Something akin to a blending of video camcorder with DSLR technologies, the entrance of the "world's first consumer interchangeable lens HD camcorder" into the marketplace is a welcome addition to the many options facing today's video producer.

Achieving Perspective

Soon after un-boxing the eagerly awaited NEX-VG10 we began to experience a number of "wowee" moments as well as a few not so cool moments. In thinking about the pros and cons on this camcorder, we realized the cons were born primarily of our perception of what this camera could be rather than what it actually is.

We think it is important, therefore, before moving on to the details, to point out that we believe this camera could quite easily be unfairly judged. The reason, simply stated, is that it is so close to being much more than what it actually is. The perspective we need to understand is, what the manufacturer, in this case Sony, intends it to be - which is a consumer level camcorder.

Optic-mization

Yes that's a word, I just made it up. A great way to optimize one's optical resources is with the ability to use different lenses. That is exactly what Sony has done with the NEX-VG10. Never before has a consumer-class camcorder user enjoyed the versatility inherent in having the ability to swap out your standard lens for a macro, fisheye or whatever happens to suit your creative purposes.

Included with the unit is an 18-200mm E-mount lens with an 11X optical zoom. It uses a silent auto-focus system, (do not despair prosumers, manual focus is an option too), and optical image stabilization using Optical Steadyshot technology. E-mount lenses are lighter, smaller and optimized for video use.

The manual zoom ring on this lens offers up a fair amount of resistance when extending or retracting the lens. We found that because the camera is very light weight, using the manual zoom resulted in the wrist rotating to one side or the other - not a desirable characteristic when shooting and zooming hand-held. Proper shooting technique dictates that zooming while shooting should be kept to a minimum but when it is necessary, it is advisable to use a tripod. If hand-held shooting is required then be sure to utilize good hand-held techniques for maximum support and minimum wrist rotation. A power zoom would alleviate this tendency and would be a great feature to include in a future iteration of this camera. We should also point out that Hybrid DSLRs made for shooting video and photos that have interchangeable lenses similar to the NEX-VG10 do not have a power zoom as well.

Optional E-mount lenses include an 18-55mm zoom lens and a 16mm wide-angle lens. Additionally, a camera mount adapter may be purchased which allows the use of a wide variety of A-mount lenses, currently found on Sony DSLR cameras.

Sensor Purpose

Full 1920x1080 HD video is captured at 30p (29.97p) and recorded in AVCHD 60i (59.94i) at up to 24Mbps. The resulting footage is nothing short of stunning. The visual quality and color reproduction is excellent and to achieve such high quality, the NEX-VG10 utilizes an Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor that measures 23.4 x 15.6mm, approximately 19.5 times larger than those used in conventional camcorders.

A large sensor such as this allows a great deal more light to enter, resulting in a beautifully shallow depth of field. A shallow depth of field allows you to de-emphasize, or blur, certain portions of the image in order to place greater emphasis on that portion which remains in sharp focus. This ability contributes greatly to achieving that film-like quality in our video productions that so many of us are looking for. This feature alone is a big win, particularly for a consumer class camera.