Sony HDR-CX150 16GB High Definition Handycam Camcorder (Red)

A camera with excellent HD quality but not many features

I bought this camera on Monday had fun with it for two days and then returned it. Although I can't afford it I then closed my eyes and ordered the HDR-CX550V. I basically went from the bottom of the Sony consumer class to the top in one fell swoop.



Things I liked about the CX150:

* FABULOUS quality in adequate light. The video in 24 Mbps mode is stunning. Search YouTube for examples. Every hair on my cat dust particles in sunlight it all shows up with beautiful resolution. It's amazing. Almost Blu-Ray quality. You won't find any consumer-class camcorder with better quality.

* 25x zoom when used with a tripod lets you get really close

* "macro" works without any special settings. Just put the lens an inch away and it will focus. Resolves fingerprints.

* Amazingly tiny. With no hard drive or tape drive the unit is frighteningly small. You can put it and all the cables + charger in a camera case designed for a DSLR + telephoto

* PMB software works has good basic editing. Used it to grab frames from movies - almost don't need the "still" function if 1990x1080 res is good enough.

* It will take a 32GB memory stick even though the feature list says they only support 16.

* The touch screen is responsive

* "touch the object" spot focus spot white balance is cool

* Give it the NP-FV70 battery and it will record for hours and hours



Things I either did not like or features missing (by "missing" I realize that you have to pay more). Don't mistake the length of my 'cons' list as hating the little guy - it's a good camera for what it is designed to be.

* A bit pricey. I think it is worth about $450.00 not the $549.00 list

* No wide-angle. I wish Sony had made the lens go from slightly wide-angle to about 15x instead of from normal to 25x.

* No external mic input

* No hot shoe - not even the Sony proprietary one

* Zoom motor noise is very audible in quiet settings - don't expect to use this camera to record acoustic orchestral music in concert halls

* The "smooth slow-mo 240 fps" is NOT HD 1080i60 quality. Might be OK at 720 but I found it disappointingly blurry. I'd love to see it have the same capability as the Casio EX-FX1 (not holding breath)

* Not enough buttons - too much reliance on the touch screen. I prefer buttons to scrolling through menus. Sony could fix this by providing more than 6 "my menu" choices.

* Auto focus works good most of the time but when it gets confused it is horrible. Combine that with no quick focus wheel and it is a recipe for loosing shots

* Picture mode is not available in 24 Mbps HD mode.

* The electronic stabilization does not work. I've grown used to optical stabilization in my DSC-H50 and there is no going back.

* Short of using something like the Black Rapid Straps Fasten-R2 screwed into the tripod shoe there is no way to attach a neck strap. I almost dropped it several times.

* The plastic housing is sensitive to noise - any little touch while recording will show up as sound in the video.

* No windscreen for the mics. Combine that with no external mic capability and you won't be able to hear anything in windy conditions.

* No remote

* No "night shot" infrared

* Low light performance is what you would expect from a small lens size. All the electronics in the world can't fully compensate for glass area.



Summary: if you want a fairly cheap tiny camera for shooting GREAT quality vids of vacations the kids and the pets this is an excellent choice. Want to do more and you will need to pay more for a better unit. Just want to help other people avoid my experience of being a bit disappointed and having to trade up.More detail ...

Sony HDR-CX150 16GB High Definition Handycam Camcorder

A camera with excellent HD quality but not many features

I bought this camera on Monday had fun with it for two days and then returned it. Although I can't afford it I then closed my eyes and ordered the HDR-CX550V. I basically went from the bottom of the Sony consumer class to the top in one fell swoop.



Things I liked about the CX150:

* FABULOUS quality in adequate light. The video in 24 Mbps mode is stunning. Search YouTube for examples. Every hair on my cat dust particles in sunlight it all shows up with beautiful resolution. It's amazing. Almost Blu-Ray quality. You won't find any consumer-class camcorder with better quality.

* 25x zoom when used with a tripod lets you get really close

* "macro" works without any special settings. Just put the lens an inch away and it will focus. Resolves fingerprints.

* Amazingly tiny. With no hard drive or tape drive the unit is frighteningly small. You can put it and all the cables + charger in a camera case designed for a DSLR + telephoto

* PMB software works has good basic editing. Used it to grab frames from movies - almost don't need the "still" function if 1990x1080 res is good enough.

* It will take a 32GB memory stick even though the feature list says they only support 16.

* The touch screen is responsive

* "touch the object" spot focus spot white balance is cool

* Give it the NP-FV70 battery and it will record for hours and hours



Things I either did not like or features missing (by "missing" I realize that you have to pay more). Don't mistake the length of my 'cons' list as hating the little guy - it's a good camera for what it is designed to be.

* A bit pricey. I think it is worth about $450.00 not the $549.00 list

* No wide-angle. I wish Sony had made the lens go from slightly wide-angle to about 15x instead of from normal to 25x.

* No external mic input

* No hot shoe - not even the Sony proprietary one

* Zoom motor noise is very audible in quiet settings - don't expect to use this camera to record acoustic orchestral music in concert halls

* The "smooth slow-mo 240 fps" is NOT HD 1080i60 quality. Might be OK at 720 but I found it disappointingly blurry. I'd love to see it have the same capability as the Casio EX-FX1 (not holding breath)

* Not enough buttons - too much reliance on the touch screen. I prefer buttons to scrolling through menus. Sony could fix this by providing more than 6 "my menu" choices.

* Auto focus works good most of the time but when it gets confused it is horrible. Combine that with no quick focus wheel and it is a recipe for loosing shots

* Picture mode is not available in 24 Mbps HD mode.

* The electronic stabilization does not work. I've grown used to optical stabilization in my DSC-H50 and there is no going back.

* Short of using something like the Black Rapid Straps Fasten-R2 screwed into the tripod shoe there is no way to attach a neck strap. I almost dropped it several times.

* The plastic housing is sensitive to noise - any little touch while recording will show up as sound in the video.

* No windscreen for the mics. Combine that with no external mic capability and you won't be able to hear anything in windy conditions.

* No remote

* No "night shot" infrared

* Low light performance is what you would expect from a small lens size. All the electronics in the world can't fully compensate for glass area.



Summary: if you want a fairly cheap tiny camera for shooting GREAT quality vids of vacations the kids and the pets this is an excellent choice. Want to do more and you will need to pay more for a better unit. Just want to help other people avoid my experience of being a bit disappointed and having to trade up.More detail ...

Canon VIXIA HF S100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

Best consumer camcorder I have ever seen. Reviewed by professional videographer.

I have owned a small wedding videography company for 5 years and after using the HFS10 for a week I am incredibly pleased with it. Please note the HFS10 is identical to the HFS100 except the HFS10 also comes with 32GB of internal flash memory.



If you want the smallest camcorder you can get without sacrificing video quality in any way than this is the camcorder for you. I am amazed at how small this thing is while still having a professional grade lens. This is the same Canon lens as on their GL2 which is probably the most popular entry level professional camcorder ever (which I have owned for a few years).



Pros:

1.) Professional camera lens with superb HD video quality (even in low light situations). I cannot express enough how amazing the pictures look.



2.) Accepts up to 32 GB of SDHC Flash memory

A.) Flash memory is instant. No waiting for tapes to wind or hard drives to spin. The camera goes from off to red light recording in less than 2 seconds.

B.) Flash memory helps keep the camera small.

C.) Flash memory protects data from being lost due to the camera being dropped or hit (a real problem with hard drive cameras).



3.) The still picture quality even with the built in flash is unbelievable for a camcorder. I feel like I am shooting with my Rebel XTi.



4.) I love the auto open and close lens cover. It only opens when you are actually shooting. If the camera is off or if you are reviewing it immediately closes.



5.) Menus are very easy to navigate.



Cons:

1.) Doesn't come with an HDMI cable. Since it doesn't take a normal sized HDMI cable I think there is no excuse for that.



2.) Doesn't come with a battery charger. You either have to spend $50 to get one or recharge batteries using the camcorder itself.



3.) No internal memory however it's $200 more for the HFS10 for only 32GB of internal storage and that is way too much. It should have only cost an extra $100. Unless you need to be able to record more than 2.5 hours of shooting without changing SDHC cards then get this camera because a 32GB class 6 SDHC card only costs $100.



4.) Only comes with the BP-809 battery which doesn't even last an hour. So you will need to buy the BP-827 which costs another $150. The BP-827 does stick out from the back just a slight bit but not even an inch and is totally not noticeable nor does it add any real weight.



5.) 10X optical zoom is a little slim for my liking. I am used to 20X.



This camcorder is basically a professional lens barrel with an LCD on the side which gives you the best picture quality possible while keeping the size incredibly small. I cannot encourage you enough to get this camcorder.More detail ...

Sanyo Xacti CG10 Dual Camera HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 5x Optical Zoom (Black)

Rich in features Poor in picture quality but Best Bang for the Buck

I picked up one of these locally intending to replace my MinoHD with it. This camera ended up being a disappointment to me. I really want to like it but the reality is that the picture quality disappoints compared to the MinoHD.



PROs: LOTS of really nice features

- Compact pistol-grip design that's comfortable to hold

- Large easy to view 3" LCD screen with rigid plastic screen to protect it

- Uses SD/SDHC memory cards up to 32GB

- Stereo audio

- Standard h.264/AAC codecs compatible with Apple's iMovie '09

- 5X optical zoom able to change zoom range while recording

- Focus auto-adjusts while recording (not all cameras do this)

- Ability to take decent 10MP still shots without having to switch modes

- Has a flash for still pictures

- Easy to navigate menu system with customizable shortcuts accessed by the joystick

- Easy to operate joystick with positive click feedback that doesn't intrude while recording

- Manual adjustments (full manual shutter priority aperture priority noise reduction auto-focus mode exposure measure mode etc.)

- Comes with a lens cap to protect the lens

- Tally light is on the top of the camera to the rear where the person holding the camera can see it and not where it's distracting to the person being recorded (VERY important when recording small children)

- Easily accessible battery compartment / Battery cover is tethered by a plastic tab so it can't be easily lost

- Standard tripod mount on the bottom



CONs: Picture quality requires a lot of tweaking in the manual settings to make it decent.

- Low light performance is poor even for this class of camcorder

- Electronic stabilization tends to soften the picture sometimes to the point of making it appear to be out of focus

- Color saturation results in a visual pleasing picture but inaccurate color reproduction

- Focus and Exposure reaction seems to be fairly slow as well

- Proprietary USB/AV port (I hate it when manufacturers eschew standard ports in favor or proprietary solutions. I'd rather have the camera be a little bigger to accommodate a mini-USB port as well as a mini-HDMI)

- Proprietary HD Component cable NOT included

- SD slot cover seems a bit flimsy

- Camera cannot be used as a live camera with Macs only with Windows PCs

- Camera draws power from battery when used in card reader mode instead of drawing power from USB



Before I bought this camera I did a lot of research on it including viewing uploaded footage from this camera on Vimeo.com. Even though I've only had the camera two days I've done a lot of testing with it.



[...] Keep in mind that I'm not saying the MinoHD is the best camera out there but it is certainly better in my experience overall. I simply compared the CG10 to the MinoHD because the MinoHD is the incumbent.



I gave the CG10 3 stars because I love all the features that Sanyo put into it but the picture quality is such a disappointment. One of the major features is the electronic stabilization and I found it to reduce the picture quality more than it improved it.



I think that a camera's auto/program settings should produce a good basic picture that serves as the camera's baseline and then any manual controls should serve to tailor that picture to your artistic needs or to make a good picture great. The Sanyo's auto/program settings produce a sub-standard picture that's soft to the extent that it looks out of focus it suffers from serious motion blur and in the end simply looks like widescreen standard definition. The manual settings only serve to make a bad picture look good if you can find the right settings for the shooting conditions. Having said that I don't find this camera to be good for capturing those precious surprise moments that young children present us because you can't expect a good picture by simply pulling it out turning it on and starting shooting.



I think Sanyo should spend some more time with improving their stabilization 9-pt auto-focus and exposure measuring algorithms. Out of the box it just doesn't perform and the plethora of features simply cannot make up for that.



UPDATE: I still stand by my initial assessment of the VPC-CG10's picture quality but after spending quite a bit of time playing with various settings I believe I have found a good setup which probably should have been Sanyo's starting point in its auto/program modes.



1) Turn off the stabilization: While this helps a little bit in extreme tele situations it actually seems to hurt picture quality otherwise resulting in a blurry picture that appears out-of-focus. Turning off the stabilization does result in more shake and/or jitter but the picture is quite a bit clearer. I personally do not believe that there is any decent alternative to optical image stabilization. They could drop this feature from the camera altogether drop the price a little more and then I would probably bump this camera up a star even.



2) Enable Single-Point AutoFocus: The 9-point AF algorithm spends a good deal of time "hunting" i.e. trying to find a focus point even when the camera is not moving. The single-point AF does a much better job of providing a clear focus. While still providing a softer picture than the MinoHD it is a vast improvement over the 9-point AF's performance.



3) Set Exposure to Aperture-priority with f=3.5: This is the camera's widest aperture setting and will let in the most light through the lens. It will then adjust the shutter speed as necessary to provide a decently exposed picture. Fine tuning can then be adjusted via the EV adjustment which can be assigned to one of the joystick shortcut positions.



With the above settings I have been able to record some footage that I think is close to the MinoHD's quality both in bright light and indoor lighting. If they either ditch the electronic stabilization altogether or replace it with optical IS address the 9-pt AF's poor focusing algorithm and either lock the aperture at 3.5 or put in a faster lens Sanyo would have a very impressive camera on their hands.



One distinct advantage that the Xacti has over the MinoHD is its optics. At full wide angle the Xacti has a much wider field of view than the MinoHD whose fov is significantly narrower when compared even to its SD sibling the FlipVideo Ultra.



After using this camera for a couple weeks along with the MinoHD and Sony's DSC-T900 I have to say that the Xacti VPC-CG10 is probably the best bang for the buck. I'd maybe bump up the rating by another star but I don't think any of these pocket HD camcorders really deserve 5. And yes I kept the Xacti and sent the MinoHD and T900 back.More detail ...