FF VG900 hands-on !

david_p said:
this is one weird and brutally ugly camera. honestly id be embarrassed to use it in public. DR leaves a lot to be desired as well. IQ is fair aside from lack of DR. to be fair its DR doesnt seem worse than a bundle of other cameras. its just getting to the point that i think we should be seeing more in current crop of cameras.

david
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Everyone seems to be milking 8-bit, AVCHD and such for all its worth. Next year there will certainly be more 10-bit 4:2:2 cameras, Blackmagic can't have all the fun. IMHO that's the next step for the FS150/750 or whatever Sony decides to call it. And then it will eventually trickle down to the VG's, DSLR's and Nex. After all there has to be some kind of upgrade path, right?
 
^^^ That's awesome. That 70-300mm lens completely dwarfs the VG, I can only imagine what those on the photo boards whining about a FF Nex would say with that attached to a Nex7 size body. I hate the Sony consumer menus as you're left guessing what icon functions are paced under. I know this is a consumer camera, but I wish the menus were more like the FS100 and wasn't so dependent on the touch screen - fingerprint smudges are a pain to wipe off between takes and such.
 
Sony NEX-VG900 Professional Camcorder Review

For full-frame, 35mm image capture excellence and multiple lens options in a camcorder form factor, check out the NEX-VG900 from Sony


The VG900 has a healthy mix of onscreen menu options and readily accessible buttons for frequently needed features. Three dedicated buttons located on the left side of the body between the lens mount and the LCD, control iris, gain/ISO and shutter speed. These three control the aspects of exposure, and controlling them manually is part of what makes the VG900 a definitively better camera.Depending on your needs you can switch instantly between automatic and manual settings simply by pressing the button of the desired function. When in manual mode, a small wheel at the bottom of the camcorder is used to adjust the settings. Just ahead of this wheel is the Manual button, a user-defined button that can be set to control exposure, auto exposure shift, white balance (WB) color temperature (in 100 degrees-Kelvin increments), WB B-A (Blue/Amber) or WB G-M (Green/Magenta).


Behind the LCD are several more very useful buttons. The Zebra button turns striping on or off, which gives a visual indication of the areas in your frame that are overexposed by displaying hash marks across the appropriate areas. In the menu you can adjust Zebra sensitivity between 70 and 100+ in increments of five. A peaking feature displays a stroke of color around the areas that are in focus and provides a much appreciated focus assist for older eyes. Go into the menu to select white, red or yellow and to vary the intensity level between lo, mid or hi. The Display button adds or removes information shown onscreen. White Balance displays a menu where you can select between auto, outdoor, indoor, manual (in 100K increments) or one push - where you fill the frame with white, push the onscreen button and you're all set.
On the right side of the unit is a zoom control for use with lenses having a built-in zoom motor, otherwise, the rocker controls electronic zoom. Ahead of the zoom control is an Expanded Focus button, which magnifies the frame to further aid in achieving proper focus.
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http://www.videomaker.com/article/15963-sony-nex-vg900-professional-camcorder-review
 
noirist said:
It looks like they merely rewrote the VG900 press release.
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Show me a link to that VG900 press release that shows "Our tests used the SEL18200 ($900), an 11X zoom, 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 telephoto lens and a Carl Zeiss 16-35mm f/2.8 zoom lens. With both of these lenses the center of balance is too far forward for one-handed shooting and will cause considerable wrist fatigue rather quickly."
 
Okay, It looks like they merely rewrote the press release after handling the camera at a tradeshow. Or did I miss the results of their other "tests"? What new or proprietary information did that article have?
joe1946 said:
Show me a link to that VG900 press release that shows "Our tests used the SEL18200 ($900), an 11X zoom, 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 telephoto lens and a Carl Zeiss 16-35mm f/2.8 zoom lens. With both of these lenses the center of balance is too far forward for one-handed shooting and will cause considerable wrist fatigue rather quickly."
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joe1946 said:
http://www.videomaker.com/article/15963-sony-nex-vg900-professional-camcorder-review
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Worst. Review. Ever.

I actually learned nothing about the camera. Shocking that when you hang a big lens off a 2 pound camcorder via an adapter that hangs it an extra inch off lens mount that its front heavy, well not really. No image samples or anything useful, just a shameless attempt to get site traffic.

Steve Huff is talking up a press event from 10/8 - 10/12 where Sony is showing off its new cameras to reviewers and shuttling them to shooting situations to put its new cameras to work. He didn't mention the VG, but he did mention the A99 which will have almost identical video, and I would guess that the VG will be shown off there too.
 
This video compares the APS-C & 1/2.88' sensor vs the 35mm Full Frame Image Sensor found on the new Sony NEX-VG900 35mm Full Frame Camcorder.
 
im actually a bit more interested in the vg30, provided that the one and only difference is the sensor. i would hope and assume that it's the same sensor(or newer) as the nex 5N, which has an edge on the 5d2 low light ability. im sure the vg900 will have some edge over the vg30 in that regard but not enough for me to justify the 1500$ price premium for the sensor upgrade

and did anyone even glance at the 2x digital zoom feature? it sounds brilliant if done properly. supposed to do active rescaling for an effectivly lossless smooth electronic zoom. basically making lenses such as the 50mm 1.8 a 50-100mm 1.8. someone finally found a great use for all that extra resolution on photo sensors for video use
 
hmm good spot, can't seem to find any photos of inside the vg900, but there are at least iris and shutter buttons on the vg30's inside. don't see any gain button. i could deal with menu controlled gain...
 
imdjay said:
im actually a bit more interested in the vg30, provided that the one and only difference is the sensor. i would hope and assume that it's the same sensor(or newer) as the nex 5N, which has an edge on the 5d2 low light ability. im sure the vg900 will have some edge over the vg30 in that regard but not enough for me to justify the 1500$ price premium for the sensor upgrade

and did anyone even glance at the 2x digital zoom feature? it sounds brilliant if done properly. supposed to do active rescaling for an effectivly lossless smooth electronic zoom. basically making lenses such as the 50mm 1.8 a 50-100mm 1.8. someone finally found a great use for all that extra resolution on photo sensors for video use
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Me too if the internals are the same. No one has come out and compared the 2 AFAIK.
 
imdjay said:
so looks like a few extra buttons on the vg900

any word on control of sharpening, contrast, and saturation?
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Went to the Sony site are reviewed specs on both. In addition to sensor size, the VG900 has aditional features like 1080x60p video and the new lens adaptor. I'm not sure that justifies 1500.00, but we should wait for actual release to see what the street price will be.
 
ok, chalk that one too, i assumed the vg30 had 60p but looks like a no.

they might just have been clever enough to make enough little details differences to make people opt for the 900.

so, so far the differences are

larger sensor
a few more direct control buttons,
60P

a big thing would be for either of them to have at least the same profile controls as the a99/nex cams. just basic color, sat, cont, sharp.

that would seal it up for me. would sell off the ex1 and 5d and be a happy dude whenever i have a corporate or event client to cover
 
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