Unprofessional? Please offer your opinion.

Avoiding a modification of my last, also take into consideration skin tones. You dont know how annoyed I am when I see awful skin tones. It takes a lot of make-up and unbelievable time to arrange lighting. Also, in the sun, everything (often) seems oversaturated (kind of) and the black shades under people eyes look more extreme, which means you need a huge deflector and other things.

Make this movie with the DVX, and you will thank us later, us being the ones who oppose the use of the A1 for your next movie.
 
ncje, I think you are right to be confident about your decision. a month (or even a few months) is nothing in the grand scheme of your production, or your life :) be thankful that you do not have 'too' many plans to change, that is obviously the crux of this decision... I would definitely delay in your situation.

we'll also be picking up an xh-a1 before the end of the year, although I fear that our UK pricing will (as usual) make what should be a bargain camera into an expensive investment ;)
 
If you want to shoot it in HD, then shoot it in HD. Not sure the scope of the project or what you have in mind. I do know that if I were shooting a feature I would not shoot it in SD. Not when there are affordable HD/HDV cameras out.

I doubt you'd need a month of time to adjust to a new camera. I think the DVX/Canon/Sony handheld form factor is so similar that you could be adjusted and shooting within a day. I'd be more concerned with all the other elements of your film, lighting, production design, actors, etc.
 
Agreed... shooting this on a DVX100A. #@#$ the semantics... time to stand up. HD will come.
 
If that makes sense within the context of your current plans, then go for it :) as I said, the crux is how much hassle/reorganising would have to be done. HD would give slightly more distribution clout, but only if the film is excellent... Personally, I/we have 2 scripts that are in final stages of development, one horror, one thriller ... The horror I am very happy to shoot with my current cam (XL2), while the thriller I would really want to put off and shoot in HD ... It's v close to my heart and I want to give it the best chance possible, so HD and excellent sound are important to me (well, after the script, actors, light ... :) from an opportunities/distribution standpoint.
 
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Can I also add... I personally feel that grading is more important than the camera. If I had the choice of shooting on an XL2 or DVX with extensive grading time, Versus shooting on a HVX/H1/A1 with only in-camera grading, then I'd go with the graded SD every time .... But to get a decent grade, you need good light, and a good exposure .. and so on and so on :)

If I had to rank my priorities in a film production, I think they would roughly be as follows ...

acting & casting
script
dialogue clarity
music & ambience
editing & direction
lighting & exposure
color grading (& good clean post-production flow to preserve quality)
camera/lens quality - cleanness of footage
format & framerate (DV/HDV/etc.)

obviously that's very debatable, and don't hold me to it ;) but it is sometimes interesting to put things into perspective. some things you can fix (you can always change composer, or decide you need more time for post-production), but some things you can't resonably fix .. bad dialogue sound, bad casting/acting .. bad exposure/lighting for key footage .. those are the scary things.
 
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