I heard that Sony pulled the FX-7? Has anyone heard this? If so WHY!!!!

Yeah they pulled it.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=ShowProduct&is=REG&Q=&O=&sku=459129

Not so good news at all. I guess the cam didn't do very well in sales. It's also not listed on the Sony site as far as I could tell. Hope the resell value holds though, selling mine soon. It's still a nice little cam.

We've been discussing it a bit over here.

I've been arguing that if they replace the FX7, then they must be doing the same with the V1u since they are in essence the same chips, encoders, lenses, processors, tape drives, and whatnot. Is Sony releasing something new at NAB or have they taken the unprecedented step of not selling the consumer version of a camera but keeping the pro model on the shelves? Talk amongst yourselves.

I said this back in November:

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=107536

They Discontinued it back in November. :( Very interesting. That means the cam was on the market for a little less than 1 year. Unbelievable.

I said this back in November:

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=107536

Maybe you should say it louder next time, somehow we all missed that one.

Maybe you should say it louder next time, somehow we all missed that one.

I second that. As a current VX-2100 owner I came this -> <- close to buying a FX-7 but I hesitated because I'm still doing a lot of SD work.

I'm still waiting for the HD-equivalent of the VX2000/2100 - you know, something that has decent auto focus. :-)

Being a former VX owner and user myself (I actually still have the old girl) I can say without question that the FX7 destroys her in decent light. It's not even a fair fight. Only in the worst lighting situations does the VX still trump the FX. I don't regret my FX purchase one bit. For the money and at the time it was released, it was an ok little camera. It'll be making me money into the future, but I'm pretty sure I'll fall in love with someone new after NAB. Here's hoping for some decent low light FX price range HD cameras.

We've been discussing it a bit over here.

I've been arguing that if they replace the FX7, then they must be doing the same with the V1u since they are in essence the same chips, encoders, lenses, processors, tape drives, and whatnot. Is Sony releasing something new at NAB or have they taken the unprecedented step of not selling the consumer version of a camera but keeping the pro model on the shelves? Talk amongst yourselves.

The HC1 was replaced long ago, but the A1U is still being sold.

Good point, didn't know that.

In Europe it seems that its still available. Look here:
http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=HDR-FX7E&site=odw_en_GB&pageType=Overview&category=HDD+HDV

Stelios

B&H still has the "E" version of the camera as well, it's the NTSC version that seems to have gone missing everywhere.

I think for some reason the FX7 just didn't resonate with the market - it happens sometimes to perfectly good products. I stumbled across one that a "consumer" didn't want, and I really like it ergonomically, feature wise, and image quality is pretty darn good thank you! Since an EX1 or Z7 isn't in my near term budget, it'll do nicely.

Hey, the HC1, after a period of lower "closeout" pricing has been fetching prices WAY above those of current HDV cameras - it's still a good little cam, and good specimens are bringing high prices.

Maybe by the time something that's really "better" than the FX7 hits, it will be apreciated enough to fetch what it's worth as a camera. I see B&H has them used for $2200 - not too bad for a camera with the features it has. and now it's officially a RARE camera, so buy now before the prices go up!

Quite sad! But well, it's Sony and I like the other poster have mine! LOL So boo hiss hiss on others that didn't recognize the quality of the little cam.. I love mine to death and will make money from it also!

But that is typical Sony. Things vanish without a trace all of a sudden. Mind you, I love Sony products, but they urk me with that just all of a sudden ***poof*** and it's gone. As they want you to purchase their newest product or something from another line.

It wouldn't suprise me if they didn't kill off the FX7 and leave the V1 as I am sure with it's features on some level it did hurt the V1 sales(or at least they are speculating). But with the introduction of the more expensive EX's, I think they really are trying to leave a "middle" ground camera and you would as a purchaser have to go to the higher ended and more costly EX or one of the consumer models and soup it up.. But more than likely the EX..

But I love my FX and will be keeping it for years like I did my old cam! :-)

They've now arrived at the Outlet stores but not the Online Outlet. Same clearance price as in the Sony Style Stores -- $2599. According to today's inventory search, there are about 50 nationwide available for sale, all at Sony Outlets.

The Aurora, Ill., outlet has 4 in stock. There are 5 in Gilroy, CA, and eight (if the guy is to be believed) elsewhere in California. My guess is Camarillo. My local outlet north of Seattle has just one.

I didn't pay much more than that brand new about 7 months ago from B&H. Not much of a bargain if you ask me.

Well, I didn't say they were a bargain -- I said that's who has them if someone really wants one. I thought B&H had them for a couple hundred more ($2799?) when they had them new, so the price isn't ridiculous, as these are brand new, not refurbs, and are just apparently "clearance priced" to get them out of inventory.

Given that the few web dealers who claim to have them are asking as much as $4k (!) then the Sony Outlet price isn't too bad.

The HVR-V1U is only $3300 (after the rebate) at B&H.

Refurb FX7s are now available online (from Sony):

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665258729&storeId=10151

Looking at prices on many of the cameras on the Sony site it looks like they are charging street price for refurbs claiming big savings off of the retail. I looked at a couple of the cameras at B&H finding that they are (or were) the same price.

As of 10:15pm 3-30-08:
Sony upped the price on the refurbed FX7's to $2,850.

Yeah, that really sounds pretty outrageous for a refurb. But I guess with supply dwindling they can price however they want and still move units.