V1 build materials....
 

Can someone comment on the materials that are used to build the V1 ??

I'm asking in reference to the PD-170, as I think the V1 is the HDV replacement for the PD-170 cam...

The PD-170 cam has a lot of metal in the body parts and is a great cam build wise and video quality, does the V1 share in the build quality of materials as the PD-170??

Thanx for answers in advance....

I searched the forum for this topic and didn't come up with much, I too am curious about build quality, so I'm bumping this to the top :^).

Thanks,
Luke

The V1 shares in the same quality as the PD series, with a metal body/internal housing and plastic outer parts.
Tough enough to fall 25' and live through it...

Douglas, have you actually "tested" this statement?
 

"Tough enough to fall 25' and live through it..."

If so, I don't think I would want to buy one of your old demo units. :)

Build quality: I once saw a box containing a Sony FX-1 blow apart into pieces as a truck backed over it (someone placed the camera box behind the vehicle's path) the FX-1 body stopped the wheel from rotating enought that the driver felt it, and thus, stopped the vehicle. I saw the FX-1 after, and I would never have known - not a scratch (foam was inside the box, so I think that prevented scratches). A 4x4 plastic filter that was attatched to the front was shattered as well. The hood had not been on at the time - had it been, it would have been destroyed. Nothing was off - the LCD and top handle were still firmly straight! I've never complained about the heft of the camera when doing hand-held work since! ;)

I had a very unfortunate "field test" the other day. I managed to leave my V1E on tripod in a situation where it was imbalanced and while removing my hand, the cam together with the tripod fall and knocked to a piece of rock. The movement was accelerated by the weight of the head. The 970 battery flew off about 1 meter distance.
I freak out when I saw it falling and had no chance to stop it - then all I had in my mind was that my V1E has gone.
I checked the cam and apart from a missing piece of the rubber part of the eye piece, there was no damage whatsoever. After blowing off the dust from the battery I placed the it back and tried the functions, everything worked well.
I think I was lucky - but definitely the cam is pretty sturdy.

Zsolt, glad it's okay. Let us know if anything wonky starts happening. Cheers.

I kept on shooting after this unfortunate event and I have to say there is no damage whatsoever with any of the camera functions.
The damaged rubber looks ugly, otherwise no problem. I may not even get it replaced as the viewfinder is entirely useless, never used it during a 2 weeks daily field shooting I have recently done in Asia.

I tried to upload a photo, but somehow this time it does not work.