Well the good thing is that there are a few options so you should be able to find something that fits your needs and budget. The bad news is that there is no clear cut "best" camera so you'll have to prioritize what features you want as each camera will have its pros and cons. Is you budget for a camera $10k or is your budget for a camera system $10k? By camera system I mean camera plus batteries, travel case(s), tripod, camera cover, microphone, etc.,.
At NAB Canon announced two updated versions of the XL-H1. The XL-H1S and XL-H1A (not to be confused w/the XH-A1). The difference between the "S" and the "A" is that the "S" has TC, HD-SDI, and Genlock outputs which is helpful in a studio and/or multi-camera situation. That doesn't matter much for your stated needs. Both cameras should ship this summer and the "S" is $8,999 and the "A" is $5,999 if I remember correctly. The XL cameras will get you the longest lens (20x) as well as the ability to purchase an adapter so you can mount some Canon still camera lens onto it (and the still camera lens will have a magnification factor of around 7x due to the differences between the still camera imager and the HDV imager).
The Sony EX1 arguably gets you the best image for any camera under $10k. It has a 1/2" (not 1/3") full raster (1920x1080) imager, records to a full raster codec (HDCAM EX), is tweakable out the wazoo, and performs much better in low light than other sub-$10k camera and has very good dynamic range. The EX1 also has a manual lens so zooming, focusing, and adjusting the iris can be done more quickly and accurately than the "electronic" lenses that are found on other prosumer cameras. The EX1 doesn't have as long a lens as the Canon, but I'd wager you could buy an EX1+35mm adapter kit+35mm lens and out perform the Canon while still staying under $10k. Of course adding in a 35mm kit means more stuff to lug thru the woods and less run-n-gun style shooting.
The Sony z7u has a fully manual, interchangeable lens, records HDV to tape and/or CF flash card, and performs very well in terms of image quality and low-light sensitivity (though not as good as the EX1).
Also at NAB Panasonic announced the HVX200A. I don't know a lot about the upgrade but the 200A is supposed to have better quality imagers than the HVX200 (better color, better light sensitivity, and less noise). The HVX only has a 13x lens, but many people love the image that it produces even though it's not as sharp as other sub 10k cameras. The HVX also has the shortest available recording times.
As bigbossbmb mentioned the recording format of each camera should be taken into consider as well. The Canon and Sony Z7U record HDV to tape while the EX1 and HVX200 record to solid state media cards (HDCAM EX and DVCPro HD respectively). If you are out in the field for long periods of time (days on end) then recording to tape allows you shoot as much tape as you can carry (and DV tapes are small, light, and inexpensive). The downside is that shooting to tape means you are more vulnerable to environmental conditions (extreme heat, cold, water/humidity, dust, etc.,.). Shooting to solid state media (or special harddrives) means you don't have to worry as much about environmental conditions, but you have shorter shooting times and you have to have a system where you can dump the footage onto a HDD to reuse the card.
Since all of these cameras are new there aren't any head-to-head comparisons out there yet really so I would definitely find a dealer in your area, rent each camera for a weekend and do your own comparisons. Also dedicated video boards like
dvxuser.com and
dvinfo.net will be able to provide more complete and in-deth info than you'll be able to find here.
Lethal
(per card that is)
