For the last 15 years, I've been working with Betacam SP in a 100% component analogue suite. With exceptional picure quality from modern cameras and an easy workflow, one wonders what all the digital fuss is about. However, a recent commission by the Australian Government necessitated my move to digital. My brief was to capture a range of still images for a series of soon to be updated New South Wales' National Park websites and the client suggested I may wish to shoot "a bit of video as well".

A quick look around the web would suggest the Canon 5D Mk 11 as the obvious choice as it is "a stills camera that also shoots video". But you know, I'm a video pro so after a quick review, I can confirm the Canon's video output is less than satisfactory for all the above reasons. For my newe project, a Sony FS100 would have been nice, and an F3 'even nicer' but one must cut one's cloth to suit one's purse so my choice was Sony's new baby NEX vg20. You see, it's "a video camera that also shoots stills" and at around AUD $2,300, the vg20 comes with an 'Academy' sized 35mm sensor (with 16 million pixels) a 'clean' HDMI for 8 bit 4:2:2 recording but it also records 1920 x 1080 at up to 50P direct to the SD card using the new AVCHD Version 2.0 codec. (Note that Blackmagic Design's Hyperdeck Shuttle will only record at up to 50i, not 50p)

The image aliasing and rolling shutter artefacts are there if you look for them but they are more than acceptable for this type of camera at this price point. (Arri's Alexa is not without the latter if you look for it too) The vg20 is supplied with the same zoom lens as the FS100 so I've equipped my camera with rails, matte box and 'twin overhead' follow focus wheels: one for focus and the other for zoom. What about XLR audio inputs I hear you ask? The vg20's five on board mics record superb audio as the camera can capture both in Stereo as well as Dolby 5.1 but for my balanced super-cardiod mics, I built a little 'black box' with XLR sockets for $25 and clipped it onto the rails below the camera body where it plugs into the aux. stereo mic input. (vg20 has a manual audio level control) .

As I mentioned, my brief was for stills and the vg20 shoots 16x9 .RAW images (and/or .jpgs) of exceptional quality with just the flip of a switch. For video, there's 'manual everything' with zebra and a histogram visable through a 'proper' viewfinder which augments the handy flip out screen. Should I need to reduce weight for an overnight bushwalk into remote regions, I can slide the vg20 off the rails in less than 10 seconds and this results in a simple but fully functional point and shoot 'instamatic' type camcorder.

My total spend for Sony's NEX vg20 with all accessories was under $3000 but it has earned me much more than that to date. Remember, in our business, it's 'horses for courses' and at the end of the day, this gear is like any other tool in your box so it needs to work for you, not against you.

- James