Performance
The VX2100E is a great performance camera and indeed I may say that the 3 1/3 inch CCDs that the camera has produces great crisp image with extremely good colour reproduction. The overall picture is outstanding, owing to the 340K pixel CCD and more sensitive CCD claimed by Sony. You will notice very little smear problems as you may find in many other cameras.

Design
The VX2100E is almost alike in terms of design and one may find it hard to differentiate when put side by side with the VX2000E. The only physical noticeable features would be to note the texture of the camera as it has change from a metallic silver to graphite looking body. The VX2100 also has recording controls on the handle and a zoom control. They have also added a screw on lens hood which does not use the conventional lens cover but instead a lever to shut and open the shutters. Indeed a better looking camera in terms of the colour as the tendency of the metallic silver has the tendency to fade away and leave you with a very old looking camera. Below is a photo of the VX2000E which we are still using up till today for some of our shoots.

Design Layout
You can lift the viewfinder to an almost 90 degree angle which is great if you require shooting low angle shots in very brightly lit situations. The upright position more or less means you do not have to lie flat on the ground to compose your shots through the EVF. The eye cup is no longer rounded but rather cuts of at an angle to cover and keep light out better. The only complain I have is that I feel the texture of the rubber is much softer now, which means at occasion you might press on to hard and will find that you have to readjust the dioptre more often.
The battery compartment is sunken and allows you to fit the highest capacity battery and still will not get in your way while shooting through the EVF. Indeed a carefully thought layout by Sony’s designers. Battery life on the VX2100E is outstanding with the use of Sony’s info lithium ion model 960. You can shoot till the lights go out and you are still on the same battery. An exceptional accurate indication of battery life is also a great feature to have.

The main placements of all important vital buttons are found on the left back portion of the camera and a godsend, when you think about having to deal with touch screen controls.

The only problem which I felt which was kind of an irritating one is when you have to shoot with the LCD and try to use the Iris control. You will realize that when you flip the LCD entirely open you could almost not get to activate the Iris button as the LCD screen gets in the way more or less.

Zooming
The VX2100E come with a 12X optical zoom capability and this can be achieve and used in various ways. The handle has a zoom control rocker that allows you two speed settings via a smaller switch found on the right side of the handle. However if you require to do a very slow zoom or perhaps a zoom with variable speed, the best way is either by the zoom lever at the normal location or via the zoom ring. My favorite however is via the zoom ring especially when I hold the camera in a mid level position using the recording button located towards the front of the camera. Rather than use a servo, I think that Sony has fitted a servo motor where the ZOOM ring is concern and this is not really as responsive as I would have like. There is a slight delay when you actually turn the zoom ring. Anyway, with a little bit of practice, you should be able to overcome this problem with minimal concern.

Focusing
Using the focusing ring on the VX2100E is a really a pleasure and I must say that the sensitivity via the focusing ring is excellent. You can perform very accurate focusing with the focus ring. The focusing ring on the XX2100E is easy to control and also relatively large allowing easy access and manipulation.

Exposure & Shutter
The exposure on the VX2100E is in my opinion close to perfection. The large dial located on the left side of the camera is easily accessible and it give you readings in actual F Stops. There are altogether 24 stops of adjustments using the exposure dial.

Shutter is located on the left backside of the camera and is activated by a shutter button. The shutter speed ranges from ¼ of a second to 1/10,000^th of a second. Like the exposure it would have been great if there were finer adjustments available.

Low Light Performance
The low light performance on the VX2100E is excellent and I can say this for most of the other Sony cameras including the VX2000E and also the lower range DCR330E and also the 350E. VX2100E is far by best camera in low light performance. Although Sony has claimed the improvement in LUX in the VX2100E, it is hardly noticeable in my opinion.

EVF
The incorporation of a color viewfinder in a camera as good as this is really a waste in my opinion. Though, as a professional, I would have preferred a black and white EVF. Looks like its Sony’s way of saying if you want black and white for better focusing, go buy the PD170P! At the moment, the color EVF stays on.

Optical Image Stabilizer
The VX2100E is equipped with Sony’s own optical image stabilizer technology. Most cameras would come with an electronic one of which will result in the loss of quality. I stress that this is and absolute must when buying a camera especially so when you are paying so much for it.

Conclusion
The VX2100E is my personal recommendation and a best buy for a prosumer/consumer high end video camera.