Post by **Mike Shaw** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 10:18 pm

I could do that - but I can't really see me getting anything to burn HD or play HD for some time. I had to really work hard persuading the better half that we really needed to upgrade our old two-ton 32"CRT TV for a (3 ton) 42" HD and Freeview plasma. We have a combined (expensive) DVD and VCR player/recorder, and that seems to fit our needs for the moment. I've played back HD from the camcorder on our TV of course - and while its pretty good, I can't see me justifying Bluray or anything. We don't even have 5.1 or 7.1 - just plain old stereo - from the TV! ("Why do we want speakers all over the room when there are speakers in the TV?" When I'm asked that, I can't think of an answer that works!!)

So, its gonna be SD from me for some time to come. If not forever!

Post by **Dave Watterson** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:26 pm

I hope Biaff could accept HDV for even this year - though I've not looked at the entry form yet.

Sorry, Billy, this year the form asks for no HD.

I guess that with the change of competition manager, David Newman as the new man, had enough on his plate without organising HD viewing and projection facilities as well.

BUT please don't hang about ... the closing date is 31st January but David is still keen to get entries in as soon as possible. Remember that he has to view them all to make sure they play properly etc. Since he has a full-time job and demanding hobbies he is going to be hard-pressed to watch them all if they don't arrive until the last moment.

Dave

tom hardwick · Post by **tom hardwick** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:43 am

We're getting a bit off topic here but just to say in judging the North West Region film competition I was sent a Mini DV tape recorded in HDV by a Canon HV10. I couldn't play it on either of my Sony HDV cams, so incompatibilities are commonplace.

The good news is that upscaling DVD players work very well, and are probably another nail in Blu-ray's coffin (for now).

tom.

daveswan · Post by **daveswan** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:35 am

BluRay players upscale DVD, and are getting silly-cheap. I've had some success converting my DVCProHD footage using Sorrensen 4.5 to various HD formats, including persuading the 1080p D-Theatre setting to keep the 4:2:2 colour space. This payed well using WMP 11 on my old Dual-core laptop, at a data rate up tp 30Mbps.
If the movie is short enough, it can be burned to "ordinary" DVD and played off a fast drive.
Cheers,
Dave

stingman · Post by **stingman** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:20 am

Thank you guys for your input. It certainly has helped and `has gone my way!`. I will of course check the camera especally for those dodgie pixels that even `Match of the Day has!` I have emailed them about it. It`s been like that ALL season!

Well used the camera is, but looked after and i`ve used it before. I just love the look, feel and the quality with them.

I`ll let you all know if I get it in febuary, as this is the time he is replaceing a few of them.

I`ve just got to let the wife know about it!!!!! But i`ll tell her that you all said it would be ok!

Thanks and be good.....

Stingman

Chrisbitz · Post by **Chrisbitz** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 1:25 pm

Buy it! You won't be dissapointed.

It's the favourite workhorse of a lot of professionals, and you'll love it.

stingman · Post by **stingman** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:44 pm

Cool. I`m looking forward to it. Let`s hope the money side of it works out.
Cheers everyone...

Be good........

Stingman

billyfromConsett · Post by **billyfromConsett** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:05 pm

I would still exercise some caution. Any camera of mine isn't used in the pouring rain or handled like a shared work tool. For instance, the girls at work use our projectors for powerpoint presentations. Afterwards they just unplug them to turn them off- no cooling of the bulb first.
Similarly cams might last longer if they are well looked after. So I'd advise checking it carefully before you buy,

tom hardwick · Post by **tom hardwick** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:35 am

Ian, if you look back to your March / April 2003 issue of FVM you'll find my Positive Image article on buying second hand. What to look for, how to go about it, and questions to ask.