Mush!... Mush!… My slay pulls away with a jerk and in no time I’m racing through the snow at 45km/h with the snow hitting my face. The slay is fastened securely and I can only picture the breath taking images I will have after this journey.

On a recent trip to Jamtland in the far northern Scandinavia I was privileged to test the new Sony HVR-V1E. Apart from being curious about the camera and its many new features my main reason for testing the V1 was it’s size. It was a good candidate as an aerial camera for our upcoming microlight adventure documentary dubbed ‘flying the mosquito’. The third in the series after 'flying the falls', where reliability size and weight are critical.

I received my V1 the day before I departed and my first impression was the massive reduction in size and weight in comparison to my Z1 and how similar it looked and felt to my trusty PD170.

Apart from playing a bit with the V1 on my flight to Sweden my first real exposure to the camera was taping it on to my sled pulled by six mad dogs. Hanging on for dear life and just managing to push record through two pairs of thick gloves.

Temperatures during the weeklong trip ranged between minus 20 to minus 30 degrees Celsius. The cold made the XLR microphone cables very brittle and the image on the LCD screen ghosted on accasion. I was concerned with the ghosting, but my recorded footage was all good.

Another concern I had was the battery life being dramatically reduced in low temperatures. I was pleasantly surprised when my medium sized Sony NPF-750 battery provided enough power for a full day’s filming with room to spare.

Due to the fast moving sleigh and adverse conditions, I shot the film on full auto. The camera’s sturdiness in surviving a week taped to a dog sled in sub zero temperatures impressed me, but the most impressing was the footage. I thought the material would illicit motion artifacts on the HDV format, yet despite filming at relatively high speeds and very close to the subject with fast moving random foreground I did not experience any dropout, pixilation or motion artifacts.

When I next circle Africa with my Microlight it will be the Sony V1 accompanying me. I am most impressed.