After several months shooting mostly with hired and borrowed FX1s and Z1s, I was able to pick up my very own XH-A1 today. I was originally thinking of buying a Z1, but I'm very happy I went for the Canon. Why...?

1. The zoom is fantastic. I love the range, and you can get a REALLY slow creep with it - which is great! The zoom rocker isn't the best, but it's serviceable.

2. The image is nice and clean, with fairly little noise. A touch grainer than the Z1 but sharper and more "present".

3. The bigger LCD on the Z1 is nice, but the LCD on the A1 is surprisingly good. I would have preferred a little bigger, but it doesn't seem to be too much of a problem!

4. The array of easily accessible manual controls seem much more natural to use than the Z1. I used to work with the bigger broadcast cameras, and the Canon feels like it should. The Z1 always took a bit more working out (for some reason). I'd often end up leaving some function on auto by accident, or staring blankly at the side wondering why I couldn't get it to do what I want.

5. Built in mic is surprisingly good... it's almost... usable! (gasp)

6. Weight is okay, and I like the hand hold shape better than on the Sony (which I get cramp in my hand in about 3 minutes).

7. I love the way the Z1 stabilizer works - it give a gently moving, slightly organic look! But I'm incredibly impressed with the Canon's ability to hold the image ROCK steady at mid and wide shots. It does get a little shakey towards the long end of the lens, but that's to be expected.

Well I'm happy. My FX1 has been relegated to the shelf, and the A1 has pride of place in my camera bag!

Awesome. Your comments just reassured my purchase. I've never touched nor seen one of these, yet I took the plunge. Great testimony to the level of professionalism from folks here at Dvinfo.

Enjoy that camera.

Well I'm happy. My FX1 has been relegated to the shelf, and the A1 has pride of place in my camera bag!

Oh my, you are so fickle...... Did you hear that Sony is coming out with a 1/2" three chip CMOS with interchangeable lenses for under $5,000.....

(Just kidding, just want to see if you breath could be taken away....)


How are you finding working with 24f ??

Heheheh! I still have my eye on a Sony V1 (too). But we'll see. Don't get me wrong, the Sony FX1/Z1 is still a great camera, but the Canon kinda feels like coming home, if you know what I mean!

I'm in PAL land, so I'm working with 25F - which is a piece of cake. Looks great. Works seamlessly.

I think I need to experiment with the colour balance, though.

I like the way the HVX200 looks - higher saturation and a bit more red in the picture. I wonder if anyone has done any matching between these two yet...