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.
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