Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

Where do I begin? I'm not sure. I didn't know what to expect when I order this camera, but the minute I powered it up, I was amazed at the clarity. I mean right out of the box, this thing is practically set up for you to succeed with your project.

The camera has many adjustable settings, but many of them a buried within the menu system, which is accessible via it's touchscreen.
Sony was even nice enough to give you a quick menu area where you access the features or settings that you may use more often. I
wish there were more than one screen of these as I often have found myself needing more quick buttons than this.

However, the real reason I am so pleased with this camera is because you don't need to fool around with anything to take good video.
The intelligent auto feature is activated by default and it pretty much has you covered, as the camera will quickly detect scenes
and select the proper settings based on the environment. What this means is, if you are a point-and-shoot type of person (like me),
this camera will not let you down.

And did I mention the picture quality? It is incredible!!!!

The camera has 4 HD modes and 1 SD mode. They are FX,FH,HQ, LP (all for HD), and STD HQ for SD.
I have only tried the different HD modes and I must say they are great, but I found that I often need to shoot longer videos, so
I am currently using FH mode, which allows me a bit more recording. BTW, this camera has 16Gb internal flash memory, plus a
slot for an SD card or Sony's memory stick duo.

And did I mention the picture quality?

No matter which of the recording modes you choose, the quality is absolutely stellar!

Battery life is pretty good. You get a battery that you nearly squeeze 2 hours out of. What I like best is that the battery is
external, meaning you can buy a larger capacity battery (Sony has at least 2 additional batteries that will fit).

What I liked about this camera:

1. Quick and easy to use
2. Excellent picture quality regardless of recording mode (1080i)
3. built in flash memory
4. adjustable microphone (recording is dolby digital 2 channel)
5. small and compact
6. zoom is smooth and steady
7. has touch focus
8. has face recognition, including priority of one face in the picture
9. smile detection will take a photo if one of the faces smiles (and smile detection is adjustable)
10. shoots photos while filming
11. reasonably good low light performance (not great, but the colors still looked like themselves)

What I didn't like:

I waited a while before writing the review to see if I had an issue that I could complain about with this camera.
I don't have any complaints. It exceeded my expectations in every area. I read some complaints about not having 1080p....
whatever.


Video Formats:

For HD this camera produces MPEG4 H.264 AVC/AVCHD files (files have .m2ts extention when imported by PMB, .mts if you browse
the camera)
For SD I believe the format is MPEG2 (I haven't shot much SD footage, but what I have was very good)

Make sure your computer is loaded with the proper codecs and you should have no problems.

The camera came with Sony's PMB software, which I use to download my footage to the computer. It allows you some manipulation
of the files and the ability to burn to DVD in AVCHD format, where it can be played on a Blue-ray player. You can also burn
normal DVDs with PMB as well. However, I only use PMB to import from the camera. I have other software to produce videos.

I would mention the picture quality shot with this camera again, but I think I'll close the review by saying that, this is an
excellent camcorder and it was worth every penny.

I paid, after shipping, $489.99. For that price, this camera is worth it. It lacks certain features you would find on the more costly camcorders. There is no optical image stabilization, only steady-shot. No night shot, no external light, no remote... I can take about 2 hours of video on the highest setting. Battery life is about the same (2 hrs). The sound seems pretty decent, although, nothing to write home about. Video quality is average. Nothing amazing. Images arent quite as sharp as I've seen on higher-end Sony's. I viewed files on my 46" Sony LCD and the video quality wasn't what I hoped for. It looks better on smaller screens. The videos were presented in 1080p only when played back through the camcorder. For just average consumers who are looking to play video that fills up their T.V. screens, and do it on a budget, this would probably be a suitable choice. If video quality is a major selling point for you, I don't recommend camera. I guess what can you expect for $489.99?

!!!!!UPDATE!!!!!! 03/31/2010

After taking this camcorder outside on a beautiful spring day, I must say, in environments with good lighting (outside), the video quality appears to be a lot better. It definetly makes it worth the price. You WILL need a tripod or some form of mounting device to keep the image stable. This thing is lite, as I've stated previously. There is no weight to counter any jiddering or wobble your arm/hands makes when operating. I must say that I am overall pleased with this product. I still stand by everything I said before the update.

!!!!!IMPORTANT!!!!!

This camera suffers from a common problem that I thought was restricted to DSLR's: Rolling Shutter. If you're unfamiliar with this phenomena, it occurs when the camera pans from left to right (or vice versa) in quick fashion. It causes the image to become "slanted" as you pan. This can be avoided by not panning the camera so speedily. I also have noticed it in other types of video cameras, so it seems to be more prevalent than I thought.

The video quality is great! The touchscreen is very easy to use, the internal memory is great! This is a better buy than the HDR-CX110 which has no internal memory.
The camera is very small which I love, it fits perfectly in my pocket. It turns on when you open the screen and it turns off when you close the screen, very convenient.
The zoom works great and the steadyshot feature is very good and it really works.
If you set the camera to manual focus you can touch the subject on the screen that you want the camera to focus on, very cool.
Overall I love this camera because the video quality and of its size.

Knowing that I wanted a camcorder for use over the next few years I had made the decision that HD was right for me but I definitely wasn't interested in going to the $800 range that was on offer.

Although there are "HD" camcorders available for as low as $200, they really aren't true HD. Unless you are going to get a 1080 resolution camera that has a decent frame rate (As the CX150 does) then you may as well save some money and get yourself a regular SD camcorder in my opinion.

My requirements were simple enough, I needed a camcorder that shot great HD video in good light as well as in low light situations inside. I needed the camcorder to be small and have good stabilization with good memory options and battery life. The CX150 delivers on all these fronts.

VIDEO QUALITY
=============
Only one word is needed to describe the quality of video you get from the CX150, Awesome! HD is what I wanted and HD is certainly what I got, I couldn't be happier. Low light video is really good too although of course, the better the lighting the clearer your video.

CAMCORDER SIZE
==============
Perfect. Fits comfortably in my hand and is super lightweight so there's no arm ache with extended use.

MEMORY
======
The in built memory is all I have used so far and it has stored all the video I have taken in the last 3 months of usage. Soon I'll need to back it up on a hard drive. The ability to buy extra SD memory is great, and if I want to go that route then it's a nice option to have.

BATTERY
=======
I've never found battery life to be an issue yet although I haven't shot any extended video. I can imagine when it comes to school plays, concerts or sporting events then I might need the extra battery that is available. For general usage the battery that comes with the CX150 has been just fine.

FEATURES
========
The facial detection, focusing and also the smile detection are great. This wasn't why I bought the camera, but now that I have them they are really handy and super easy to use. The pictures it takes by itself when it sees a smile are a really nice touch. The stabilization is good but I think I was hoping it would be a little better.

MENU (Bad)
=========
The touch screen is nice but gimmicky and in terms of usability it's not great. The scrolling menu's are long and unless you read the manual to know which options are where then you can be searching for a while. Better option grouping could save a lot of scrolling time here. Having said that there are tons of features and settings to get your camcorder setup just how you like it.

SOUND (Good and Bad)
===================
Inside, sound is picked up as clear as a bell. Outside wind noise is certainly a factor, and that has been the case even when it hasn't been that windy. Maybe there is a setting to counteract this but I haven't found it yet.

SOFTWARE
=====================
The software that came with the CX150 for use on a PC wasn't too bad. It arranges all your clips and photos by date in a calendar interface which is surprisingly easy to use and navigate.

When I tried to upload high quality video to [...] however, the experience was not so good. High quality videos were chopped off at a certain duration so only some of my video made it to the site, otherwise if I chose low quality the entire video would be uploaded.. at a much lower quality. Not satisfactory.

I have since switched to a Mac using iMovie which is entirely a much better experience.

CONNECTIVITY
============
I don't know if this is an issue with other camcorders but thought I should mention that most standard USB cables for devices will work with this camcorder (Handy should you lose or forget your cable). Importing your video to a Mac (With iMovie) or a PC using the bundled software is very easy. I haven't bought the HDMI cable to connect directly to a TV but that seems straight forward enough too.

OVERALL
=======
I am VERY happy with this purchase. Everything I wanted in a camcorder is present in the CX150 and I expect to be happy with it for the next few years given that the video quality is so good.

Yes, there are better camcorders out there but as far as I can tell you are going to spend a lot more money to get not a whole lot more.
The menu system could be better but I hardly use it so it's not a big deal to me. It's simple to use, lightweight and compact and delivers great quality video every time.

I purchased this camcorder (HDR-CX150 Black) yesterday from Costco for $449 including a bonus camera bag. A month ago, I purchased the Panasonic TM10 and was not happy with the results on indoor shooting so, I decided to look around and found the CX110 at Walmart which have great reviews online including Amazon. Luckily my wife and I went to Costco to look for a DSLR camera. I saw the guy setting this camcorder up. He said that it just arrived. I quickly went to Amazon when we got home and found that the CX150 is the same as the CX110 with the 16GB memory built-in so, I returned to Costco the next day to get this camcorder.

Our purpose for this camcorder is to record precious moments from our 2 kids (3 year old and 1 year old). We have our camcorder ready all time to shoot video when they start dancing or having fun and this usually happens inside our home. This camcorder performs excellent indoor with just a flourecent or a lamp as a source of light. I set the panasonic TM10 and this Sony CX150 side by side and record my 3 year old walking, running and jumping around and going to the different part of the house. The difference is night and day on scenes with only the lamp as source of light. The CX150 is sharp and clear while the TM10 are already grainy. When I have my daughter turned off the light, the CX150 looks a lot darker but is more viewable than the TM10. This is because the TM10 though clearer, shows a lot grain. The CX150 also exhibit some grain at this point but is more acceptable. Anyway, who will be shooting videos with no light? The test I did is set to HD|HQ which is the third quality down. Maybe the highest resolution will give better result.

The only thing I noticed with the CX150 is that it tends to get out of focus when you zoom too fast to an object. Something I did not see on TM10. Also, the TM10 have a simpler menu option. I was able to figure it out within 5 minutes after opening the box. For the CX150, I'm still trying to figure out how to change video quality. I can change HD to Std but I could not select the other HD options like HD|FX to try the highest resolution.

Other features that I like:
1. Slow motion is great, I will be using this a lot with my kids.
2. "My Menu" option. This will let you set up to 6 favorite menu item.
3. Battery life shows 125 minutes when fully charged.
4. Image are stable even when you walk around while taking video.
5. 25X Optical Zoom
6. Clear LCD
7. Built in lens cover
8. Direct copy. Let's you copy to a portable harddrive without the need for computer.

Features I don't like:
1. No viewfinder. Newer HD camcorder at this price range does not offer viewfinder but I just hope that there is one available as my kids likes to watch at themselves while doing their stunts. I have to hold it to my side so I can also see if they are at the center of the camera.
2. Cover design for ports (Memory, cable, power) looks easy to break. It looks great with the body but I like the rubber type better as I feel that I protects the ports more from dust.
3. Battery charger is sold separately. Need to plan ahead to make sure you have enough battery on big events. Current package will only let you charge battery with the camcorder so camcorder will be out of commission for a couple of hours.
4. You need to dig deep into the menu if you need to change some settings. Maybe this is why they setup the "My Menu" option but I don't have time to play with it yet.

Those are the things I noticed so far after 1 day of ownership. I will update when I find more things here.

----------------------
UPDATE - JULY 8, 2010
----------------------
Still happy with the product after over 2 months of having it. I was able to figure out all the menus and setup the camera to my preferred setting after looking at the manual. The videos are great and I like the fact that it creates a new file on each new clips that you take. I learned to control the when to cut and create a new video file for easier editing.

We went to Alaska cruise at the end of may and this camcorder continues to work even on extreme changes in temperature. From inside the boat with room temperature to going outside at the Glacier Bay, I was expecting the lens to fog up but it did not.

Battery life is adequate. I never run out of battery as long as I charge it at night during our vacation. Also, the battery seem to hold its charge really well. I have it fully charged and just keep it inside its case and pull it out when I need to take videos. So far, I have only recharge it once in a months time.

Memory: 16GB memory can hold up to 4 hours of HD|HQ and around 2 hours for the highest quality. LP mode will give you close to 7 hours of recording time. I currently have it set at HD|HQ since I only do small edit and convert it to DVD. Will use the highest quality when BlueRay disk becomes cheaper. Also, it is fast and easy to tranfer the files compare to the old MiniDV tapes so I just transfer the files to the computer often and delete the memory.

Lens: I added a wide angle lens VCL-0630X as I found out that the widest angle is sometimes not enough when taking video of kids inside the house. Kids moves a lot and it forces you to move back or they will get off the frame. With the wide angle lens, I can just stay in one place and adjust the zoom using my fingers. The wide angle lens also help me take videos inside the ships cabin without any problem.

I have the Dark Blue Color available from BestBuy Only.
From owning a Mini-DV camera using MiniDV tapes for the last 8 years ( which I already thought was goog quality) I never imagined I would have own a Video capture device of this calibre.

Pro's:
* HD Output via HDMI.
* Lightweight.
* Nice touch screen controls. Easy to navigate.
* Simple Design. No Viewfinder, No power-on or off button .
* Simple Unit Power-on achieved by opening the touch screen.
* Internal 16GB is sufficient for daily use. Option to install additional memory or SD Stick.

Con's:
* No Remote-Control Option. I miss the remote control. I like to hardwire the unit to my HDTV and control from my couch. I do not have that option now.
* Should include Mini-HDMI cable by default. The cable costs only $[...] in Amazon.
* Getting to a point that the camera can be too small for average adult hands. Clasping the unit on your palm and controlling it with finger tips is slightly challenging at first. One thing is that your 8 year old can easily take videos as well.

FaceBook: HD video needs to be converted to MPEG2 format via the included PMB software then Facebook recognizes the file for upload.

Overall I am happy with the purchase. I would immediately buy a 30mm filter to protect the lens. A extended battery would also be a good idea for those long shoots...

I am nicely surprised by the quality of video in less than perfect lighting condition.
For comparison, I also use JVC Everio X that has 1/2.3" size sensor, that is much larger surface than the 1/4" size of CX150, and costs nearly twice.

The noise in Sony is much better supressed, and the smaller sensor allows the 25X zoom.
None of them is a "pro" camcorder, but the 1920 x 1080 quality is great for pocket size device.

One problem is that the CX150 recognized inserted a 30 MB/s 16 GB SDHC Sandisk Extreeme card, and allowed formatting, but I do not see the menu to switch recording, like if the card was not inserted ???
Possibly ??? it will use the card after the built-in memory is used up ? - just a guess. I will try original Sony card, next.

Update: June 29. 2010. Installed the camcorder on the windshield and recorded beautiful surrounding while driving, not paying attantion that the memory card was used up completely. The camera informed as appropriate and stopped recording, BUT also damaged the card beyond repair. All half day video was lost, and the files cannot be recovered, and the card cannot be re-formatted in camera or in a computer.

I have recently bought this camcorder in India and used it in Dubai for a holiday.
There are four things which I like about this Camera, which has warranted me giving it 5 stars.

1. The light weight and compact size. It is so small and light that you can easily put it in you jacket pocket. All the other sony models that I saw in HD were bulkier and heavier. It is such a pleasure to hold and carry the camera.

2. I have a HD Sony TV, so I wanted a HD camcorder. At its top settings it gives 24 fps at 50i, so it does not get much better. Outdoors the visuals are STUNNING !!!! Indoors it is acceptable, and not all that bad. Its better than what I expected considering its a budget camcorder.

3. 25X optical zoom is amazing. Not to many camcorders give this much zooms. At 25x, you need very steady hands or a tripod. You can take shots of events/ people from far away. Good if you are a spy !!!!, or if you have a pretty girl in the building next to yours !!!!

4. I can connect an external hard drive DIRECTLY to the camera to transfer files. That way with a total of 48 GB (16 inbuilt +32 memory card) is more than enough for my daily needs. In the evenings I transfer the files to my 500 GB external drive. Do not buy a camera with a hard drive because those camera have movable parts (Hard drive), is heavier and chances of hard disk getting spoilt in the long run is a possibility and the camcorders are more expensive.

The following are the things that I don't like about the camera.

1. Image stabilization sucks big time. You need steady hands when you are zooming.

2. While driving over sand dunes in the desert, I came across situations where it took 2-3 seconds to focus.


I have not tried editing my clips, so I will not comment on that subject. To view, I just connect my 500GB external drive to the front USB port in my Sony Blue Ray player, and it works seamlessly.

Really value for money, does not get better at this price !!!!!

We received this camera 2 days ago. The first night was spent charging it and looking through the manual, but last night I actually got to use it for the first time. So far, I love it. It's strange going from a heavy 1990s era 8mm tape camera to this as this is so much lighter and actually does more. My big concern had been connecting it to our Mac as I've heard there were many issues with Macs and Sony not working well together. I was pleasantly surprised to see that when I connected the camera to my mac via the included USB cable, it was recognized right away and iphoto popped up asking if I wanted to import the pictures I had taken...gotta love a Mac! (I had told the camera to use the smile detector feature which takes a picture of a specific person each time he/she smiles...worked great by the way). I imported them with no problem, then called up iMovie to see how it would do with the video. In this case I simply used the iMovie pull down menu "import from camera". It imported all the video perfectly. So, if working with a Mac was a concern of yours, have no fear. I've ordered a mini-hdmi cable (although the port is on the camera, a cable isn't included) so I can easily connect to our HDTV so I can't say how well that works yet. I also have only recorded to the internal memory and haven't tried an SDHC card yet. One thing I am worried a bit about is that the stability control is a bit iffy when you zoom way in. I'm thinking for my daughters upcoming graduation I may want to bring along a mono-pole to brace it on. This Amazon purchase came with a free battery which made be believe the camera itself didn't come with a battery, but that was incorrect. I now have two batteries which will be nice for long days on vacation as I'm sure it will come in quite handy. So, if you are looking to upgrade to a new camera like we were, this is a very nice option. It's small, light, fits your hand nicely and seems to work great. No, it doesn't have every bell and whistle of the $800 - $1000 cameras out there, but we didn't need that. Watch Amazon if you want to purchase this as the price seemed to change daily when I was shopping. I got the free shipping, but please realize that the free shipping seems to be used as an excuse to wait a week before shipping, so if you need it soon, pay for the shipping yourself.