I work in the Japanese wedding industry on Guam. The company I work for uses the Z1J (Japanese Z1U model) unfortunately I can't tell you about recording anything in HDV with this camera because we only use the SD format for shooting the weddings since our end product is DVD. I can tell you what I think about using this camera based on my 4 months of operating this camera.
As stated before this camera uses a focus ring which turns around the barrel indefinitely so there are no stops if you wanted to do a rack focus you would just have memorize the f numbers on the display of either the LCD screen or viewfinder and the truth is that even this isn't a sure thing. The LCD and viewfinder (also LCD) are hard to use for determining if your subject is in focus or not, especially on bright sunny days. We usually leave peaking on because of this problem. You can turn on an option to make your viewfinder black and white which I think helps a bit, but because the viewfinder is LCD based it just take practice and "getting use to" how the camera focuses. Iris adjustments are done with a small dial located near the back of the barrel. Again this pretty much spins indefinitely around too, but it's not so loose that a slight nudge would throw off your iris. For shooting weddings this iris is a bit of a pain I'm constantly adjusting it on the move as I change angles of my subject so I've learned to feel for where I need to spin the dial. Zooming is handled by the rocker on the camera body and the small rocker (it's not really a rocker but more of a switch) on the cameras handle. I like that I can adjust how fast or slow the handle rocker zooms, but this adjustment for it is buried in the menu options. However, once you set the speed of the handle zoom it's a matter of selecting the switch on the side of the handle for either fast zoom or slow zoom there is also an off position for this switch. One note about the handle is that there are buttons for setting the camera up for transitions between shots located under it and I have repeatedly hit these buttons with my fingers when I grasp the handle. Operating the zoom rocker on the body has a very nice feel to it with enough resistance on it that you can feel for a slow zoom.
The menu system for this camera is pretty setup like most other Sony cameras. There are two ways to access the options by either pressing the p-menu button or the menu button. From there you use the spin dial (which also is your shutter speed adjuster) to select which option you want to adjust. Needless to say there are many different settings in here.
That pretty much sums up my experience with it. I know it's not a whole lot; however I hope you find it helpful in your decision. I like using this camera, but if I had a choice I'd want a camera with a better lens operation then this model can offer. I think this camera is a great match for what my company does with it. I found this camera pretty easy to learn to use the basic operations of it, however some of the more advanced operations (shot transition, HDV recording, etc) on it I have still yet to tinker around with.
