Sony NEX-VG10E

VictorChen

There must be tons of places showing the actual result of this video camera recorder, so here I'm inspecting this toy from a non-professional point of view. What makes this cam corder attractive is the fact that it allows various lenses to be useable, and the only limitation is really the availability of the mounts. I have tried the Leica M lenses, Nikon F lenses, and they all work just fine, with the obvious that you will have to sacrifice the autofocusing.





NEX-VG10E shares the same sensor size as the NEX 5, which is certainly bigger than the M4/3. The sensor size is really none of my concern, some might argue 2x crop factor sacrifices the wider view, as true as that may be, it all boils down to the personal habits. So in my opinion, the advantage the NEX-VG10E has is its ergonomic design which fits very nicely in your single palm, I find this extremely useful in a video recording.




Build quality is fairly sturdy, I'm sure it's strong enough for the sunday drivers such I. I like its built-in microphone which does an acceptable level of noise recording, but most importantly, it's big and has directional look which appears to be somewhat professional very much satisfying my thirsty ego !! If you are a serious amateur, you can always add a gun microphone and an external flash, they are also available from Sony as an accessory.





Pro:
1. NEX-VG10E is, by birth a true camcorder with interchangeable lens
2. Price; probably this is the only interchangeable lens camcorder at this price currently

Con:
1. With the 18-200 lens attached (sold as a package), this becomes a fairly large camcorder
2. this is not a camera though it does take jpeg



Now obviously if you are a hard core professional movie maker, this one is not for you. And if you have a large bank account, you would also end up with a Carl Zeiss movie lens costing over $100K. But if you want to capture your friends and family's happy moments in a motion manner, this Sony is definitely one of the good option available currently in the market.