Not necessarily true. It can work both ways. Sony had a fixed lens still -- the 828 with whatever prefix that goes with it. I bought one about a year and half ago- had 8 megapixel, decent fixed lens. Today, for the same price or less they are shipping a ten megapixel SLR with interchangeable lens capability. Clearly an improvement. The market has changed and evolved, and you are getting more for you money because of the competition out there. (In case of stills, Nikon, Olympus, Canon, etc..)

A1 and Z1 are the only normal Pro HDV "affordable" cams from Sony. There is a $16K brick I know nothing about and if you want to spend more the HD XDCAMS which I only wish I could afford. I have a tracking number for my A1 from B&H so I'm a happy camper.

Mind you I haven't actually used an A1, but from the specs, its seems to me that FX1 has more professional functions than the A1- lacking only the XLR imputs which is easily and adequately remedied with an XLR adapter.

Well I think the A1 has some of the features which distinguish the Z1 from the FX1, such as black stretch, All Scan display mode and DVCAM recording.

Yeah the A1 in terms of 'features' is closer to the Z1 than the HC1, but as someone who has used the whole lineup (HC3-Z1U) the FX1 and Z!U blow the others OUT OF THE WATER in low-light...in bright sunlight its difficult to tell the difference between an A1 and a Z1 without a really nice big HD monitor. I shot a three-cam concert with my FX1, an HC1 and HC3...it was almost (I mean this as a rough comparison) like comparing a GS150 to a DVX100 i terms of clarity in low-light.

So as we always say...it depends on what you're using it for!
If you're going to be shooting primarily under ideal, bright lighting...A1 is an amazing camera and very portable and inconspicuous. For weddings, concerts, and anything else in low lighting, I'd highly recommend a FX1/Z1 over the A1, even if it means you have to get a beachtek to get XLR's (like i do...I'll be getting a Z1 in a couple months hopefully)

I will definately not be getting the FX7, and I doubt I'd get the V1... if I don't get the Z1 in a couple months, I'll be selling my FX1 and getting two XH-A1's (provided they give me enough capabilities in low lighting)

Good points Noah. But don't expect the HC1/A1 to match the FX1/Z1 in low light. Sony rate the former as 7 lux cams, the latter as 3 lux cams, so there's a good few stops between them. I hope Canon's A1 will be closer to the Z1. We shall see.

A note to Chris Barcellos. You're right, still cameras get cheaper, better smaller, lighter as every day goes past, and this applies to proper DSLRs as well as compacts. But this has certainly not happened in the MiniDV world. The VX2000 sold for the same amount as the FX1 5 years later, and they're broadly very similar in capability and performance.

OK the FX1 is an HDV model, but at the moment (while HD DVD and BluRay fight it out) it's the VX2200.

tom.

When video processing speeds can handle the demosaic processing, we should be seeing single chip 2/3" or larger sensors that should blow away the VX2000 in lowlight performance. A Nikon D2H DSLR can do eight frames / second (fps) on a larger sensor with 4 million photosites. With that technology, an HD camcorder should be up to 16 fps. Someday ...