Getting a sony vx2000

Question

I'm getting a sony vx2000 with a century optics mk2 fisheye lens all together for around 350 400 bucks and am wondering if i should get it or not because I'm filming action sports like skating and bmx but not professionally ..... any thoughts and i dont want a crappy camcorder digital camera i want a high quality one that will last me

Answer 1

The Sony VX2000 is a great standard definition camcorder - sounds like you are buying it used. Be sure you can test it BEFORE buying. Why is the person selling it? Presuming everything works, be aware that transferring video -for editing - from ALL miniDV tape camcorders means transferring over firewire - not USB.

This means your computer needs to have a firewire port. SInce we don't know what computer you are using, we don't know if your computer has a firewire port. Macintoshes have had a firewire 400 port as standard for about 10 years. The only exception is the new MacBook Air - no firewire port. If your Windows computer does not have a firewire port, hopefully it has an expansion slot.

http://shop1.frys.com/search;jsessionid=...

You want Firewire 400... IEEE1394a is the same thing. Sony calls firewire "i.LINK" or "DV". In the camcorder's manual - download from here:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-h...

Refer to page 86 regarding connection to a computer - don't worry about the other connectio to the VCR - it is a feature this camcorder has - AV-In... can be handy. Note that the camcorder does not have a USB port - to transfer still from the memory stick (not SD card), you will use the card reader listed on Page 8...

Since you are here on page 8. These are ALL the items that came in the box when the camcorder was new - you *should* be getting these, too.

Answer 2

The VX2000 is a decent cam, if a wee bit old, apart from the wear and tear consider the repair costs if anything goes wrong.

It is also a 4:3 sensor, with pseudo widescreen (not full quality)

The price however seems very low, the lens would cost that alone, if its all what it seems then its a bargain, may just be a pig in a poke, tread carefully.