Looking at picking up the VG20, despite it's shortcomings.

before I do, I have a few questions for you lads:

- I'd like to know more about the focus assist. Does it allow you to zoom in digitally to achieve focus (like the Canon DLSRs do), or does it just highlight the in-focus areas ala the Panny AF100?

- Will the focus assist work with 3rd party lenses?

- Can you use off the shelf third party 1/8" mics (like the popular Rode series) with the VG20, or do you need a Sony mic?

- Anyone use an outboard recorder yet? If so, what were the results?

- I've seen some footage on vimeo/youtube showing big time rolling shutter, as well as moire/skew. Now the rolling shutter is something youtube actually can show pretty well; however, those channels tend to add their own level of skew.

Could anyone comment on this?

Thanks for any insight -

1. The focus assist button zooms the picture. Unlike my Canons, the zoom can be done during capture.

2. Yes, any lenses can be used and still utilize focus assist. To be clear, focus assist is a .manual focus aid.

3. Any mics will work. I actually bolted on my old xlr adapter, and fed camera with an NGT 2 mic during my first shoot with the camera.

4. Not sure what you question is here. I will say that I think the camera itself can be set up to give pretty decent sound recording results, using an off camera mic, and adjusting inputs manually. I do need to get a little deeper into developing a process as I think there are some uncontrolled auto features at play on board. I am finally going to clear some time to check some of this out in the next couple of days.

5. Moire, and skew, and other image issues: I think there is less moire and aliasing issues on this camera than on my Canon 5 or my T2i, but it is still there. Rolling shutter skew is also clearly present in fast pans, and will be an issue, but all of these issues have never been a big problem for me in shooting narrative stuff, as I learned to work around it as the camera and equipment may require.

Hey Chris -thanks for taking the time to respond. Good news about the focus assist and mic inputs.

Far as outboard recorder goes, I should have been more clear - I was wondering about the use of video recorders and units like the Ninja (like will they work, what if any difference in footage quality).

You've probably had the camera longer then anyone in North America so you're a great person to ask - would you still buy the camera? And one ,ore - if you were hired to shoot a film or a commercial and could only use one of your cameras, would you pick the VG20, or one of your Canon?

Thanks again.

1. Still buy ? I still have the one I bought, and I probably will keep, because I think it fills some holes in my arsenal. I am still a bit miffed about how Sony marketed the camera, but it still has a lot of great features, making it usable for me.

2. As far as filming a well lighted scene like a commercial set vs. the Canon, I see no real problem at all. I believe this camera provides better resolution and features easier to work with than the DSLRs.