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  • Power Zoom

  • Design & Usability

  • Performance

  • Conclusion

  • By the Numbers

  • Sharpness Performance

  • Low Light Performance

  • Motion & Detail

  • Power Zoom
  • Design & Usability
  • Performance
  • Conclusion
  • By the Numbers
  • Sharpness Performance
  • Low Light Performance
  • Motion & Detail

We've applauded Sony for the innovative nature of its NEX camcorders in the past, but the incremental updates provided on the VG30 aren't quite enough to justify its increase in price. The camcorder retails for $1,799 (body only), but if you want to take advantage of the new zoom function you need to kick in an extra $900 for Sony's 18-200mm power zoom lens. That's a total package of $2,699 for the camcorder and lens—a huge difference from the VG20, which was available for $1,599 body only, or $2,199 kitted with a manual 18-200mm zoom lens.

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Power Zoom

Is better zoom worth an extra $500?

It's the only new feature worth talking about at length, and it's the reason the VG30 costs more than its predecessor. Having the powered zoom control can be a great help, and the VG20's lack of this feature is something we complained about in our review. But we're not crazy at how big the powered zoom lens is, and its added weight does make the VG30 a less-balanced camcorder. Still, having a mechanical zoom is perfect when you want a consistent, fixed-speed zoom option that doesn't force you to rely on the sensitivity of your fingertips. The zoom speed can be precisely controlled (on a 1-32 increment scale), or it can be set to variable control that zooms faster or slower depending how hard you press the rocker.

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Design & Usability

Without the power zoom lens attached, the VG30 could easily be mistaken for a VG20.

Other than a few button rearrangements and some menu modifications, the design of the VG30 is largely unchanged from what Sony offered on the VG20. The body is essentially the same size, with a traditional camcorder form factor topped with a large handle that supports the stereo microphone, the new multi-interface hot shoe, and the tiltable EVF.

The other main addition is not part of the body, but rather the included power zoom kit lens. While the new power zoom functionality is a welcome addition, it's heavier than a traditional lens, however, so there were times when we actually preferred the way the VG20 and its manual-zoom lens handled. The difference really comes down to how much you appreciate having a zoom rocker at your fingertips and whether or not you require the steadiness of a mechanically-controlled zoom.

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Performance

As far as performance goes, the VG30 is an exact replica of its predecessor.

As expected, the VG30 performed in a near-identical fashion to its predecessor, the VG20. Across the board, the results in our lab tests were excellent; bright light video was vivid and crisp, motion looked smooth and had minimal artifacting, and the provided battery pack offered a more-than-capable 3+ hours of continuous recording.

If the VG30 has one problem it's that the 18-200mm kit lens isn't superb in low light. It's an f/3.5 lens at its widest aperture, which is quite a bit slower than your average consumer camcorder with a built-in lens (most of which are as fast as f/1.8 these days). This means you won't be able to get a clear image in a low light environment unless you bring an artificial light source or buy a faster lens. It should be noted the VG20 had the exact same problem with its own kit lens, as it had the same f/3.5 maximum aperture.

Conclusion

A great interchangeable-lens camcorder, but you can save a lot of money by going with a DSLR or mirrorless camera instead.

Besides the added zoom control, the biggest change with the VG30 is its price. The camcorder retails for $1,799 body-only, which is $200 more than the VG20 original sold for in 2011. If you want the fancy new 18-200mm power zoom lens, that'll kick up the price to $2,699—a $500 increase over the cost of a VG20 kitted with the non-powered 18-200mm zoom lens. Those are hefty price hikes just to have an easier zooming experience at your fingertips, and we're quite surprised Sony didn't keep the price of the body-only VG30 at the same level of the VG20.

Making matters worse is that fact that, with the VG30 in stores now, Sony has officially discontinued the cheaper VG20. You can still find it online at a few places, but it's getting harder every day. If you want to save a few bucks by going with the VG20 instead, you'll have to act fast.

Since its inception, we've always appreciated Sony's NEX camcorder line. The idea is innovative and exciting, and it's the ideal way to introduce interchangeable-lens camcorders to people who think shooting video with a DSLR just doesn't "feel right." The VG30 feels great, can be controlled with one hand, and with its added zoom feature it functions just like a traditional handheld camcorder—just one that lets you change lenses whenever you want.

But given the high cost of entry, we should be clear: you can get just as good quality and performance from a DSLR or a mirrorless camera with more lens options… you just won't get the camcorder form factor and the special controls that are designed specifically for shooting video. Is that worth the extra money considering the kind of video quality a sub-$2,000 DSLR can produce? In our experience, not so much.

By the Numbers

If you're familiar with the quality capable from the Sony NEX-VG20, then you've already been acquainted with the VG30. The updated VG30 has the same processor and image sensor as its predecessor, and, as a result, it put up the same numbers in our performance tests. The one area where the camcorders differ is the lens, as the VG30 is compatible with Sony's power zoom lenses that enable you to zoom mechanically (without physically rotating the zoom ring with your fingers). While the 18-200mm lens that comes kitted with the VG30 is technically different than the 18-200mm lens that came kitted with the VG20, for all intents and purposes they are the same lens (with the same focal length and aperture). One just has a built-in zoom motor.

Sharpness Performance

The VG30 won't blow you away with sharpness, at least not with its 18-200mm kit lens attached. In our test, the camcorder and kit lens combination produced sharpness levels of 650 lp/ph horizontally and 700 lp/ph vertically during motion sequences. These numbers are relatively unchanged from what we saw on the VG20 last year (as we expected). We have seen sharper imagery from cheaper, more-compact consumer camcorders, but not by a huge margin. The VG30 does lack an MPEG-4 record mode with a high bitrate (it's AVCHD bitrate, topping out at 28Mbps for 60p recording), which is one reason it may not be able to hit the same sharpness levels as the Canon XA25, for example.

Low Light Performance

Low light video was something of a weakness for the VG30, but it's mostly the fault of the f/3.5 kit lens. A faster lens would almost certainly boost low light performance by a significant margin, but you'll have to spend out of pocket to get an additional lens for the camcorder. Like we saw in our sharpness test, the VG30 showed no significant differences with the VG20 in terms of low light performance. Both camcorders struggled with sensitivity due to their slow lenses—the VG30 required 8 lux of light to hit 50 IRE on our waveform monitor, just as the VG20 did. When zooming in for a tightly-cropped head-and-shoulders shot, the VG30 needed 18 lux of light to reach minimum broadcast standards.

Noise and color accuracy weren't major problems in low light, however. In fact, noise levels were quite low for the VG30 until we lowered our test lights to a very dim (15 lux and less) level. Again, these are the same results we saw with the VG20.

Motion & Detail

One of our biggest gripes about the VG30 is that it doesn't have a 30p frame rate option, nor can it shoot slow motion footage. Like the VG20, the camcorder has a 1080/60p setting (its highest-quality record mode), a 24p option, and 60i recording. The 60p mode produces the sharpest, smoothest video, although many users will prefer shooting 24p to get a more cinematic quality from the VG30. Motion and detail in all shooting modes was very good, just like we saw from the VG20 last year. But we can't help but wish Sony had spent some time upgrading the VG30 in this category.

Meet the tester

Jeremy Stamas

Jeremy Stamas

Managing Editor, Video

@nematode9

Jeremy is the video expert of our imaging team and Reviewed.com's head of video production. Originally from Pennsylvania and upstate NY, he graduated from Bard college with a degree in film and electronic media. He has been living and working in New England since 2005.

See all of Jeremy Stamas's reviews

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