I think it is probably difficult to compare a digital camera with an optical camera, picture quality wise as they have completely different mediums. With an optical camera, you are using a certain quality file with a certain quality prints which are made from the film used. The quality can be different in each of those. In addition, if you compare that to a digital picture, you are then displaying a digital picture through a photo editor which is then displaying on a varying quality monitor. Even the best quality film and prints and comparing that to a digital picture on a $1000 monitor is probably difficult as you still have contrast differences and so forth. The DSC-V1 is not being made anymore and was a decent digital camera for the time, Sony has improved their cameras quite a bit since from reading the reviews. Sony does use the Carl Zeiss lens in all of their top end non-SLR cameras, I'm not sure if the quality problems you are referring to are from the lens or from the CCD, microprocessor, or anything else specific to the model camera.
With the DSLR-A100, you have a good range of lens you should be able to use. The camera uses the same mount as the Minolta cameras, so you can use any of the various lens Sony offers (which I believe are all Carl Zeiss), or anything compatible with the Minolta.
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