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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Sony VX2000 September 03, 2001 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/coolgear/cameras/soa/Sony-VX2000/0,139023377,120210947,00.htm
The hottest new video camera has hit the shelves. Sony's VX2000 offers up manual zoom, 530 lines of resolution, and awesome image quality. Five years ago, Sony officially kick-started the digital video revolution with the release of the DCR-VX1000 MiniDV camera. Filmmakers and videographers snatched up this camera faster than Sony could make them. For five years, Sony's VX1000 dominated the "prosumer" digital video camera market until Canon's comparably priced XM1 came out at the end of last year. The features of the XM1 included a 30 frame-per-second progressive scan mode (ideal for filmmakers who wanted their works to look as though they were shot on film), analog-to-digital conversion (for digitizing analog videos to a miniDV tape), and a higher-quality picture. But just as the XM1 started gaining marketplace acceptance, Sony announced its next generation camera, the VX2000. The VX2000 includes just about everything that the XM1 has, plus it incorporates a servo-controlled manual zoom, real-time analog-to-digital pass-through, and a superior picture. Is the VX2000 a better camera than the XM1? To answer that question, we pit both cameras against each other. Features
The VX2000 is about four ounces heavier than the XM1 and is considerably longer (about three inches). The extra length is attributed to the camera's new manual zoom-control mechanism in the front of the camera. The manual zoom ring lets you quickly zoom into an area of detail, get a sharp focus, then zoom out again while keeping everything in the shot in focus. This manual zoom is actually servo-controlled: An internal motor that responds to your command controls the zoom, so there will be a slight delay from the time you rack the zoom to the time the zoom kicks in. The delay is very slight, and we found that after some practice, we were able to achieve any zoom speed we wanted. The XM1, on the other hand, does not have this feature. Although the VX2000's rocker zoom switch is more predictable than the XM1's rocker switch, the XM1 has a wonderfully slow zoom setting - but only if you can get the pressure just right. The XM1 also has a three-speed programmable zoom switch on the handle, which we really like. Sony took a cue from Canon and put the menu button and jog dial in the same location as on the XM1 - you can easily find it without removing your eye from the viewfinder. Sony deviated from Canon's format and put the VX2000's shooting-mode dial on the back panel with its menu button, which allows you to access the camera's shutter speed, white balance, and audio level buttons much easier than with the GL1. The VX2000's audio button gives you a level readout across the bottom of your monitor or viewfinder display to let you know when the sound levels become too much for the camera to handle, at which time it's best to shift to manual audio control. The XM1 does not offer manual audio control, though it does have an attenuation setting in the menu that gives really clean sound reproduction at lower levels, which is great for recording loud environments, like your friend's punk band.
While we're happy that Sony has placed all the menu buttons where they're easy to access (on the back of the camera), the menu that lets you change the camera's audio settings is actually buried three levels deep within the main menu. Once you get to this setting, you can select the manual audio setting and then set your level with the jog wheel on the back. The VX1000, on the other hand, has a simple button on the back that you can push to instantly turn this important feature on or off without having to navigate through cascading menu selections. We sorely miss this convenient button - why Sony has left this simple feature off its second-generation camera is a mystery to us. This brings us to the biggest, and possibly the only serious issue with the VX2000: its now infamous audio "hiss" problem. In manual audio mode, regardless of whether you use the onboard microphone or any high-quality external microphone, there is a loud background wash of white noise (which, for convenience, we'll call "hiss") that rises in intensity when you alter the manual gain setting. This audio problem isn't new. We came across the same audio hiss when we reviewed Sony's TRV 900 and PD100A last year last year, and it's a potential deal breaker. Here's what we found: When you use the VX2000's onboard microphone in auto mode, the sound is very good. It handles level changes very well without noticeable changes in gain, and the quality of the large two-capsule stereo mics is very good, yielding a sound that is more rich and full than that of the XM1. In manual mode, the hiss surfaced - and as we turned up the audio level, it increased. The hiss persisted whether we used the onboard mic or a digital audio tape (DAT) recording stereo mic that was plugged directly into the mini jack. Note: When we used the DAT recording stereo mic with the camera in auto mode, the sound was fantastic. When we attached a professional audio adapter (StudioOne XLRPro) - which allows audio level changes, a high-quality shotgun mic, and a very high-end balanced cable - the hiss was really bad. The hiss improved somewhat when we switched to auto mode, but it was still very much present. The XM1 in this same configuration was quiet. So how bad is this hiss problem? Well, many people have complained to Sony, and many others have actually returned the camera. Discussion and user groups all over the Web show people up in arms about it. The jury is out on whether all the cameras have this problem - a problem that actually bugs some people more than others. Sony usually asks for serial numbers from cameras that reportedly have this problem, so it's possible that Sony's trying to nail down where this problem originated. According to some audio gurus we've spoken to, the scientific explanation has to do with the camera's non-AGC (automatic gain control) mic preamp circuit. At some point, Sony may release an improved model of the VX2000, but we wouldn't expect a recall of current ones since Sony does not admit this to be a mistake on its part. Note: To be fair, the onboard camera mic on the XM1 is nothing to write home about - it picks up a lot of camera whine, while the one on the Sony does not. One filmmaker compared the sound of the XM1 in a quiet room to a beehive when the volume was turned up on playback. Luckily, an off-camera external mic can solve this problem. The VX2000 really shines in its optics, yielding tight, sharp, and colour-balanced pictures that will leave you in awe. It delivers some of the cleanest pictures we've seen in a camera of this type. The new internal image sensor seems to suck all the stray light and colour from a scene and concentrate it into picture quality that rivals cameras many times its price (and size). In most situations, the general picture quality of the VX2000 is at least as superior to the XM1 as the XM1 was to the VX1000. The VX2000's autofocus is clearly superior to the XM1's, with virtually no hunting except under the most demanding and dimly lit conditions, when you would most likely choose to manually focus anyway. The VX2000 doesn't have the direction arrows that were in the viewfinder of the VX1000, so you will have to guess which way to turn the focus ring - but you will eventually develop a sense for this. The SteadyShot optical stabilisation system continues to be one of Sony's best inventions, with no telltale signs of its presence under any conditions. This is a vital feature to the VX2000 since the camera is long and tends to pivot back and forth on your wrist, especially when you use it with one hand. Still, the camera is well balanced; if you hold it the way you're supposed to - with your right hand through the hand strap and your left cradling it under the lens controls - it's very manageable. The camera's 58mm aspherical lens delivers a nice, flat picture, and you can also get a wide-angle adapter lens that screws onto the front to deliver a wider field of view. However, this lens is currently hard to find. (Note: We found that the readily available Canon WD58 adapter lens screwed onto the Sony's front threads effortlessly and worked perfectly with no vignetting [soft edges] or autofocus problems.) The automatic video gain circuit in the VX2000 works smoothly and transparently, with little blooming or crushing of blacks when you go back and forth between very bright and very dark areas. Its contrast range is excellent: Two levels of zebra stripes help to maintain a signal that is broadcast friendly, and dark areas end up rich with detail. This brings us to one of the most astounding aspects of this camera: its low-light performance. The high signal-to-noise ratio of this camera is one of the best reasons to buy the VX2000. In dimly lit rooms, blacks are solid and nearly noise free, and entire frames are colourful and sharp.
The VX2000's LCD is absolutely amazing. It's the first on-camera monitor that is so sharp that we felt secure about being able to attain critical focus, even at arm's length. However, this incredibly sharp picture has a downside... the VX2000 is more prone to aliasing along lines and edges than the XM1. Some may actually find the crisp and, well, digital look of the VX2000 a bit annoying under certain conditions. (Note: You can dial down the sharpness in a menu setting.) Both the XM1 and the VX2000 can shoot in 16:9 (or letterbox). However, the VX2000 actually displays the 16:9 image in a letterboxed format on the camera's LCD. The XM1 squeezes the 16:9 image and fills the entire LCD, which makes it difficult to compose a letterboxed shot. Both the XM1 and the VX2000 can shoot in progressive mode; however, the XM1 can shoot a full 30 frames per second in progressive mode while the VX2000 shoots only about 15. Progressive mode is important for shooting video destined for the Web and for filmmakers who want their projects to look as though they were shot on film. The VX2000's progressive mode is jumpy. Sony provides this only as a convenience to grab stills from motion. To be honest, we don't think that Sony's progressive scan quality, even in stills, is an improvement over Canon's. The XM1 has many compelling features, but the VX2000 has even more. The VX2000 has time lapse/stop-motion recording and an IEEE-1394 pass-through feature that lets you digitize analog video to a 1394-enabled computer without having to record to a miniDV tape first; and it lets you take digital stills with your camera and save them to a Memory Stick (Sony includes a USB Memory Stick reader in the box). Conclusion:
Sony VX2000
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