Sony HVR-A1
DV by Mike Elwell 
Bottom Line: A wonderful companion to the Sony Z1, especially when shooting in tight spaces or when being unobtrusive is essential. I'll admit it, I was a little disappointed when DV asked me to review the small-profile Sony HVR-A1 camera. With all the "tweener" HD cameras hitting the streets lately, I was secretly hoping for a chance to play with the new "affordable HD" offerings from Panasonic or JVC or Canon. Maybe even a glimpse of the really new Sony XDCAM HD might be possible. Oh well, I thought, no big deal. It might be fun to see what the little guy might do. The wow factor My slight disappointment was replaced by "Wow" when I first pulled the camera from the FedEx box. This camera is really little. Somehow the pictures of it on the Web didn't really convey how small it is. Without the external mic adapter, picture a camera about the size of a regular burrito-without guacamole. I im-mediately began to plot my review. A camera this size has POV written all over it, and the thought of getting 1080i HD images from a variety of conveyances got me excited. Putting this little 2 lb. guy on a helmet, or in a small underwater housing, or mounted on a bike frame didn't seem like much of a problem. read more...
Bottom Line: A wonderful companion to the Sony Z1, especially when shooting in tight spaces or when being unobtrusive is essential. I'll admit it, I was a little disappointed when DV asked me to review the small-profile Sony HVR-A1 camera. With all the "tweener" HD cameras hitting the streets lately, I was secretly hoping for a chance to play with the new "affordable HD" offerings from Panasonic or JVC or Canon. Maybe even a glimpse of the really new Sony XDCAM HD might be possible. Oh well, I thought, no big deal. It might be fun to see what the little guy might do. The wow factor My slight disappointment was replaced by "Wow" when I first pulled the camera from the FedEx box. This camera is really little. Somehow the pictures of it on the Web didn't really convey how small it is. Without the external mic adapter, picture a camera about the size of a regular burrito-without guacamole. I im-mediately began to plot my review. A camera this size has POV written all over it, and the thought of getting 1080i HD images from a variety of conveyances got me excited. Putting this little 2 lb. guy on a helmet, or in a small underwater housing, or mounted on a bike frame didn't seem like much of a problem. read more...
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