Recently, Advertlets got me an exclusive invite to Sony Malaysia’s launch of whole new Digital Imaging Line-Up for 2010, which include products from Sony DSLRs, Cyber-shot, Handycam & S-Frame digital frame. Being a filmer and video maker, I had a short hands on the first consumer camcorder which utilizes interchangeable lenses; The Sony NEX-VG10. I didn’t have much time on the hands on though, so I’m sure I have missed out on a number of things.

As usual, Sony cameras are always pretty. And their professional line models such as the EX1R and EX3 has always impressed me. This review is based on it being a consumer camcorder. However, it’s rather difficult to define where the line is drawn between a consumer and filmmaker.

First of all, here’s a little video I’ve compiled from the event. Everything else but the VG10 footage was shot with the Canon 550D/T2i + 24-105mm F4L IS Lens + Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic + AGC hack + LCDVF. Appearances by the Advertlets bloggers in the later part. And sorry i had gum in my mouth!

And now to talk about on whatever I’ve missed on.

Notice how the volume was bumping up and down when I was talking to the VG10, that must be the AGC kicking in. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go to the camera settings to check whether manual audio control was possible. There was a fan nearby, that could be a factor to the AGC bumping. My guess is, since Sony implemented the 5.1 surround sound with its capsule microphone, the audio handling should be impressive with the AGC turned off when operating with an external microphone.

Screen Capture comparison

Canon 550D + Canon EF 24-105mm F4L IS
ISO 200 1/50 F4 at Standard picture style

Sony NEX-VG10 + Sony alpha Carl Zeiss 24-70mm F2.8
ISO not selectable 1/50 F4 at Standard picture style, FX (highest bitrate) recording mode

If you notice the “SONY” logo on the lens, the seems to break/jag the image.

Sony claims that the VG10 is the solution for film makers whereby its form factor resembles a proper video camera.

Ergonomics, camera body, shape and feel
Holding the camera feels like holding the conventional consumer camcorder, small. Problem is, the body was a ton lighter than the lens making it front heavy. I don’t think the shape of the body is very forgiving for the hand, it doesn’t give you a firm grip. The body resembles the feel of most small consumer camcorders. My Panasonic HMC152 offers great grip, with grooves for your hand to grip on. I even find that my Canon 550D gives me better grip. I guess this being a consumer camera, it’s unfair to compare it to prosumer cameras.

LCD and viewfinder
I won’t talk about the specs on the LCD and the viewfinder, however I will talk about them in terms of practicality. It’s funny how the LCD CAN’T turn a full 180 degrees for mirrored monitoring. It’s goes 90 degrees for both up and down which allows you to shoot from high and low angles. Now Canon’s releasing the 60D, that just killed the VG10 by offering a full 180 degrees flip screen for a mirrored view. I remember when I wanted to use viewfinder, I had to close the LCD. However, I am not certain whether there is an option which allows the LCD and viewfinder to operate at the same time. The eyecup is no where comfortable and the viewfinder’s screen was pretty tiny to me. This could be a disadvantage when pulling focus on a bright sunny day.

Controls
With the LCD screen open, you have access to the inner buttons to change settings of the camera. Offered is a vertical scrolling controller, with a few buttons to navigate and execute your way to the camera’s menu. I didn’t like the way I had to navigate through the shutter and aperture with the offered controls because hey guys what, I reckon I could do it quicker a HD DSLR without looking at the controls. On the VG10, it’s more like pressing buttons for left and right each, then adjusting values with the scrolling knob.

Color
The Sony NEX-VG10 offers a couple of presets from Standard, vivid, B&W and such. I didn’t have enough time to find out on tweaking the image profile, I don’t know if it’s possible. However, judging from this screen capture, I do think it’s possible.

Notice the values on the image tweaks.

Video and audio file handling
From the screen grabs and footage shown in the earlier video, the VG10 was set at the highest recording mode possible. Adobe’s After Effects and Premiere Pro CS5 detected the footage as progressive at 1920×1080. I do find that the footage from the Canon 550D/T2i sharper compared to the VG10. I believe if image tweaks are possible, it may get rid of the jagged edges from the VG10′s footage. Unfortunately, i didn’t get to do a moire test. Audio handling wise, without having the shotgun microphone plugged in, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 detects the wave readings but there’s just no sound in playback. Same case when converting it to a proxy file with the PhotoJPEG codec.

Value
Recommended retail price is at RM7999 together with the 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 optical stabilized lens. Yes, still cheap for a camera that utilizes interchangeable lenses. Compared to the HD DSLR? You be the judge, HD DSLRs have the best of both worlds of brilliant pictures and a bonus of video, wide array of lenses, 3rd party accessories for your film making pleasure.

Disadvantages of the Sony NEX-VG10
- Poor grip
- Not very quick accessing controls
- Poor viewfinder
- Tilt LCD but no mirrored view
- Autofocus with face detection, nice feature but if I was on the job with a camera that utilizes interchangeable lenses, I wouldn’t dare to depend on autofocus

Advantages of the Sony NEX-VG10
- Better audio handling compared to HD DSLRs
- Top handle for low shots
- HDMI out for external LCD monitoring

If you’ve read this and still interested in checking out the Sony NEX-VG10, you should be looking out for the following that I’ve missed out on
- Manual audio controls/AGC option
- Custom color profile tweaking
- Test the viewfinder if it does it for you when it comes to pulling focus
- Compatibility between the VG10′s audio codec and editing software

The Sony NEX-VG10 and HD DSLRs share something very in common; limitations but in their own different flavors. If video making’s a job, you will end up with more than one camera for different environments during shoots. Hence, this camera may end up in your bag of cameras. However it will not replace my HD DSLR when I need to shoot with interchangeable lenses. Having a viewfinder like the LCDVF really changes the experience when shooting with a HD DSLR, better yet with the soon to be released Canon 60D with its flip screen LCD and manual audio controls.

Be sure to check B&H’s hands on review on the camera so you get a better picture of what to expect from the Sony NEX-VG10 since I have left out a ton of apparent detail about this camera. Again, this review is just based my short hands on experience on the Sony NEX-VG10.

And I’d like to thank Advertlets once again for getting me this exclusive invite.

Here are some pictures when i wasn’t on video mode with the Canon 550D/T2i.

In this video, I explain a little on my Canon 550D and lenses, the LCDVF, Canon HV20 and a glimpse of my Glidecam HD-2000 and Panasonic HMC152. My voice was recorded with the Sony ICD-UX70 with a clip mic. Not very spectacular audio quality but it does the job. This was shot with the Canon 550D with 50mm F1.4 lens open at F2.0. It was pretty tough to get a focus on myself since i didn’t have an external monitor to work with. However, it held up not too bad. Edited on Premiere Pro, color corrected in After Effects using Magic Bullet’s Colorista.

I hope to get more in touch with people who’d like to learn more about video or film making, and share what i can offer when i have the time. Hopefully the editing workflow would be the start, and slowly write more about on my experience on camera operation and in camera color profiles.

Less than 3 weeks ago, i decided to get a viewfinder for my Canon 550D. Before deciding on the LCDVF, the Zacuto Z-Finder was on the top of my list. I stumbled on a DSLR Video Rigs and found this other viewfinder (LCDVF) which looked pretty good, i thought I’d know more about it. Priced at almost half of the Zacuto Z-Finder price (of course, they don’t really fall in the same league in terms of build quality), the price of the LCDVF seemed to be more reasonable for hobbyists or even professionals considering you fund your own equipment less than a wide arsenal of equipment. LCDVF users seem to be satisfied with it, so i thought with whichever one, i can’t go wrong. Of course i opted for the cheaper.

So i swung by LCDVF‘s website and checked for their dealers list. Nearest one was Singapore but unfortunately at the time, they didn’t stock the 3/2 version. Instead, i checked out DSLR.com.au based in Australia and lucky for me, they had it in stock. For an unfortunate moment, their website did not offer any postage service to Malaysia. So i sent them a friendly email and their support team quickly replied, “We can make exceptions, what would you like to order?“. To my delight, i did my purchase over paypal and they shipped it out the next few days later. About 2 weeks later, it’s here! Here are some pictures of the package and unboxing.

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A couple of days before I left off for vacation to China, i purchased the Canon 550D to prepare myself for the pictures I’d take. Ultimately, the camera was to add more options to video shooting on top of the conventional prosumer and consumer camcorders i have. Bundled with the 50mm F1.4 and 24-105mm F4L IS USM, i thought these would be a good start for those shots when bokeh is needed, wrestling with lowlight and also for easier handheld applications when lots of light is available. It makes quite a wonderful start taking pictures with too. This video though, was shot entirely with the 50mm F1.4.

Considering this was a test shoot done rather spontaneous, making up scenes and directing were done on the spot, next scene after next. I got quite bored with the same old montages i make with test shoots, so i was pretty psyched to see how’d this turn out with minimal planning. Light source came from cheap 1000W work lights (2 bulbs, 1 stand) and polystyrene to bounce off the light. Thanks to Sean Ong who coincidently called and dropped by, he assisted me in carrying the lights and reflecting it according to my directions.

The single charged battery that comes with the Canon 550D only lasts for a while. If i could remember, it was just over an hour till the battery went dead and that’s when the shoot was over. After having such experience, i decided to buy a cheap battery grip by Phottix that costed just RM200 before the whole China trip.

Some shops wanted to sell me an alternative brand which was more expensive (they didn’t have this RM200 version in stock) claiming the Phottix battery grip has problems with the buttons given time. Ah well, i wasn’t interested in the buttons. Battery life was more of an issue for me. And i don’t need extra buttons for shooting video. So far, the buttons still work.

After researching on rechargeable batteries which were available here, I ended up buying a bunch of E8GE batteries along with chargers.. in BabyLand, SS2! I was sort of in a rush of getting my gear together. Quite a good deal I’d say. 2 pieces of AA for RM30, buy 4 pieces and you get a charger that holds 4 for free (charger sells for RM30 seperately). A review of E8GE batteries can be found here.
However, i haven’t put these batteries to the real test in video shooting yet, but they’ve been my backup during my trip and so far, so good.

As for the video, all was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. There was however, 2 color graded scenes. These were done to match the Panasonic’s HMC152 footage to the Canon 550D color profile.

It was fun, so was editing this one. Enjoy the video, click on the picture below to watch it!

So there’s a new contender in point8cam. It’s the Panasonic AG-HMC152 (HMC150 for NTSC version). Pretty unattractive box is comes with, it’s as if I just bought Panny Microwave or something. Knowing that there’s a camera in a huge box like that, there’s no reason not to be excited.

With an upgrade of so many features and technology, few things I was psyched with was the viewfinder and the 3.5inch LCD screen. So much bigger than the Canon HV20. Other things would be built in XLR mics (phantom support), the iris/focus ring, gain control, auto/manual zoom, auto + limit over manual settings, 720p50 are the other little things out of a whole lot more.

Small tripod this is, but i didn’t have my Manfrotto 501HDV + 055XPROB then

Another bit of the party piece is the widest zoom of this camera. The HMC152 has a wider shot than the HV20+Raynox 0.66x Wide Angle Lens. Also it has a max aperture of F1.6 compared to the HV20’s F1.8. F1.8 side by side, the HMC150 makes a difference too.

The bittersweet experience with this camera is tapeless recording wrapped with the annoying AVCHD codec (Adobe After Effects CS4 has problems rendering this, even with the latest updates, so i have no choice but to convert the shot footage into a “friendlier” format since i rely heavily on AE). Let’s talk abit about the shooting modes of this camera. At the highest quality, there are a few recording modes:

HMC152 Shooting modes (at highest quality)
1. 1080i/50i
2. 1080p/25p
3. 720p/25p
4. 720p/50p

At a glance, usually we’d think no. 4 would have the biggest bitrate, followed by no.2 then either one of 1 and 3. Instead, because “they” claim AVCHD is smart in compression, they’re all almost the same in terms of the file size of the end output. Here comes the wonder: “Would no.4 and 2 have compression artifacts?”. Well I’m not too sure, but I notice artifacts in mode no.4, other HMC users please leave a comment if otherwise. Artifacts as in, 1 or 2 blocks of pixels look damaged, or rather, just a different colour then it should be. I’m not too sure if it’s the SDHC card consistency, but I only tested this mode on a Panasonic 4GB Class 4 card. I wonder if a faster card would actually fix this problem.

Anyhows, I ran a test of shooting in mode 2 and 3, to check out how well AVCHD compression is, and how well the different modes are handled when converted to another format. That will be shown in the next update, with screen captures, showing areas cropped at 100% before and after conversion. The point is to find how much loss of detail there is due to conversion of these different modes/compression ratios. These tests will include the following formats:

1080p test
1. Original AVCHD footage
2. MPEG-2 CBR 35mbps
3. MPEG-2 CBR 30mbps
4. MPEG-2 VBR 25-30-35mbps
5. Canopus

720p test
1. Original AVCHD footage
1. MPEG-2 CBR 30mbps

Also, the file size for each format will be illustrated accordingly. So camera operators/editors, stay tuned for the next update.
p/s: I have all the screen caps done

I’ve been using Windows 7 from build 7000, and now build 7100 RC1. Pretty neat actually, it sits in between XP and Vista in terms of speed (could be as fast or faster than XP) but looks hell alot better than Vista. With 64-bit support, Adobe After Effects has more memory access. But of course, i’ve finally migrated from CS3 to CS4.

Not bad, 5.5 rating. And genuine! A serial number can be obtained from registering with Microsoft for free. On the B side of the story, Adobe Media Encoder makes it handy for queuing render jobs.

But i seriously want faster rendering time! Hope Matrox releases something to accelerate MPEG-2 encoding within AME.

And it’s been rendering for 36 hours already, just for 30 mins of color corrected HDV footage with lowlight grain removed.