Just to add to Tripp's note on differences - not only are the optics the same, but the CCD/image processor setup is the same.

Glad to hear it's not an actual diagnosis, Tripp. I'm on Gingko Biloba myself. Seems to help with the short term fade.

That is a decent upgrade, although not necessarily useful for my application. Using my PD170, I've shot exclusively in Infinity mode. I can't speak for the XH A1s (yet), but the PD100a and the PD170 AF can't even come close to solving the mutable light of the immediate storm environment. The AF does its best to keep stride, but invariably produces blurry results. Does the XH A1s have an Infinity manual mode, or something equivalent to it?

Yeah, I'm a little put out with myself for waiting too long to take advantage of what minimal stock they apparently had left. I'm not otherwise having much luck at tracking down an A1. An outfit called Zoomania has it listed as 'in stock' for $2849. I'm pretty sure, however, that they're a gray market bait-and-switch operation. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent. A thousand points of light . . . :)

Think I'm going to lock into an A1s from B&H. They're now down to $3399, which seems pretty reasonable. With the savings from the previous quote they gave me, I'll pick up a Tiffen UV/Polarizer Twin Pack.

Thanks, Tripp. As for your wordsmithing abilities . . . you're being humble. I'm not the only one able to wax eloquent around here. :) I hear New Hampshire is known to turn out a capable scrivener here and there.

It has full manual focus

In that case i would be very careful using presets, definitely experiment with them before you use them. Like I said before, some presets tuned for dark environments produce ghosting and then you might be better of filming without any preset. Also I don't have any experience filming in circumstances you will encounter so it's difficult to give advise on that and i think a dark reception at a wedding can't be compared. :)

Another thing about the manual focus of the xh-a1; I also own a dvx100b and that one is way better on precise manual focusing. The xh-a1 is quite difficult to get the focus right, especially if you are working with the lcd screen which is also much too small.

Speaking personally, I wouldn't want to get so close to a storm that I needed to focus at anything other than infinity :-)

Actually, in addition to full manual mode, you can preset a desired focus distance and recall it by hitting a single button.

Be careful this. With HD, focus is more critical than SD and if you focus all the way out you'll want to be shooting the moon or something that distant. Presetting to what the camera will indicate as "infinity+" will likely be too far away unless you are 1/2 mile away from the storm. Infinity is probably a better choice. You'll know what I mean when you get the camera.

Been known to happen. Sadly, none of them work for the local newspaper. (grin)