Canon XA10 or Sony NEX-VG20E or other?

M

Mavoz

Well-known member
Hi,
A friend has asked me to advise him on what Video Camera he should buy for his non profit organisation.

Important features/key purposes:
- Filming Conference events with guest speakers etc.
- Small interviews
- Ease of use
- Will be used whilst travelling (and in third world countries.)
- Run and Gun.

The budget they have is around the $2000.

He was looking at the Sony NEX - VG20E and thinking this might be the best current choice.
(He does already have a Canon 60D...but would prefer not to mess around with dual audio...and also the shorter clip times may be a problem for recording conference sessions)

I have looked at some reviews and have been wondering whether he wouldn't be better off with a Camera like the Canon XA10 because of ease of use, XLR inputs, portability.
The ability to change lenses may be overkill in the context of getting something that is reliable and just does the job.

Can anyone comment on what they would advise in this context. (or open to other suggestions in that more 'budget pro' category)

Thanks:)
 
Not used the canon, but strongly advise against the Sony. A friend bought a vg20 for some daft reason, and whilst the image that comes out of it can be nice under the right conditions, everything else about the camera is a joke; its just an absolute nightmare to operate, with most the functions you need hidden away in a horrible, unresponsive touchscreen menu. The form factor is better than a dslr, but this is offset by a lack of any of any decent functions on the camera body itself, also the lack of xlr inputs and ND filters in a camera at this price range is a bizzare omission also the sensor is not optimized for video at all, it's the same sensor found in some of the sony stills cameras so you still get the same horrible rolling shutter, moire and aliasing problems.

For 2 grand you should be able to find a lot of decent last gen cameras second hand on ebay, something like a panasonic hmc150, hvx200 or hpx170
all of these will give you a better picture than the vg20 and are miles more convinent from an audio recording point of view, if you want to go the large sensor route then maybe wait a bit longer for the panasonic gh3 to arrive, which is supposed to have better audio than the current dslrs.
 
Thanks for the reply...I'd seen a comment somewhere else that expressed how the touchscreen was fustrating.

The Canon seems to tick a lot of boxes for what he is after...quality..XLR input..ND filters...functionality..portability...ease of use...ability to be more 'discrete'...

Philip Bloom posted a favourable video review about it a while back http://vimeo.com/26184320

There doesn't seem to be that much info out there about the Sony..... the interchangeable lenses is tempting...but maybe that does come at a 'price' in terms of other compromises
 
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