Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony RMVD1 Remote for DCR-HC, DCR-DVD, DCRVX2100 & HDRFX1 Camcorders

I had previously owned a Sony tripod with built in controls, however, it recently received some damage and I was unable to fix it. So I began searching for a replacement tripod when I came across this very affordable remote for my Sony camcorder that attaches to any tripod. Since I already had a tripod for my digital picture camera, I figured this was worth a try.

It does everything my old tripod did as far as controlling my video.

If you want a more professional video experience, you must use a remote. It helps by keeping your camcorder steady, but most of all, the zoom in and out gives you a much more fluid response.

I highly recommend this remote to any Sony owners that have the LANC connection on their camcorder.

Overall it was a great buy, but for video use the zoom is not very smooth. Wish it was variable speed, but can't ask for to much for this price.

This unit is very compact, easy to mount on a small tripod or mono-pod handle, and of excellent quality. If you only want to zoom to a fixed level then start capture with a fixed zoom, this is a great bargain. If you want to zoom while shooting, be aware that it only supports two speeds so your zooms will be very jumpy if you initiate or stop zooming during the capture. There isn't a way to support smooth variable zoom. If you want crash zooms, this is fine. If you want precise control, this isn't the control for you.

Good news is that most cinematic fare is captured without active zoom, so this control is adequate for many uses.

This works fine on my Canon ZR10 camcorder--they want more than $200 for their remote, but their remote is also a LANC, so this is a much cheaper alternative. Note that the newer Canon camcorders do not have a LANC connector, it looks similar to a small stereo connector but smaller.

The power, zoom, record, and picture buttons all work while in camcorder mode. The only button that works while in VCR mode is the power (a limitation I suspect that would be present regardless of the remote.)

At first glance this appeared to be almost too small to use, cheaply made and the clamp too tiny. Wrong on all impressions. It is well made, small, but easy to use, and the clamp opens very wide! The cable is long - you can mount the camera several feet away or on a tripod. I use it with my Bogen video head - the clamp opens more than enough to accommodate the handle - plus it has rubber pads on both sides, so it grips firmly. The only negative point - the remote only has two zoom speeds. Slow and fast. My camera has a variable zoom, and I really like it.

It took a little getting used to the zoom speeds, but it was not that big a deal.

The biggest advantage is that I can geep my hands off the camera and on the tripod. This keeps the shots steadier!