Sony HDV XF1 Pricing & Market
 

MacWorlds assessment of FX1, is that, "Its price makes it too expensive for most families initially."
That means that early technology adopters, deep pocket hobbyists or small production companies will grab this camera.

This could be a problem:
"Sony will only be initially producing 5,000 units a month, said Kiyoshi Shikano, corporate vice president of Sony Marketing Japan."

5000 units? How can that be enough. What are current monthly production numbers for the JVC HD10?

Beleive me, with all the HD TV sets selling, there will be lots of consumers looking at this camera. The real issue is what medium to permanently record on. I'm sure Sony will have something to hook into their new blue laser disks.

The HDR-FX1 is $500Can. more than the VX2100. For that you get a much better DV camera with bigger viewfinder/LCD, lots of better manual controls and HDV as a bonus!!! ( Canadian prices are $4499.95 for VX2100 and $4999.95 for the HDR-FX1. By comparison the DVX100 is just under $6000 and the XL2 is about $7000!!! The choice is obvious.) I still have my VX3 Hi8 from 10years ago that in todays dollars cost a lot more . None of these cameras are for the point and shoot market they are for the serious hobbiest/prosumer and full professional. I never upgraded to the VX1000 or VX2000 because the manual controls were a step backward from the VX3 and I bought a PC10 1CCD DV camera and rented pro cameras up to now. I have been waiting for this camera since it will allow me to continue with DV in multi camera shoots and use in HDV mode by itself until a 1CCD Sony like my PC10 or TRV50 comes along to suppliment as second HDV camera. My guess is that this will happen by Christmas 2005. and I will then transition to HDV. THen the task will be to choose a deck. I have had a Sony DHR1000 since they came out that has been just great and a deck like that which does DV and HDV would be wonderful, failing that I suppose a JVC D-VHS deck would be the next choice.

Ron Evans