Hey, Douglass--
 

I got an up close in person look at the FX1 today (at an Apple store), and was dismayed to find that you control the aperture with a little wheel on the back, like the PD150, etc. I can't seem to find any info about the Z1 in this regard. Do you know if it has a normal aperture ring?

The Z1 and the FX1 both use a small metal aperture control on the front left side of the camera, just behind the zoom ring. You control shutter with the small dial on the back, but not aperture. You'll likely be changing aperture more than you're changing shutter. In terms of lens/shutter control/physical control of the FX1, it is identical to the Z1 in virtually every respect, outside of the low z inputs and gain controls.

Oh OK. I couldn't find the aperture control (the camera was sitting up on a shelf on a tripod and I couldn't get it down to take a good look). I did find that little wheel at the back, and when I cranked it up and down, the picture on the LCD screen got lighter and darker, so I assumed it was an aperture control.
So the real aperture control is a little wheel on the side and not a ring? I guess the 150 is that way now that I think about it. The old TRV900 has the multi function wheel at the back. I don't know why they can't give you a normal aperture ring on the lens.