FF VG900 hands-on !

The first thing I noticed was the minuscule weight and small size of the VG900. Like many cameras this size – it is not meant for using on your shoulder and has an articulated swing out lcd panel on the left side and a viewfinder at the top rear. Both worked well although in the bright California sunlight, I was using the viewfinder in many circumstances.With a small E mount zoom, the VG900 is practically a palm-corder. Adding the LA_EA3 and a serious piece of glass, like one of the lenses I was using, more than doubled the length and weight. However, even with the adapter and heavy glass, the VG900 was light enough to use like many other small sized pro and prosumer cams.
I had no trouble holding and balancing the camera in a variety of positions and on the small Manfrotto 701HDV tripod head I was using (on dollies and on sticks). To that end, Sony has usefully included a tripod threaded hole on the bottom of the LA-EA3 for the shift in center of gravity.

The lcd is a touch screen and is used not only for monitoring, but also for navigating and selecting various menu items. The lcd looked good enough for framing and non-critical color, but in bright sun I found it hard to see and for focus I used a combination of a peaking function and a magnify function. I really liked being able to choose which way to check focus – I found peaking useful for focusing ‘on the fly’ and having a magnify button was great for when I was locked down and had time to bump in and check critical focus. Within the menus you could chooses the color of the peaking, the magnify function was very conveniently located on a push button near the rocker zoom switch.
The VG900 has an OLED electronic viewfinder which conveniently turned on as I brought my eye to the eyepiece, even when the lcd was in use. I still needed to use the peaking and magnification for focus, but the image in the finder looked really good for it’s small size.
There were hard switches for choosing between still and video mode (I never tried the stills) and a mini hdmi jack is available for using external monitors. There were also two switches for start and stop recording, one on the back of the camera, encircled by the on/off switch, and the second on top of the camera near the magnify and zoom switches.
Overall I was very impressed with the handling of the VG900. Even with heavy glass and an audio module the camera only came up in weight equal to the mini pro cameras I already use. The size and balance seemed familiar and I got used to the camera controls quickly and was able to concentrate more on shooting than hunting through menus.
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http://gearjones.com/2012/10/23/sony-nex-vg900-first-look/


 
Went to BH to pickup the A99 after having seen it listed as "in stock".... After making the trip to the store, the sales guys told me the A99 is NOT in stock and not available for sale, only preorder online....very disappointing experience today.....went home empty handed.
Was told the status of items are listed as they are inventoried in their Brooklyn warehouse, so items shown in stock may not be available for store pickup........the A99 is already out of stock and won't be available until further notice.
 
SteveNunez said:
Went to BH to pickup the A99 after having seen it listed as "in stock".... After making the trip to the store, the sales guys told me the A99 is NOT in stock and not available for sale, only preorder online....very disappointing experience today.....went home empty handed.
Was told the status of items are listed as they are inventoried in their Brooklyn warehouse, so items shown in stock may not be available for store pickup........the A99 is already out of stock and won't be available until further notice.
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I guess you were just late? Quite a few people bough tit from B&H in the last two days
 
Was definitely not late as I was one of the few people in the small crowd waitin for the store to open.....the fact is the camera was not on hand at the store to purchase, the in stock listing was due to a few cameras being at the warehouse.....none were in stock for store purchase.
 
anyone know which sony number to call for feature requests? im completely on the line about the vg900 and the only thing they'd need to add is contrast and sharpness control, or even just make another profile called flat, i don't care, just some alternative to the already contrasted look
 
imdjay said:
anyone know which sony number to call for feature requests? im completely on the line about the vg900 and the only thing they'd need to add is contrast and sharpness control, or even just make another profile called flat, i don't care, just some alternative to the already contrasted look
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After endless pleas from VG 20 owners to port the Nex5 picture profiles over to no avail, I can't imagine it happening. That kept me from buying the VG900.

I decided to go A99 instead, it just arrived, you can adjust all the picture profiles and it has steadyshot. Now I need to decide on an external recorder to take advantage of the clean HDMI.
 
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I don't care if my VG900 is delivered soon since I am stuck without electricity after Sandy and my 22,500 watt Generac sucks one gallon of gas every hour so I spend all day looking to fill my gas cans at the very few gas stations that are open.
 
B&H Photo has it in stock, I just ordered mine for a new website to which it's very well suited. My first foray into large sensor video work, should be an interesting learning experience :) Now I just need to pick a ~50mm prime lens with quiet auto-focus and start practicing.
 
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