Well I haven't used the camera yet so I can't really comment about that. I have used a DSR20 before and found it much slower than the 1800, in terms of its interaction with the computer. If you're using Avid it's not so bad, but FCP seems to take longer to talk to the deck. It's faster to use the shuttle wheel on the deck to get close to an in or out point. The decks are on a rack to my left when I edit and I can reach them easily.