I am total newbie and looking for a camera for weddings, motocross, and snowboarding. I have witled it down to the canon xl2, sony pd170, and canon xh a1/ or gl2. Any advice would be wonderful. I do not care for HD. Ive heard the pd170 shoots awesome footage but no 16:9 which isnt that big of deal, but only shoots in 60i..Please give some advice or first hand experience with these cameras! thanks so much!

If it was me I would go for a pd170. I dont like the balance of the xl1. Xl1 really doesnt do progressive either.

Personally I would avoid progressive, only 50p works for me, 25 is just too choppy.

If you can hack a full size dv cam bragains dore to be had - check out sony dsr250, jvc dv500 or dv5000, panasonic forgeotten the number - ebay.

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