FX1 price drop
 

Hi, I noticed B&H has the fx-1 for 3000$ - perhaps a replacement is coming soon? Any ideas?

-p

Sony just released the newer version of the A1, so it's entirely possible.

Do you mean the HC3 or the A1U?

It just occurred to me that possibly B&H might simply have lowered the price on the FX1 to be a little more competitive. I forgot which dealer, but I noticed that another reputable dealer has been offering them for a tad under 3k for a while. B&H is usually pretty competitive pricewise (among the reputable dealers).

Still waiting for the Z1's price to drop...

I agree with Robert.

I believe B & H lowered their price to that of One Call (Washington) and Vann's (Montana) prices.

Who are both Sony Internet Authorized Dealers.

I kinda wonder how they can keep the Z1 so much higher than the FX1. The Z1 certainly adds some very nice features, but I really question that those features fully justify a $1500 difference in price. A $1000 difference would seem a bit more reasonable to me, and I think they would get quite a few more folks who are buying FX1s to opt for a Z1 instead.

Hi Robert

I've been thinking the same thing since I got my FX1, surely the porduction costs can not be that much greater, to add XLR's and what must only be firmware enhancements. Anyway I'm happy with my choice and it gives superb results.
By they way dig the name of the place you live in...LOL

cheers

Gareth (Watkins)

Reportedly the Z1 is Sony's best-selling 'professional' camera ever, so they probably don't care :).

Plus every dollar they cut from the Z1's price is a dollar of profit gone: depending on the margin, it could take a large increase in sales to compensate for a 10% price drop. From a business viewpoint they're probably better to sell as many as they can at a higher price while there's no real competition: for a professional user it's still an amazing camera compared to what the same money would have bought you eighteen months ago.

"What must only be firmware enhancements"? If the Z1 were a clay brick, then I would agree with you about the production costs but it is not about the price of manufacturing the unit. The Intellectual Property that goes into the firmware is worth a lot more than the chip it is placed on. Having features like Black Stretch, more CineGamma modes, more downconvert options, NTSC/PAL switchable, etc. were some of the reasons I bought the Z1 over the FX1. Had it only been the XLR inputs I would have just used my $160 BeachTek with the FX1 and been done with it.

I think Sony has a right to recover the money they have invested in developing more sophisticated firmware. (don’t forget, I’m a software developer so I’m sensitive to this kind of stuff. It’s like saying downloadable software should be free because there is no physical product, therefore it must cost nothing to make) ;-)

~jr

What's the new version of the A1? Tell us please!
...I hope you don't mean the HC3....

Hi John,

I was in no way criticising Sony for their business stategy, as I'm in business myself and profits are profits.. and need to be worked in the game plan.. the extra price of the Z1, in what I maintain is not a great deal of extra development, is perhaps to offset the cheaper FX1...

Personally not needing NTSC, or Cinegamma a Beachtek was a far cheaper option for me...

Whatever both cameras produce stunning images..I really enjoy using mine, which is the first handycam I can say that about...I've used Betacam's before and the level of manual control is pretty darn good on the little Sonys.

Regards

Gareth

Don't forget that the Z1 price also includes their 'pro' warranty service: that probably justifies a fair portion of the difference in price.

The number of man hours required to code the algorithms for the extra features found on the Z1 should have been fairly minimal. It's pretty straight forward math. I would think it could be done in less than a month by a good programmer (of course, I have been somewhat amazed at times, at the level of inefficiency in some software development projects). The lion's share of the software development for the FX1/Z1, all but had to be in getting it to the level of the FX1 (reliable, functional software). Adding the additional features for the Z1 represents a relatively minuscule portion of the work, when viewed as a whole, from a software development prospective.

I got my FX1 from B&H last August for under $3000 as a WEVA show special, so this isn't an unheard of price for the camera. I don't see a big need for Sony to upgrade their current HDV cameras unless they can come up with a more light-sensitive sensor, and I'd be surprised to see that this year. As far as the Z1U is concerned, the price differential seems steep to me too, but it is what it is. What's funny is that when you see an FX1 and a Z1U side by side you can tell they probably came off the same assembly line, with just a few external differences involving some part swaps and presumably similar internal changes.