ALSO it is......
-Smaller!
-Lighter! 70 grams/2 ozs or 21% less.
-New type of sensor, ExmorR , brighter and bigger: 4,5 instead of 3,6mms (1/4-1/5"). http://www.dpreview.com/...09080601sonycmos.asp
-Wider lens: 37 mm focal lenght instead of 42 (in 35mm terms).
-Better display, just 10% more resolution, but with a glossy finish looks great.
-16 gigs of memory instead of 8.
-Can use SD cards, finally don't need to buy thats stupid & expensive memorysticks...
-Higher bit rates in HD-FX mode, but then you can't burn standard dvds.
-More power in the supplied battery. Unfortunably a new V type (NP-FV50), backward compatible but not the other way around, older batteries useless, great for the environment
-Easy Back Up: you can connect a portable hard drive (with its own power) in Fat format, and download and manage your clips without a computer, nice to exchange jumps!
Hope this bit of info helps out a bit For info regarding lift ticket prices all around the world check out
http://www.jumpticketprices.com/dropzones.asp