I was at a Sony Store recently and got to test drive this amazing camera for a day. I put it through a stress test of constantly changing lighting and bad (on purpose) camera movement to see if I could reproduce the infamous "jello" effect from a rolling shutter on CMOS chips. I even tried to reproduce a complaint I read about on Sony's own website that says after 2GB (or 12 mins) of shooting the file would split into 2 pieces and cause stutter in audio and dropped frames at the break. I was using a class 4 SDHC card. The test was shot in 1080 24p FX mode.
Lets cut to the chase.
Pros:
Easy to operate: Being a Canon guy, I thought the controls on a Sony might be a jump for me, but they're all pretty standard. I had no problems jumping in and doing what I wanted with it.
Low light/Changing Light operations: The front of the store was well-lit with a mixture of color temperature (florescent, tungsten, LED) flood lights. The AX2000 had no problems with automatic white balance. I rolled the iris up to over-expose the image then had the camera auto-iris to reproduce some image tearing. There were no issues. I walked to the back with a dramatic lighting change. This was lit like a home theater and the camera had no problems keeping up.
Lens: I really liked the 20x zoom and the controls on the lens itself. The placement of the focus, zoom, and iris rings were very nice. I had no trouble telling which one was which and reaching them while I was shooting.
Look and feel: The camera looks like a pro would use it. The ergonomics were fantastic. Buttons that needed to be buttons were buttons, and switches that needed to be switches were switches.
Stock battery: I was amazed at how long it was lasting. Don't get me wrong, it's something that a pro would HAVE to upgrade, but in a pinch I wouldn't be worried about using it.
Cons:
Stock Microphone: This is no surprise, a stock mic that's bad? NO WAY! I haven't come across many prosumer cameras with a good mic. This is an easy (and not too expensive) fix, buy a shotgun mic.
Auto focus: This seemed a little sluggish to me. If you're shooting a wedding or something, this won't be a big deal. If you're shooting a sporting event, it might...
Overall Impression:
Some people have complained about editing AVCHD. I'll say this: I'm on a Core2 Quad with 8GB RAM and a GeForce GT 120 and Premier CS5 and it worked like a charm. Of course I had to render every transition, but playback was smooth as silk and scrubbing through video wasn't horrid.
I believe that this camera stands alone with no equal right now. The Panasonic version might have 3CCDs, but the zoom isn't as good and it only records to 1 memory stick which means that I'd have to switch media more often. I was also unable to reproduce the "jello" effect that some complain about with CMOS sensors. I was handheld the entire time and was NOT being careful when I shot. I just wish my boys at Canon would make something similar ;-) because I'm going to be switching brands as soon as I save up the cash.
Other Thoughts:
Canon has announced the XF105 and XF100. These are going to be smaller (and cheaper) versions of the XF305 and XF300. Because the XF100 will shoot with 50Mb/s and 4:2:2 color space, I doubt it will be in the $3000-$4000 range. Although, I'll be ecstatic if it is!
PS... I happen to LOVE Jello! I don't need Bill Cosby coming after me!
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