Don't let this camcorder's compact size fool you--the ES2000 boasts a whopping 20x optical power zoom lens. This is the greatest optical zoom range of any camcorder lens available, spanning from 4mm wide to 80mm super-telephoto. Forget your binoculars--you can take the ES2000 to the ball park and record the action up-close.

The ES2000's lens offers seven different zoom speeds, the slowest taking 20 seconds and the fastest just four seconds to cover the full range. After minimal practice, I was able to verify the different speeds. The zoom control is fantastic and remains smooth in any speed. Overall, Canon's 20X zoom system is excellent.

The ES2000 has a 0.6-inch color viewfinder with a high- resolution LCD. Detail is very good, allowing you to focus manually with accuracy.

The ES2000's optical image stabilization (OIS) system employs Canon's Vari-Angle Prism technology. I found this to be very effective in compensating for handheld camera shake. OIS was particularly useful, providing excellent compensation while shooting at the critical telephoto end.

With the ES2000, Canon unveils its new FlexiZone autofocus/auto exposure system. This new image control system allows you to pinpoint the area of focus or exposure anywhere within the viewfinder. This allows you to keep the subject properly focused and exposed, even when the subject leaves the center of the frame.

You can choose the FlexiZone AF/AE option from the Program Auto Exposure dial. A moveable frame appears in the viewfinder, which you then position with your thumb on a concave controller rocker. This takes a little getting used to, but the results are worth it.

I used the FlexiZone autofocus system to keep some off-center subjects in focus. When the main subject I was shooting moved from one side of the frame to the other, I was able to maintain sharp focus by moving the FlexiZone control frame in the viewfinder.

The ES2000's FlexiZone auto exposure system worked equally well. With auto exposure engaged, "EXP LOCK" appears in the viewfinder and the camera adjusts the exposure to suit the area currently inside the control frame. This worked well when recording scenes with dark and bright areas. With FlexiZone AE, I was able to pinpoint the area of the scene that was most important for exposure. Pushing the FlexiZone AE button again cancels the function. This button is conveniently located behind the zoom toggle.

The FlexiZone system gives you that much more flexibility in a tight shooting situation when you really need to control focus and exposure. The concave controller does respond well with practice, but it can be a struggle to control at first. Fortunately, the optical image stabilization feature kept the camera shake to a minimum while I manipulated the concave controller. With a tripod, the ES2000 remained stable and the FlexiZone system was easier to work with.

The ES2000 has four Programmed Auto Exposure modes in addition to the FlexiZone and full auto Easy Recording modes. The four special exposure modes include sports, portrait, spotlight and sand and snow. Icons on the Programmed AE selector dial identify the different programs. The knurled dial, located on the left side of the camera, is easy to adjust with your left hand while shooting.

Directly above the Programmed AE selector are the black fade and backlight compensation (BLC) buttons. The black fade control allows you to fade to black, or to fade in from black. Sound fades with the image. The BLC button compensates for backlight situations by opening the iris 1.25 stops.

The manual focus select button and control wheel sit directly under the Programmed AE selector. The manual focus control wheel is very responsive and easy to adjust while shooting. You shouldn't need to use manual focus too often--autofocus on the ES2000 is extremely quick, locking onto the subject with a minimum of hunting. White balance is continuous auto only, using a 64-zone evaluation system.

There are seven high-speed shutter modes that range from 1/100th to 1/10,000 of a second. The shutter control button is within easy reach of your right thumb for quick adjustment.

An alphanumeric titler allows you to superimpose a title of up to 32 characters (2 lines of 16) onto your video. The ES2000 will hold the title in its memory, allowing you to program it in before the event. Creating titles in this camera is easy--you just push the Title button and maneuver the FlexiZone control lever to add characters.

A Tally/Sensor button turns the tally light and infrared sensor on and off. You need to lift the viewfinder to expose this switch. Next to the Tally/Sensor switch is the Line-in record button, which allows you to tell the camcorder to record video and audio signals from an outside video source. This is a change from the ES1000, which had an auto-sensing feature that detected signals coming into the unit when in VCR mode. I like the fact that I have control over record functions with the newer Line-in button.

The ES2000's record search function lets you easily locate a previously recorded scene to record over. The record review button allows you to play back the last segment of the recorded scene in the viewfinder. In addition, the ES2000 offers a wireless remote control so you can sit back and control most camera functions from a short distance.

This model has both headphone and external microphone jacks. The built-in mike picks up very little motor and button noises, a problem that plagued the earlier ES1000. The ES2000's automatic windscreen does a good job at preventing wind noise from interfering with the sound track. Hi-fi stereo sound is dramatic, with crisp, detailed sound. Playback is spectacular!

The ES2000 is comfortable, compact, and great fun to shoot with. On the image quality front, the ES2000's resolution, color reproduction and accuracy are excellent. My only reservation lies with the unit's lack of RC time code. Still, I give the ES2000 two thumbs up.

Canon ES2000 Hi8 Camcorder

Format

• Hi8

Lens

• 20:1 optical zoom, 4-80mm focal length, 7 zoom speeds, f/1.6, inner focus, tele-macro

Image sensor

• 1/4-inch CCD, 410,000 pixels

Viewfinder

• 0.6-inch color LCD, 113,000 pixels

Focus

• TTL autofocus with FlexiZone control, manual

Maximum shutter speed

• 1/10,000th of a second

Exposure

• Auto, FlexiZone auto, four Program AE modes, switchable backlight compensation

White balance

• Continuous auto, no override

Digital effects

• None

Audio

• Stereo AFM

Inputs

• Y/C video, composite video, stereo audio, microphone

Outputs

• Y/C video, composite video, stereo audio, headphone

Edit interface

• LANC

Other features

• Fade, titler, record search and review, optical image stabilization, line-in recording, remote control

Dimensions

• 4 (width) by 4.2 (height) by 8 (depth) inches

Weight

• 1.8 pounds

Video Performance (approx.)

• Horizontal resolution (camera)
  • 430 lines
• Horizontal resolution (playback)
  • 400 lines

Performance Times

• Pause to record
  • 0.5 second
• Power up to record
  • 2 seconds
• Fast forward/rewind (30 min. tape)
  • 1 minutes, 35 seconds

Digital Frontier
DCR-VX1000 Digital Handycam
Sony Corporation
1 Sony Drive
Park Ridge, NJ 07656
(Around $4000)