I am thinking about buying a new video camera. I have been on the mini DV camera Canon HV30 for the past couple of years. Thinking about going back to Sony… in particular the Sony VG10e. Has anyone checked it out?
http://www.sony.com.au/product/nex-vg10e
It would have to be a significant improvement in quality for me to change from Mini DV to AVCHD.
Re: New Video Camera Choices
isn’t this camera not released yet? pretty sure it’s on pre-order, which means no one has tried it. it seems to use the sony NEX lenses. there aren’t that many yet, but as i recall there’s an adapter that would let you use all the sony and third party lenses for the sony A mount. that could be a huge plus.
assuming this is the same or a similar sensor as the NEX still cameras, it’s gonna catch a lot more light than the tiny crappy sensor they put in most camcorders. on the other hand, it may take adjustment as you’ll be able to blur the background in situations it wouldn’t have blurred before. also i believe that CMOS is known to heat about a bit faster than CCD but in real world applications, it may not matter that much.
according to what i read, the video is interlaced, which i personally am sick of.
still, chances are this is going to be a big step up from what you - and i, for that matter - are using.
Re: New Video Camera Choices
Bentley I suggest you read the reviews on the B&H Photo and Amazon sites. I always find these very useful.
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The camera is out in the stores now. I saw some here in the city over the weekend. It’s $US1999 or $AU3199 here in Australia. Given that our dollars are almost equal now I kinda wish I was heading to the US instead of the UK this week.
The specs look really nice. They say that the sensor is 19.5 times bigger than the usual sensors you find in camcorders. And the interlacing must be what is cutting down the space used on the SD card: “in FX mode, the NEX-VG10 supports it at the maximum bit-rate of 24Mbps. With superior image quality and compression efficiency, you can record approximately 3 hours1 of 1920 x 1080 Full HD video2 on a single 32GB card”
It will be great to move back to the Sony brand and up to HD video (finally).
Thanks MSM for the tip on B&H Photo. I had not seen that site before. All good reviews so far.
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Unless you’re in dire need of a camera, can’t you just order it from the United States and have it shipped abroad to you? Or are there taxes and tariffs and all that fun stuff?
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i don’t see any reviews for it on bhphotovideo but i DO recommend them as a great place for reviews and to buy from. i’ve had great service and prices from b&h many times.
Re: New Video Camera Choices
I’ve also found that YouTube and Vimeo are excellent sources for camera shopping… just do a search for the model you’re interested in and you can see actual examples of what kind of images it shoots.
I looked into the Sony VG10 some more and it does look interesting but I’m not sure I’d use it for porn work. There is no zoom control which I think comes in handy for adult work.
If you’re just looking for breathtaking HD footage you might want to consider the Canon T2i/550D DSLR. It’s $899 (US) and the image quality is very similar to the Sony VG10. It seems to be the current tool of choice for indie filmmakers.
I’m not sure what the Sony offers more than the Canon, other than a more traditional camcorder style body.
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I’ve noticed a lot of film makers lately here i Oz using the video functions on DSLRs for making their videos. I thought about it a while back when I was going to buy the Canon 7D (not sure what it’s American model number is). But two things turn me off there… I doubt it would have as good an image stabiliser as the Sony Handycam range has, and without the swing out LCD… who knows what I would end up filming.
I use the Canon HV30 now, and mostly I am disappointed by it’s poor image stabilisation. I haven’t found anything as good as the stabilisation in the Sony Handycam range.
I walked into the Sony Store here yesterday and they offered me the VG10e for $US3200… bloody hell! Some companies must really be cleaning up now that the Aussie and US dollars are equal.
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i’ve found the stabilization in some dslr’s to be very good, but there’s something weird looking about any fast action in the videos like birds wings when the birds are in flight. also a lot of dslr’s offer video up to 24 or 25 fps while i prefer to shoot at 30.
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Well I bought the Sony VG10e today. So I’ll let you know how it goes. One thing I realised after I got it home… the LCD screen doesn’t spin right around to face forward. Doh! I guess that means no more looking at myself on video anymore 
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Wish I caught you before you made the purchase… if what you wanted was image stabilization and a swing-out viewfinder I would have suggested the Sony CX550 (it’s going for $1,099 at many stores this week). I’m thinking about picking one up myself. With its low light ability and other features it looks like it would be great for porn work.
And you’re right, the new image stabilization on the Sony camcorders is very good. I’ve heard several people compare it to a Stedicam and there’s an amazing demo video on YouTube of the camera on a vibrating base where you can see its image is rock steady.
Oh well, I’m sure you’ll like your new camera. If not, you can always unload it on Ebay and hopefully get back most of what you paid.
Please let us know when you shoot and post your first scene with it. I’d love to take a look.