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REVIEW
HEAD
BACK IN CONTROL
INTRO
Editing is back on the agenda at the budget end of the market with
Sanyo's latest palmcorder, the £600 EX20
COPY
Ever since the demise of the Sanyo VM-D66 8mm compact, just over a year
ago, we've been grumbling about the scarcity of camcorders with Control L edit
terminals, especially at the cheaper end of the market. Control L, otherwise
known as LANC (local applications control bus) is the vital socket or interface
that enables a camcorder to be used as a source machine with an automated edit
controller. Someone up there must have been listening to us because Sanyo have
just launched the VM-EX20; it's a £600 palmcorder with a Control L socket and
the option of using it with their VRM-30P monitor/remote handset. That's the
clever gadget which comes with the EX30 palmcorder, it comprises a 3-inch LCD
colour monitor and 5-scene auto assemble-edit controller. You can find a full
test report in the August issue.
If you saw that review the EX20 should look quite familiar, that's
because it is an EX30, all but; the main differences are an 8x instead of a 10x
zoom, and some slight cosmetic changes, otherwise the two machines are
virtually identical. The specification is fairly good for a budget palmcorder;
it has an inner-focus lens, AV fader, remote control with a pop-up IR receptor,
mono FM sound and six 'preset' recording modes, controlled from a large
thumbwheel on the left side of the machine. The options, in addition to
full-auto recording, are:
* sports: centre-frame focusing and auto shutter speed from 1/50 to
1/250th sec
* twilight: white balance biased for sunrise and sunset
* low-light: gain up, to increase low-light sensitivity
* auto high-speed shutter: shutter speed set automatically between 1/250
to 1/10,000ths sec, for blur-free replay of fast action
* close-up: macro lens setting, automatic wide-angle selection for zoom
* flickerless: shutter speed set to 1/120th sec, to prevent flicker when
shooting abroad, under 60Hz tube light
It's a reasonably functional design with clear reminders of half a dozen
palmcorders past and present, though there are a few unusual touches, including
the accessory shoe, with contacts for an optional video light, and the
time/date adjust button which is in the last place you would expect to find it,
on the underside of the machine. Control layout and accessibility are mostly
satisfactory, though some of the buttons beneath the viewfinder module can be
quite hard to get at, unless it is moved to the vertical position. The
thumbwheel for manually focusing the inner-focus lens, is tucked away beneath
the lens, it could do with being a little larger, and nearer to the left side
of the machine. The viewfinder extension tube has to be pulled out before use
but like its stablemate, the EX30, it lacks any sort of locking action, so it
can be pushed back to the stowage position quite easily, just by pressing it
against the eye a little too hard. We suspect that in time this could become
quite loose.
PERFORMANCE
The 230-line resolution figure achieved on our test sample is fairly
typical for a budget machine, and almost exactly the same as the EX30. That's
adequate for replay on TV, but second generation copies, or edits, made from
this machine can look a little ragged around the edges. There's a very slight
increase in picture noise levels, compared with the EX30, which shows up on
recordings made indoors, or in poor light, otherwise in good natural light it
performs well. The only caveat to that is the lack of any backlight
compensation, and in spite of its 'fuzzy logic' auto exposure system, backlit
subjects were nonetheless underexposed.
The EX30 is bereft an any manual white balance controls, other then the
'twilight' recording mode which is designed to add warmth to recordings made in
the morning or late afternoon. Everything hinges on the auto system and in good
natural light it is reasonably trustworthy, in artificial light, or mixtures of
artificial and natural light it is less dependable and in fluorescent light
recordings have a slight green-yellow cast.
The microphone is only marginally directional but sound quality on the
mono FM soundtrack is quite good, apart from the usual amount of handling
noises, and motor whine, especially when background noise is at a low level.
VERDICT
Not only is the EX20 one of the cheapest and best-specified sub £600
machines, it's also one of the smallest and lightest, but for us the main
attraction is its Control L socket. That puts it into that small and very
select group of machines which can serve source decks in an automated editing
system, though as we said earlier, resolution could be better for this
demanding application. Upgradability is an important plus point and anyone
considering buying the EX30 would be well advised to think about the EX20 instead, and purchase the VRM-30
monitor/edit controller at a later date, or bypass it altogether and buy a
dedicated edit controller. There's been a marked shortage of decent budget camcorders lately, so the EX20
is a welcome and much-needed breath of fresh air. Recommended.
THE RIVALS
Apart from the Sanyo RZ2 and Samsung 808 the budget sector has been
looking decidedly lacklustre of late. Most of the other machines now selling
for £600 or less have been around for a while, or suffer from a lack of
facilities, disastrously so in the case of the Panasonic NV-CS1 record-only
'grannycorder'. The Canon E200, JVC
GR-M3 and Hitachi E31 are all worth a look but we suspect you'll come back to
the EX30.
SPECIFICATIONS
Make/model
SANYO VM-EX20P
Recording format 8mm
Guide price
£600
OPTICS
Lens
f1.8, 6-48mm
Zoom
8x
Filter diameter
37mm
Pick-up device
0.3in CCD
Min. illum. (lux) 2
(low light mode)
VIDEO DECK
Long Play (LP) yes
Max. rec. time 240mins
(LP mode)
IR remote control ? yes
Edit terminal? yes, Control L
MAIN FACILITIES
Auto Focus? yes
Manual focus? yes
Auto exposure? yes
Manual iris? no
Programmed AE? yes (5-mode)
Auto white balance yes
Manual white balance? no
Power zoom yes
Manual zoom? no
Backlight compensation no
Insert edit? no
Audio Dub? no
Character generator? no
Digital Superimposer? no
Image stabiliser? no
Video light? yes
(optional)
Battery refresh? yes
Accessory shoe? yes
Record review yes
Fader? yes/black
Digital effects no
Digital zoom? no
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
time/date recording, record review, tally lamp
VIEWFINDER
Viewfinder
0.6in monochrome (colour LCD monitor optional)
Sportsfinder eyepiece? no
Viewfinder info.
deck mode and status, low battery, tape count, fader, focus mode, tape
end, time/date, dew, AE preset mode
AUDIO
Stereo? no
Audio dub? no
Wind noise filter? no
Mic socket? yes
Headphone socket? no
Microphone omnidirectional
electret
GENERAL
Sockets
video and audio out (phono), ext. mic. (minijack), Control L (sub-min
jack), DC power in, ext control (8-pin mini DIN)
Size (mm)
119 x 111 x 205
Weight
1.1kg (inc. tape and battery)
STANDARD ACCESSORIES
Batteries, (nicad and lithium), straps, AC charger/power supply, RF converter
video light? no remote
control? yes
cassette adaptor? N/A RF Converter? yes
SCART adaptor? no
PERFORMANCE
Resolution 230
-lines
Colour fidelity
average
Picture stability
average
Colour bleed
negligible
White balance
fair
Exposure
average
Autofocus
average
Audio performance average
Insert edit
manual inserts clean
Playback thru adaptor N/A
VC RATINGS
Value for money 9
Ease of use 8
Performance 8
Features 8
---end---
(c) R Maybury 1993 1309
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