Product Description

SONY DCRVX2100 -- Sony's digital camcorders have been used in theatrically released motion pictures, and the VX2100 ups the ante again, offering higher resolution, wider color bandwidth, and lower noise than ever before Includes - AC adapter, NP-F330 Lithium battery, wireless remote, stereo AV cable, Memory Stick(R) USB reader, & 8MB Memory Stick(R) Dimensions - 6-3/8H x 4-3/4W x 15-1/2D; weighs 3 pounds 6 ounces

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14850 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Sony
• Model: DCRVX2001
• Dimensions: 15.50" h x 6.50" w x 4.75" l, 3.50 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• Digital MiniDV Handycam camcorder with a 58mm aspherical lens and 380,000-pixel CCD
• 12x optical zoom lens (digital zoom to 48x) with Super SteadyShot image stabilizer
• 2.5-inch rotating LCD and color viewfinder
• Manual controls for shutter and exposure, Stamina Power Management, and intelligent accessory shoe
• NP-F330 InfoLithium Rechargeable Battery

From the Manufacturer
Take Control of Sound and Vision with the DCR-VX2100, offering the brightest video results of all Sony MiniDV models. With its new Advanced HAD progressive scan CCD technology, illumination is improved dramatically, delivering superior low-light performance without the use of infrared technology. By increasing the CCD's sensitivity to light, clearer, brighter video with more lifelike color can be captured, even when recording in dimly lit environments.

Its 58mm aspherical lens and duel-position neutral density filter minimize distortion from standard spherical lenses and compensate for varying lighting situations such as studio lights or direct sunlight. Additionally, the VX2100 includes a built-in lens cap to protect the enhanced optics package, manual audio control and PCM Digital Stereo Audio in 12 and 16-bit modes, a manual focus and manual zoom ring, built-in color bar generator, 16:9 wide screen recording capability, intelligent accessory shoe, both 12x optical and 48x digital zoom, advanced optical SteadyShot picture stabilization and up to seven hours1 of operation with the optional NP-F960 InfoLithium battery.

Sony DCR-VX2100 Highlights

MiniDV recording
Offers up to 530 lines of horizontal resolution, 3x color bandwidth (vs. VHS) and significantly higher S/N ratio, to provide stunning video performance.

Digital Still Memory Mode with Memory Stick Media
Capture digital still images at 640 x 480 resolution, directly onto Memory Stick media for easy transfer to PCs for emailing, printing, or sharing with other compatible Memory Stick devices.

2.5-inch Precision Hybrid SwivelScreen LCD display
Provides excellent viewing clarity with improved resolution. The 211K pixel LCD display makes images sharp and detailed during playback or when monitoring recording. The Hybrid Reflective- Transmissive LCD screen provides accurate viewing in sunlight or bright light, virtually eliminating the "wash-out" common with traditional LCD screens.

Manual exposure dial
Create your own special look by controlling the camera's exposure amount manually, allowing in less or more light for creative control.

Stamina Power Management System (Up to 9 hours using optional NP-F960 battery)
The Sony DCR-VX2100 can record for up to 9 hours or play back for up to 13 hours (with LCD screen off) on a single charge with the optional Sony NP-F960 camcorder battery.

i.LINK DV interface (IEEE1394)
A high speed bi-directional digital video/audio communication between two devices equipped with an IEEE1394 interface, including camcorders, digital VCRs, and PCs.

Accurate color reproduction from the 3CCD imaging system

3CCD imaging system
Each 1/3-inch CCD has 380,000 pixels for brilliant digital picture-quality.

530 lines of horizontal video resolution
Advanced HAD Megapixel CCD technology, combined with high-quality optics provide outstanding video performance with up to 530 horizontal lines of resolution.

Advanced HAD CCD technology
Enhanced CCD design allows more light to reach the imager which reduces video noise to improve signal-to-noise ratio by up to 6db (2x better than a standard CCD). Particularly effective when shooting in dark situations.

12x optical/48x digital zoom
The optical zoom helps to bring the action up close from far away. In addition, the digital zoom interpolation means that extreme digital zooming is clearer, with less distortion than previous types of digital zooms.

Aspherical ground glass 58mm lens
Larger diameter allows more light to strike the Advanced HAD CCD imagers for greater detail and clarity, while the aspherical lens reduces optical distortion, and provide better corner-to-corner focus.

Manual zoom ring
Allows user operated manual zoom speed for more flexibility and control.

Precision color viewfinder (180K pixels)
Increased pixel count provides more detail and clarity of video subjects.

Manual shutter speed
Gives you optimum control over the shutter speed based upon shooting environment or desired effect.

The AccuPower battery meter

InfoLithium battery with AccuPower meter system
Charge the battery at any time because unlike NiCad (Nickel Cadmium) batteries Sony's rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries are not subjected to a life shortening-memory effect. Sony's exclusive AccuPower meter displays the battery time remaining in minutes, in the viewfinder or the LCD screen.

Super SteadyShot optical stabilization system
An advanced version of Sony's SteadyShot system that minimizes even high frequency shake and vibration using motion sensors and an optical active prism stabilizationsystem, for better performance even in difficult shooting situations.

Intelligent Accessory Shoe
Provides power, on/off and special operational commands to a variety of Sony Intelligent Accessories via an 8-pin interface. This enables easy synchronized operation between the Handycam camcorder and such accessories as video lights, infrared lights and microphones without additional batteries or cables.

Progressive Shutter system
Mechanical shutter system that provides Progressive Scan performance while utilizing an interlace scanning system. Digital still images will be sharp and clear with excellent definition.

Progressive scanning, which is found in high-end digital televisions and DVD players, helps eliminate irregularities common to video cameras such as flickering images and blurred edges. It also effectively eliminates digital artifacts such as jagged edges and "stair-stepping" effects. Sony's Progressive Shutter System accomplishes this by using a mechanical shutter to compensate for motion blur.

With the Progressive Shutter System, your still pictures will be sharper and clearer with better definition than standard, interlaced video stills. Your fast-moving subjects will be virtually free of flickering, blurring, and other motion-related digital artifacts.

Customer Reviews

Everything a professional wedding videographer could ever want in a camera
I recently opened my own professional wedding videography business, and after doing a lot of research decided on buying a pair of these cameras. I have never been so happy with an investment as I have with these cameras. They have all the features you could want in a camera: auto or manual controls for things like zoom, focus, exposure, shutter speed, etc, GREAT low-light sensitivity, high-quality mic, ports to plug in an additional mic, smart accessory shoe for additional lights or mics, LCD or viewfinder display, light filters, lens hood - it's great. Some of my favorite features are the light filters and the manual focus ring. The light filter will tell you if there's too much light coming in the lens (washing your picture out) and will tell you which filter to turn on. The manual focus ring is located right beside the manual zoom ring, and allows you to change your field of focus on the fly - great for getting some artistic shots.

Bottom line - it's worth the price. Get this camera!

Awesome Camera
This is my first 3 chip camera and probably my top choice for years to come. Great quality in video and audio.

Very good miniDV camcorder
I bought this to replace my defunkt Canon GL2 (tape drive mechanism failure - check the web for tons of dissatisfied Canon customers). I still had a bunch of mini-DV tapes to capture into my PC and wasn't ready to step up to an HD camcorder, so this was the nearest I could come to the quality I had grown to expect from my Canon GL2.

The quality of the video this camera takes is fabulous and it's very easy to use. If you had a previous edition Sony camcorder, you'd be able to use this without so much as a look at the owner's manual.

The only complaint I have with the Sony is that the still pictures it is capable of taking (rapidly too I might add!), are just not in a high enough resolution to make them suitable for much beyond supplementing your video clips. Perhaps there's enough resolution there for a 4x6 print, but not much more. Too bad... It would have been nice to park my Nikon at home and have this be my work horse. Perhaps the HD camcorders improve upon this feature. In a couple of years, I'll check it out.

As an aside, the GL2 wasn't the only Canon camcorder I've had that died. Given their miserable track record for longevity, I will NEVER buy another Canon product.


And a caveat. Buy a Mini-DV VCR to do the post filming grunt work. The camera manufactures would have you believe that you can do fancy editing work on there units. Once a camera's drive mechanism fails, the repair costs are staggering. So shoot your video with the camera, then rewind, capture and/or edit your film with a Mini-DV deck.