its easy Scott
for old SD its Pany DVX100
all info is on
http://www.dvxuser.com as for HDV
1. best cheapest consumer is Canon HV20 - all info you get at
http://www.hv20.com Great really full HD chip, good low light sensitivity, great colors, image processing etc, but less manual control
2. best bigger prosumer is Canon A1, same chip as HV20 but with tons of manual control, bigger huge lens, or Sony Z1 - not so good chip
3. very popular but with some flaws is Panasonic HVX 200 - not real full HD chip, for HD recording u can only use expensive P2 flash cards etc, on tape it records only SD DV quality., but its real varicam = variable FPS speeds!!!
tons of info at awesome source
www.dvxuser.com even Mr. Červenka
http://www.dpcfilms.com/ post there
4. best newcomer is brand new full HD SONY XDCAM EX1 (under 7000,- USD) recording only on flash express or CF cards, but looks very promising - best info again on special section of
www.dvxuser.com For more cinematic feeling (Depth Of Filed sharpenes) you can use severeal 35 mm lens adapters - Letus, Brevis, Red Rock Micro, or DIY etc. You just add regular Nikon, Canon, Leica, whatever 35mm SRL lenses and voilá - cinema verité
and top notch
5. best of best is now RED 4K camera (cinematic and digital) from Oakley founder Jim Jannard
http://www.red.com Recors in 4K resolution (over 4000 pixels verticaly!) - it means that you got in your hands far better picture than was ever dreaming of Mr. Mel Gibson in his Apocalypto with Panavision digi camera
, exchangable lenses, records to CF cards or harddrives, or RAW etc etc
Body cost only 17 500,- USD
http://www.reduser.net all rest is nearly obsolete, but if you have idea you can use even 8 mm, doesnt matter, dont care about all that technical mess... just go and shoot