Well I survived a brutal week of work travel and am looking forward to finally getting a day to shoot with my new AX-2000.

I do have a few questions if anyone happens to know (based on experience from other Sony cameras?):

Q1: Steadyshoot. There is a standard steayshoot mode, and an Active Steadyshoot mode. (Standard has a soft, normal and hard setting). Can I assume that standard is Electronic stablization and that Active is Optical? What's the best practice? Off when on sticks, Standard for handheld still shots, Active for unstablized camera moves?

Q2: Spotlight Mode (prevents overexposure of brightly lit subjects). Is this just a AE Shift down function? Is it a Spot Meter function?

Q3: Backlight Mode (prevents underexposure of backlit subjects). Is this a Spot Meter or Center Weight Meter function?

Q4: The Mic clamp appears to be for large diameter (Sony) shotguns. I'm using a Sennheiser ME-66 which is fairly narrow (with or without a Rycote Universal kit). I've heard that Sony sells a spacer that can be used to make my Mic or the Rycote adapter fit more snugly in the clamp. Anyone happen to know what the spacer is called or where to find one?

Q5: I assume the normal meter mode on these guys is a matrix meter?

Q6: Is 0db gain equivalent to a particular ISO?

Q7: Has anyone worked out a Hyperfocal range chart for the Sony lens? (I believe it's the same glass as several other Sony 1/3" chip models.

Thanks much!

Jason aka Retailgeek

Can't help with you most of that, but for Q4, I just clip a small piece of bicycle inner tube, wrap it around the barrel of the microphone and secure it in place with a small piece of gaffer's tape. Helps isolate vibration, too.

I don't own a Sony camera anymore, but when I did, I think I used standard steadyshot whenever I was shooting handheld, and turned it off when it was on a tripod. I don't think I ever used Active Steadyshot.

"I don't think I ever used Active Steadyshot"
You couldn't use Active Steadyshot on prior camcorders because NX5 and AX2000 are the first camcorders with this technology.

"I don't think I ever used Active Steadyshot"
You couldn't use Active Steadyshot on prior camcorders because NX5 and AX2000 are the first camcorders with this technology.

The single chip cameras like the XR500 had this last year and it has now migrated to the prosumer range. It works very well for hand held use with of course an obvious lag if on a tripod. Normal is OIS and Active also applies EIS on top of the OIS. I have the SR11 and XR500 and there is a noticeable difference in stabilization. Both are better than the FX1 OIS.

Ron Evans

Use the ACTIVE STEADYSHOT for wide angle shots if you must BUT there is a slight loss of resolution. Better to keep it off.

NX5 and AX2000 are the first camcorders with this technology.

Not so....CANON HF S series calls it DYNAMIC. But be careful....there is a loss of resolution-slightly.

I'll note that the Sony CX500/520, which came out about a half year later than the XR500 have an even more effective active stabilizer that can takeout "roll" as well as general pitch and yaw... the XR stabilization was already quite good!

If the AX2000 and NX5U incorporate similar technology to good effect (as you would expect), it should make shooting "steady" video significantly easier when handheld.

Ron's quite correct, the Active SS is an EIS that's applied on top of the much nicer OIS. You can't fault the effectiveness of having both on together, but the EIS loses you a very noticeable amount of wide-angle coverage - and at the same time loses you resolution. On top of that the stabilisation artifacts become much more apparent when both are on, with lag and overshoot making pans look 'sleepy'. But hand-held it's a revelation, quite amazingly effective.

The difference between Hard, Soft, Normal and Wide converter are very subtle indeed.

Spotlight mode is most certainly not just an AE shift. It's very intelligent, going from zero compensation on a flatly lit scene to an amazing 5 stop correction in very high contrast situations. Can be very useful indeed.

Backlight mode is pretty useless - just a simple stop and a half (or so) increase. When was that ever right?

tom.