VG2O Questions Answered- Footage coming.

[Chris Barcellos]

1..As to bit rate, the question has arisen before. When you select in menu, you are advised it shoots 24 mbs in 24p and 60i, 28mbs in 60p. You can go lower on each frame rate, but those are maximum bit rates.

2. HDMI appears clean to me. I plugged into back of my small 15 inch DYNEX TV and image looked good.

3. Next to my FX 1 in looks like a midget, but next to the T2i it looks big.

4. Somehow I had gotten impression the battery charge is separate. Unless I missed something in packaging, it charges just like any other Sony camera... on the camera.

5. Comes with windsock for the mic

6. Comes with shade for the lens.

7. Jury still out on noise and speed, but I think it will keep close to the T2i there, so you probably won't be giving up anything. ( I want to do a side by side with the T2i, 5D, and Vg20.

[Chris Barcellos]

8. Not seeing any way to adjust contrast, saturation, or sharpness, like is on board the DSLRs....Anyone know any different ?

[John Vincent]

Hey Chris - first, thanks a ton for the early review! After what I (and many others) consider the total fail of the Canon announcement, any news is good news.

The big thing for me is.... is the VG20 better in low light situations then the T2i? I love the T2i, but that sucker gets pretty dang noisy at 800 ISO or higher.

[Min Lee]

Hey Chris, what's the slowest shutter speed you can use? Thanks.

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by John Vincent

Hey Chris - first, thanks a ton for the early review! After what I (and many others) consider the total fail of the Canon announcement, any news is good news.

The big thing for me is.... is the VG20 better in low light situations then the T2i? I love the T2i, but that sucker gets pretty dang noisy at 800 ISO or higher.

I will try some testing tonight, and post something, hopefully.

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Min Lee

Hey Chris, what's the slowest shutter speed you can use? Thanks.

there are an amazying amount of low shutter speeds on the film side. Lowest shutter speeds in manual= 1/4, 1/5,1/6,1/8,1/10, 1/13,1/15, 1/20, 1/25, 1/30,1/40, 1/50, 1/60

[Chris Barcellos]

I just completed some testing the T2i, 5D and VG-20 side by side. I am pleasantly surprised. My preliminary conclusion is that going to the VG 20 may prove to be a step up, despite its price.

The scene was a living room with a single light source, screen right, and a bit of over head light from across the room.

I shot the T2i in the standard style. I shot the 5d in neutral and then in Cynestyle picture style, and the VG 20 with both standard and Cinematone settings. Cameras were shot with settings of 3.5 on the wide angle setting for each, resulting in a very close angle of view.

It would be great if I could upload all the test shots, but I will try to do something with still later this evening with stills

Ultimately I have concluded that I am not really going to lose anything with this camera, over either the t2i or the 5D. Both are noisey at similar settings, but it seems to me that the latitude of the Sony actually is an improvement. In addition, the noise seem softer and more viewable. It will be interesting to see how a denoiser plug may work.

[Chris Barcellos]

I did some testing in windy conditions earlier in day today to see whether the codec was holding up. This YouTube video will give a feel for how it worked out. It does appear better in full render.

Sony Nex VG 20- Testing for motion artifacts - YouTube

[John Vincent]

Looked good to me! I didn't see any banding or blockiness to speak of.

The shutter speed is def an improvement over the T2i...

You can confirm the same 6 presets as 5N/VG10?

The VG20 would seem to have several advantages over the Canon DSLRs - form factor, built in mic, longer record times, manual audio w/o a hack, true viewfinder.

BUT it's all about the end image for me. If it's a stop faster, or just cleaner period, it becomes an almost must have. If we're talking the same basic noise, then a Mark II seems to be the better bet.

Thanks again Chris, and keep it coming!

[Chris Barcellos]

Here is a look at my noise test. Its long and boring, but compares 5DMarkII, and T2i with VG20 I think I am liking the Sony shot with Cinematone quite a bit. Certainly something to consider.

Testing of Noise In Low Light Sony Nex-VG20 H - YouTube

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by John Vincent

You can confirm the same 6 presets as 5N/VG10?

I cannot confirm any presets. I am not finding any in the manual. Nor can I locate it on menus anywhere. Can you tell me how it was done on the VG10

[Paul Rickford]

VG10/ NEX5 Choose -Menu -brightness/colour -Creative style -choose landscape, sunset,port,vivid,std,bw, -Exp, contrast and sharpness dial in settings then appear at bottom of screen.

If you can't find them, i'm thinking the VG20 has a 'split personality' with the NEX menu on the still side and the NX70/cx700 firmware bolted on for the Video?

Looking forward to your tests, from what limited footage I have seen, the VG20 is much improved over the 10

Regards

[Stu Holmes]

Hi Paul
Long time no speak. How is Parkstone these days?

I have a good mate buying the VG-20 in around a month. He used a VG-10 for a little while and shot some excellent stuff on that. I'll get him to report back on it when he has it sometime in December.

Cheers

ps. I think i still owe u a Stella, from way back when.

[John Vincent]

Just viewed the test (which, PS, is exactly the sort of thing I've been looking for - I mean perfect).

Is it my imagination, or is the VG20 producing cleaner images at comperable ISOs than the Canon's? That, or the VG20's grain is just of a finer quality?

What's your gut reaction as to a low light test winner?

Thanks again for posting.

[Chris Barcellos]

I am not there with real life shooting conditions yet, but I feel that I can work with this camera on the low light level, as well as, or maybe with some more work, better than the Canon 5D. Now that is saying a lot, because I have loved my 5D for my purposes.

The big issue in my mind is that Sony only seems to give us only two shooting styles in this camera--- Cinematone and regular. I haven't found any capability of otherwise adjusting contrast, sharpness and saturation. I am early yet in investigation, and I may have missed it. If true, I want to shoot a bit more in different lighting situations to get more of feel for what that means.

But it seems clear that Sony was threatened that this would be bought in place of the FS100, so they may have removed stuff ( like the shooting presets referenced above) that would give the professional some working room.

After a day though, I do think the image as it is is spectacular, and that it can outshoot the 5D in detail. More to come. may take it to golf course today to see how it handle 60p, etc.