I believe the sony vg20/30 have focus peaking. does it work with 3rd party lenses (when used with adaptors) like canon ef lenses? how reliable is the focus peaking? are these camera easier to focus than dslrs?

The peaking is a camera function, not a lens one, and works with any attached lens. Peaking is a useful focus tool, as is focus assist (an electronic zoom of the image) -- in general terms the focus maybe a touch easier than a DSLR with 'live view' or similar -- what you see is what you get; the viewfinder of the VG30 is very good (high resolution) and I had no problems achieving sharp focus when I used one.

Cheers,
GB

Thanks Geoff!