Manual Control : GL2 Vs. VX2000 ?
 

Im trying to decde which camera to go with: Gl2 or the VX2000, I'm leaning more towards th GL2 at this point. But the image quality on both are awesome, the sony does have a slight advantage in low light from what I hear. I'm orignally a film guy... finally making the move to DV for cost and time, but I am a big maunal control person. Which has more manual control the GL2 or VX2k? or are they just about the same?

Thanks,
Jason

Welcome Jason,
I've not used the VX2000 (I own a GL2) but I suspect that they're pretty equivalent on this front. (Iris, shutter, gain, focus, sharpness, chroma, et.al.)

You can download the GL2 manual to check that cam for yourself.

Consider not only the amount of manual control, but the convenience of that control. Some camcorders may make you go through several levels of menu for manual control. I do not have the answer through for GL2 vx VX2000 on this topic.

Once you set up the camera to manual, here is how it goes with the GL2.

There is a push and rocker button up near the front, where your left hand naturally rests. Push it in to jump between shutter, apeture, and gain. Then rock the switch up or down to change. The auto/manual focus button is right near there, so I will more often focus by turning on auto to let it focus and then lack back to manual focus once it is set. If I don't get the focus I want, I will use the focus ring.

You can manually control everything on the VX-2000, but from what I'm reading here it isn't quite as simple. There's a slider switch which turn auto exposure on or off. Up on the lens barrel you push a button which enables an iris thumbwheel. Unfortunately, it moves in discreet clicks which are visible if changed on the fly while recording.

Shutter adjustment is a little more stange. First you must punch the iris button to release manual control. Now punch a shutter speed button at the back of the camera. You may now choose any shutter speed using a thumbwheel at the rear of the camera. However, after you select the shutter speed the camera automatically sets the iris to compensate but the shutter speed remains locked and appears in the viewfinder. Now if you punch the irs button again you can freely adjust the aperture. But you cannot continuously adjust both. In other words, you have to pick a shutter speed first, then you can vary the iris. As I understand it, the PD-150 does not have this limitation.

There is no independent gain control. Instead, as you move the iris thumbwheel, after you reach the full open position each successive click will boost gain by another 3db to a max of +18db.

There is a separate slider switch at the front of the camera to select manual or autofocus, and also a momentary position for infinity and a button to activate autofocus momentarily while in manual mode.

Of course there is a servo ring for manual focus and manual zoom as well. Hoper this helps.

Hey y'all thanks for the quick responses I'm pretty sure im going to go with the the GL2 now after reading the manual for it, it has all the control i was looking for and it doesnt seem to be any more difficult to use than my Nizo S8 camera. The only thing that was really keeping me from going with it was the cost. I get the vx2k for like $200 less from work. but thanks again, and if anybody else has any info feel free to keep posting I'm still trying to decide.

Later,
Jason

You can also take a look at the VX-2000 manual here: http://www.dvinfo.net/pdf/man-vx2000.pdf