Chicago (IL) - Sony's got a couple of new HDV cameras it is announcing today. The one of interest to prosumers like you and I is the HDR-FX1000, priced at around $3200. Sony says the HDR-FX1000 is its first Handycam camcorder to feature progressive scan at 1080/24p and 30p. The 24p image, using a two to three pull down, can be converted to 60i for editing.

This model also makes use of three of Sony's Sony’s ClearVid 1/3-inch CMOS sensor chips which can capture 1920 x 1080 resolution video, which in turn can be recorded onto miniDV tape in the HDV format (1440 pixels x 1080 lines). The HDR-FX1000 is, as well, among the first camcorders "to have a Sony G lens with a 29.5mm wide-end viewing angle, extra-low dispersion glass and 20x optical zoom."

You'll also find with this camcorder manual settings for iris, gain, white balance, shutter speed and focus. In particular you can tweak zoom, focus and iris via three manual rings. Rounding out the features you'll also find on the HDR-FX1000 Sony’s XtraFine LCD (3.2", 921,000 dots) and XtraFine electronic viewfinder (0.45", 1,227,000 dots). It is expected to hit retail stores in early November.

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