Im going crazy trying to decide. I just sold some photo gear and I have $3,300 to spend bit I have to buy a DSLR too. Im looking at a 2 options

Rebel XTI DSLR $665
Letus35 FE $700
HV-20 $1,030
________
$2,395


Rebel XTI DSLR $665
Sony FX7 $2,600
_________
$3,265


Having the HDR-HC3 right now I find that the auto focus seems to focus on the background when trying to focus on my kids and it makes me crazy.

I played with the FX7 over the weekend and found it to have lots of manual controls and the 20X zoom is awesome and the focus seems to be WAY BETTER. With the 20X zoom shallow DOF seems bretty good and is is AF unlike the Letus.

From what I have heard the HV-20 has excellent auto focus and with the letus it is still cheaper than the FX7 but lacks the 20x zoom and full manual control.

I usually just video my kids , trips, zero budget movies with my friends once in a while.

Any opinions on what you would do if you had this money and why would be very helpful.

Thanks Joey

20x zoom on a DV cam is no substitute for a 35mm adaptor if you want a shallow DOF, especially filming kids. When you are filming them from 80 feet away at 20x zoom, they are going to be jumping around and making it impossible to keep steady video frame.

If I had the money I would get a Nikon D40($530) and Canon HV20 ($920)and perhaps a 35mm adaptor like Letus if you are really serious into cinematography. The reason is that for making family photo/video the ease of use is probably more important. You want to capture those great moments with your kids rather than spending your time setting up your equipment. Nikon is quicker than Canon with some its great features like auto iso though its specs is lower than XTi. So it is the case with HV20 vs FX7. 35mm adaptors seem to be great ideas but its just too cumbersome to use, not to mention its dimished their light sensitivities.

Thanks GodobeHD
Im looking at the XTI because I all ready have 3 L len's + a few other len's.

What your saying is what Im thinking about the adapter it would be hard to deal with but for set up shots it would make some cool video.

I have to decide between getting the FX7 for the 20X zoom and full manual and hope for better AF or get the HV-20 for better picture quality fast AF .

if you already have Canon lenses then XTi is a no brainer.
At 10x zoom HV20 and FX7's DOF should be comparable, just slightly better than the HC3's due to larger sensor size on Canon.

I've had an FX-7 for a few months now (recorded about 10-12 hours), and I like it very much. I am going to sell it soon, as I need something with even better low-light performance. I record in very dark environments, so that feature I needed to test in person.

Overall, I'm really happy with the FX-7, if it wasn't for my somewhat unique needs, I think I'd be keeping that for some time.


Edit: the FX-7 is somewhat heavy, so if you are planning on family recordings, and would use it handheld for a while you might want to keep that in mind.

BTW, I love the optical zoom on that camera.

Thanks Warren, That was helpful.

one of the other things that is holding me back from the HV-20 is I allready have a small cam in the HC3 and is it worth it buy another cam a little better for $1000.

Or I can get the FX7 which is 2.5 times as much with all the features20x/Manual .

What makes it hard too is not ever using an adapter. I love videos I see from it when done right but Im still worried how hard it will be to set up with no probs and even if I will like shooting with one.

I think I need to go handle both one more time before I decide what I want to blow my money on.

hv-20 all the way. awesome autofocus, great in low light. it looks better than broadcast in the right settings. I love mine!!