VG2O Questions Answered- Footage coming.

[Chris Barcellos]

Tonight I shot a short scene in the standard setting. I white balanced. I had zebras set at 100 percent, and then shot the scene adjusting exposure to make sure no zebras showed up in view finder.

After that, I converted the file over to a Cineform file, and then opened in FirstLight. There I reset the video output to a Cineon setting, which turned the footage to a softer, and seemingly less contrasty look.

I then opened in Vegas, and added some color and levels corrections, and it seemed work decently. I will play with this a bit more tomorrow.

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Chuck Fadely

I have lots of questions!

How's the manual audio control? Is it buried deep in menus or can you get to it quickly? Can you control the channels individually? How's the audio quality when fed from external mics - does it have headroom or does it distort easily? I assume it's mic-level only and can't take line-in?

And how is the peaking and focus magnification in use - quick and easy or clumsy? Is the peaking like the 5N - can you choose your color and intensity?

And just confirming, this does have manual control over gain and shutter speed, correct? Can you assign either or both on external controls? Does it have zebras?

thanks!

1. I haven't tried to mess with volume on sound yet. Adjustment is in menu system. The meter is a strange thing. It is intended to give you readings for all the 5.1 channels if you turn on 5.1 sound. I would rather have the standard levels meter, but I haven't really explored the menu on that to see if you can call up a different meter. I doubt it though, as I don't recall seeing it in manual.

2. Have run with external mics. yet. As I said, I took camera to golf course Friday. It was windy, and I used camera mic. Fairly noisy. But I was about 20 yards from green on one shot, with wind blowing, but I could still hear the golfers talking in regular voice levels. Seems like a nice mic set up, or an on camera affair.

3. So far, I have been shooting mostly auto focus. This is not my norm, but I was curious how well the camera keeps focus, I have shot mostly hand held. I have yet to even push the focus assist button. I will take some time tomorrow on that too. I don't have a 5n so I can't compare those things.

4. And confirming again, yes you can get full control of camera, and adjust iris, shutter speed, gain, as well as white balance shift mentioned above. Also, you can just select "Exposure" and camera will select what things to adjust. This is all done by pushing the Manual button on side of camera, then using the roller to select the parameter you want to adjust. You could even use it to shift the camera exposure level, when the camera is in auto exposure mode,

5. There are two settings for zebras- 70% and 100% If you set at 100%, make sure you elimated zebras from your shot because that area will definitely be in the highlight clipping zone.

[Paul Newman]

There's obviously a lot of support for the NEX5 and 7 - I have a question that I cannot find an answer to.

Despite the NX5n having some settings not available on the VG20, can I operate an NX5 for 3 hours on a large battery, and will it shoot 3 hours of continuous HD - unmanned?

I currently use a VG10 for "snoopy" shots during music session recording, and despite its limitations, it works well, without too much attention, I don't need to change batteries, nor media, which is great, so maybe for me the VG20, with its increased sensitivity and 50P recording might just do the job, I'd love to spend less, as I need 2 units and len's - I simply thought to get 2 body only versions and pick specific lens' to add to my existing stock E mount from the vg10.

thanks for any illumination....

and are you able to upload a tiny tripod mounted slow wide pan shot Chris? just a 28Mb/s at 60P sample - 10 seconds would do it

Thanks


Paul :-)

[Bill Bruner]

Paul - sadly, the NEX-5N is limited to 29 minutes of video recording. This is true for both European and North American models. The VG10, VG20 and Panasonic GH1 & GH2 are the only large sensor, interchangeable lens still/video hybrid consumer cams with unlimited recording time (unless you're a "consumer" who can afford a RED cam;-))

Cheers,

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution

[Paul Newman]

Thanks for that, I note that the GH2 only records 60P at 1280x720 and 60i at 1920x1080 - so the VG20 does have the upper hand in some ways - I need sensitivity, 60P or 50P at full HD, long record times, long battery duration, and the usual manual settings, expanded focus is a bonus, as are zebra's... and being able to switch lens' is a must.

I might find a use for the VG20 yet!

I wonder if you can stuff a 64gb card into it?

oh yes, of course I'll pick up a couple of RED's for sure!!! er, not!



Paul :-)

[Bill Bruner]

Paul - sounds like your requirements list is almost the same as mine. I would also add a headphone jack and full manual audio gain control as "must-haves" - which is why I am so interested in the VG20 as a B cam for my GH2.

Bill

[Chris Barcellos]

From manual:

1. “Memory Stick PRO Duo” media of up to 32 GB and SD cards of up to 64 GB have been verified to
operate with your camcorder.

2 You can adjust the volume when recording. Reset Returns to the normal level.

Tips

We recommend that you use headphones to check the level when adjusting the setting.
Set a lower level to naturally capture continuous loud sound. To capture quieter sound at an
easy-to-hear level, increase this setting. The limiter is always working regardless of the
Audio Rec Level setting.

[Paul Newman]

Thanks Chris,

Good to know, I wonder how long a record duration you can cram onto 64gb at 28Mb/s?

and if the audio quality from the VG20 mics is anywhere near as good as the VG10, I'd be happy, although I only use the audio as a guide, I'm constantly surprised at how good it is, making the audio from my EX1 mics sound awful !

I still use my Tascam DR100 for anything serious.

Paul :-)

[Jeff Hinson]

Oh no...more things to consider.
Canon Cinema EOS

more http://cinemaeos.usa.canon.com/produ...era&model=C300

Canon EOS C300= $16k
Sony VG20= $2.5k

Let me think on this a while. :>)

[Chris Barcellos]

Here is some more footage.

I wanted to look at extreme shooting situations, and see how much jellow was produced hand held, and if I could get moire and aliasing. You check it out and make your own decision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VssbNNKiK0

[Paul Rickford]

Way better than the VG10, for the money I think the picture looks pretty good, if you then factor in the fact that the next step up (FS100) costs at least 3000 UK pounds more, it looks even better!

Starting to see why Sony pulled back a bit on the features.

The Cinetone colour at the end looks a little strange, was this early morning light or colour corrected?

Thanks Chris

[Paul Newman]

Thanks Chris,

Yes, very interesting and much better than the VG10, but I still see really bad blocky artefacts in still areas of some of the shots - can you verify the data rate at all, is it all shot at 28Mb/s? or is it related to gain settings - I'd love to see a 28Mb/s 0dB indoor lit shot at F3.5, with shadows and dark areas, to see if it is actually clean at these settings, maybe there is a shot or 2 in your compilation that reflects this.

Thanks for all you help

Paul

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Paul Rickford

Way better than the VG10, for the money I think the picture looks pretty good, if you then factor in the fact that the next step up (FS100) costs at least 3000 UK pounds more, it looks even better!

Starting to see why Sony pulled back a bit on the features.

The Cinetone colour at the end looks a little strange, was this early morning light or colour corrected?

Thanks Chris

About the golf shot, I will review what I did this evening. I tried to do as little as possible to these shots. This was actually late afternoon. Because at the time I did not have the right size variable ND, the golf was shot with straight lens. As was noted in an early film from Japan, overexposure is easy to fall into. I had not yet played with zebras till this day, and figured I had some room, but turned out that if zebars are at 100, you will be clipping at those places. That may have more to do with the color issues than anything. With the golf shot, I was mainly testing 60p and slowing the footage to 24p for slow motion effect.

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Paul Newman

Thanks Chris,

Yes, very interesting and much better than the VG10, but I still see really bad blocky artefacts in still areas of some of the shots - can you verify the data rate at all, is it all shot at 28Mb/s? or is it related to gain settings - I'd love to see a 28Mb/s 0dB indoor lit shot at F3.5, with shadows and dark areas, to see if it is actually clean at these settings, maybe there is a shot or 2 in your compilation that reflects this.

Thanks for all you help

Paul

I am thinking some of the blockiness is from recompression at YouTube. What I will try to do is get some example shots into Vimeo this evening. I can upload original footage if Chris can let me know what to do.

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

I had not yet played with zebras till this day, and figured I had some room, but turned out that if zebars are at 100, you will be clipping at those places.

Clipping can occur in post or at Utube -- wherever a signal over 100% is sliced off.

For example, with a camera I had when I played to HDTV via HDMI I could see details in clouds. Wow. But, once edit, NO details. Answer -- iMovie will not pass anything greater than 100%.

But, you might want to import your Utube video and see the range. It may make no difference if your NLE passes above 100%.

PS: The missing Contrast control lets you adjust whether a signal greater than 100% can be obtained. If f you can record above 100% then you can allow some 100 Zebra. If you can't then you can not allow any 100% zebra.

I posted a segment from my eBook a few days ago that discusses the Contrast control.

PS: I have never understood using ANY service to compare camrea quality. However, it you want to do this, I recommend Exposure Room.