Customer Reviews

Sony HDR-CX350V 32GB High Definition Handycam Camcorder

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This camera is an important upgrade in image quality and features. I replaced a Sony HDR-CX100 by this camcorder and the upgrade is noticeable. First, the LCD screen is much more detailed and brighter, and that was something I missed when I compared the CX100 with the Canon VIXIA's, specially when I film in the sunlight. Second, the light sensitivity is simple AMAZING. With very low light this camcorder is capable to obtain beautiful and grain less HD movies. I guess this is because the new backlight XMOR sensor and of course the Sony G lens. Third, the stabilizer effect is something that I have never seen in any other camcorders: you can walk filming without any undesirable shake or vibration in the filming movie. Also if you film in a car or in a sportboat the steady shot feature in this camera is simple incredible. This helps you a lot not just for filming but also to take photos using the zoom in low light conditions. Fourth, the wide angle lens is a very nice feature that allows you to capture more wide scenes and is very useful when you don't have to much space to film. Fifth, this camcorder power up in a very short time and open and close the lens protector automatically, so you can't miss any good shots opportunities. This is what I can tell you about the most important features for me. I guess I will use this camcorder for a long time not just for filming but also to take photographs.

i hate giving this camera a 5-star review, but at the end of the day the quality of the video deserves 5 stars. i bought this to use a handcam camcorder and that's why it is getting 5 stars. i am upgrading from a very, very good 3CCD Panasonic PV-GS400 miniDV camera that i've loved (bought in 2005ish). i was ready to move away from MiniDV and to HD, but i've been waiting for the right price/features and figured this CX350V would fit my needs. i was hesitant to go with a product that had no reviews at the time, but the previous cameras that this is built upon had good reviews and this upgrade was not cutting back.

i just spent the past week in San Diego and i did not take a still camera and decided to use the CX350V for everything. my review is based on this one trip.

PROS:

*my videos easily import into iMovie on my Mac. i didn't have to do anything other than plug the camera in.

*camera powers up and is ready ultra fast

*steady shot works very well

*size -- this camera is even smaller than i imagined. if you look at the user supplied photos you'll see 1 that i took with an iPhone with the camera next to a pop can. this photo doesn't do the size of the video camera justice. it's a really nice size, but still fits in my hand just right.

*when you open up the LCD the camera turns on in video mode and is ready. when you close the LCD the camera automatically turns off. you don't have an on and off button otherwise. so far this has been really good; however, i wanted to check a cable to a port that was inside the LCD wall and to do this i had to turn the camera on. no biggie.

*video quality is beautiful. i shot all sorts of shots in the morning and at night inside and outside, near water and in parks . . . all gorgeous. even coming from the Panasonic PV-GS400 left me impressed. it's hard to believe a camera this small can do video so well.

*audio quality with the built-in mic is terrific.

*GPS on shots (geotagging) is easy to use. i think the battery drains more quickly if you leave GPS on, but i have a backup battery and have yet to have this be an issue (i have yet to need the second battery in a single day either).

*the Sony Carrying Pouch for Sony Handycam® Camcorder (Blue) bag fits the camera well. it's actually bigger than it needs to be so i could easily fit a second battery in the bag . . . but it was awkward. i may look for a better fitting bag down the road, but that's only because this camera is small enough to go with a smaller bag and that's a bonus.

*price . . . the price really fluctuates on this camera. i bought it here for about $870 and then found it for $799 with free shipping here from Portable Guy. i returned it to Amazon to get my $70 back (sans shipping) and bought it for $799. now i see the price is up across the board. odd. but the price i bought it for seems like a good deal for a just released product of this quality. i was ready to buy it at $870 so you can still get a good deal, i think.

CONS:

*menu system is very tedious (you can create a custom menu, i've read, but i have yet to figure it out). little things that i would use often are buried (e.g., i want to use a little SDHC card instead of the built-in memory from time to time and i wasted about 2 minutes trying to find it in the menu system. i actually found it and then realized later that i had only switched it for photos and not for video when i meant to do both -- you have to do it twice for that to work.

*still photos are good quality when your settings are correct. unfortunately, the the changes i needed to make while taking pictures one night were too difficult to figure out (e.g., turning auto flash on or off) in the time i was allotted so i missed some shots and others were just complete dark. using the menus more quickly could have fixed this, but i didn't have time to play in menus and just wanted the shots. i have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black) and i was thinking i'd sell it, but now i realize it will still need to go with me unless i can figure out how to more quickly change settings on the CX350V when i need to do so for still shots.

*i took a photo of my son with 2 parrots on his shoulder in Seaport Village (San Diego). if i zoom in to the original size of the photo i can notice that the image clarity is lacking for what i have come to expect. for a 7 Megapixel still image this is not very mind blowing especially considering how much better HD video looks on this camera.

*taking photos doesn't feel nearly as natural as shooting video. i much rather prefer a dedicated still camera where both hands can more easily hold the camera steady while shooting the shot. i suspect this is probably the case with almost any camcorder and perhaps you'll have a different experience.

i have a screen protector for my Lumix DMC-TZ5 camera LCD screen and i had extra film strips. so i cut one to fit this CX350V perfectly. the menus still work and all that jazz, but i no longer have to worry about finger prints and smudges on the actual LCD screen. i'd recommend doing this until a properly fitting screen protector is released.

I played with this camera in a local store along with the Canon Vixia lines. I decided to go with this one for the following reasons:

- Does SD video, the Canon only can do HD, may not be used alot but if you are not ready to start with HD because you do not have a fast PC it creates a path to get to HD.

- Steady shot and fast focus work very well, you will want to stick to the optical zoom, I found the 177x digital zoom adds a lot of noise to the video.

- It includes software to burn your videos to disc, the Canon cameras do not.

-Small size, I just drop it into my camera bag, It is smaller than a can of soda. I have DSLR lenses that are smaller size than this camera.

-Many options, such as video format, exposure, wide-tele lens, zoom mic., but is also easy to use on the basic settings and takes very good video on the basic settings.

- Very good low light video and many manual settings.

-32gb built-in memory, can store 4hrs of the best video for blue-ray! or use to 13 hrs of dvd quality!

Cons:

-Expensive, considering there are cameras in the $300-400 range that have similar features, this one performs much better.

-GPS - while neat, could be left off as I do not see a lot of benefit, and also uses battery faster, still kinda of neat.

-Expensive batteries - you can expect to pay about $70 US to get another battery, but they last about 2 hrs of continuous use.

-No optical viewfinder, this would be a nice addition especially in very bright sunlight, but the built-in screen is still very bright.

I would recommend this camera from the quality video and easy to use features, it should last many years providing both excellent video and also great still photos. You should also be aware this either requires a fast PC with DVD or blue-ray burner, or Sony makes a burner station that this camera plugs into that will burn discs directly, no pc needed. I don't think many people would be unsatisfied with this camera.

This camera has received a lot of really good reviews, but I almost didn't buy it because of the guy here who said it won't work with a Mac or iMovie. I just received mine today, so I haven't played around with it too much yet. But the first thing I did was record a short clip and then plugged it into my Mac to see if it works. It works perfectly fine, with nothing to install or anything. I have an iMac that was bought in 2009, running Snow Leopard, and iMovie 09. With iMovie opened when I plugged the camera into the usb, it automatically recognized it without me doing anything. I simply selected the clips I wanted to import and clicked the button. Works perfectly

I'm going to be short and to the point here. I need a camcorder for the type of business I run so image quality is very important to me. When watching the videos back on an HDTV, the quality is absolutely amazing to me. The Handycam has come a long way! I did a test video outside at night with only the street lamps to light the environment. I was totally floored when I imported it on to my computer to realize that there was very minimal grain. When shooting outdoors during the day, the sensor does an amazing job of automatically adjusting the exposure depending on your orientation with the sun.

I cannot complain about the camera itself, but be warned that finding a program to edit and convert and compress your avchd files (the format the camera outputs to) can be challenging. Since this is a review on the camera and not the software, I will not let this factor into my five star rating. But you do need to consider this if video editing is as important to you as it is in my case. I've tried Window 7 Movie Maker and Pinnacle Studio HD and they both have their flaws. W7MM is a terribly unfriendly program to try and edit with using any creativity whatsoever, and Pinnacle has a little problem with dropping the frame rate when converting into WMV format.

In short, camera = excellent, avchd = maddening.

EDIT - If you desire to edit the AVCHD files much like you could with the old Windows Movie Maker for XP, the Pinnacle Studio HD is what you need. By far the best program I've found, but you need a pretty powerful system to handle it. If you have this program, editing is no longer an issue.

Let me tell you first that I am Canon camcorder fan and never owned Sony. Thus, I originally bought Canon Vixia HF M30 as it was highly reported to be the best camcorder for the money. I was aware that low light recording may not be the high point of the Canon. However, I wasn't expecting to be that bad to the point that you literally couldn't watch the footage (it was so grindy). Since we have a new born, the low light capability was on my list of features I wanted to have (as I was not planning to point high beam toward my baby to be able to get indoor recording done). I returned the Canon and bought this one hoping this would deliver better picture in low lights due to its 1/4" 3.5MP back-illuminated "Exmor R" CMOS sensor. And the Sony delivered what I was hoping for. The low light recording is very good (I am just going to say very good, not superb as it is not superb). Actually it is that good that I have decided to keep Sony and not spend another $200 to but next level up camcorder.

Regarding the menu options. Not bad, it could be better but comparing to the Canon it is not bad. Love "My menus" option that gives you access to the 6 user pre-set options that someone may use on everyday base. Some other settings are kind of hard to find (a lot of scrolling throughout the menus, but it is ok, not bad).

Regarding the picture quality. It is awesome for single CMOS sensor camcorder with lens size of 30mm. Day light recording reproduces very good acurate color and excellent clarity. I already talked about very good low light recording (you need to have Low Lux enabled for it to really appreciate it). This camcorder has Wide Angle G-Lens (27.4mm), which give you a little bit more of viewing angle then average camcorder (but not more than that), but sometimes that little bit more of the viewing angle makes a huge difference. Also Image Stabilization seems to be very good and in par with Canon (but not better then Canon).

Regarding the photos you can take with this camcorder. First of all, I use my Nikon D5000 for photography, and didn't by this for that reason. However, pictures are not bad. If you set it to the max of 7.1MPix, they are good. Flash kind of gives overexposed photos when in used, so you may need to compensate that with the exposure. Again, for the quick photo when you don't have your SLR or other digital cam (or you don't have time to get them out to the bag as you are using this for recoding), the photos are very good. One thing to notice is that option where camcorder takes snap shots while it's recording video is horrible. Don't even bother. Smile detection also works in weird kind of way. Photos are taken automatically regardless if my baby smiles or shows her tongue (so go figure).

Battery life. It holds charge longer then Canon (I would say about 20+ minutes more of recording). Canon seems to just drain the battery of its juice in no-time. I wouldn't say that about Sony.

Ergonomic. Not bad, zoom button on the top has grip so it is easy to hold and while zoom is sensitive it is controllable. Love that power can be turned on or off by just opening or closing LCD screen (so you cannot leave it on by accident). Talking about LCD, it is as good as any camcorder LCD in this price range.

Size. This is very small camcorder. So be aware of that fact. Some people don't like it that way. I seem to enjoy it. Fits perfectly in my hand.

Regarding the GPS. Well, I am not sure what to think about that. GPS doesn't work in indoor, so not sure what is the point of it. It may be the feature I will never use who knows. On other hand some people may not be able to live without it.

All in all this is excellent camcorder and I would recommend to anyone who is not happy with entry level HD camcorders due to their limitations. If you don't care about low light recording or wide angle lens or clarity of the video and color accuracy or GPS you could probably go with entry level HD camera and save couple hundred bucks. But I tried that and it didn't work for me.

After trying to decide between mid-priced Canon Vixia and Sony HD models, I settled on this one first and foremost because it has a wide angle (27mm for stills and 29mm for video)lens. I have tried low-quality screw-on attachment lenses on camcorders in the past and they always distort the image. This is a fantastic lens and gives you all the benefits of wide shooting without accessories (cheap or otherwise). What's more, when I do want to use the wide angle attachment, I get a very wide fisheye!

So far, I have been very satisfied with the image quality, features, and performance of the camera, but I have only used it for about 24 hours so I will have to update soon.

But if you are torn between camcorders, consider the lens on this one if (like me) wide angle is important to your shooting.

Confronted with the need to do a video inventory of our home, I researched and found this little gem. It's price, functionality and ease of operation made it ideal for the task. I purchased a tripod handle for ease of operation and an 80.00, 10 watt light from Sony for the dark corners of the house, but otherwise it is ready and able to go out of the box. Great price and great bargain.

Everything is good about this camcorder except for the 12x zoom and unfortunately that's one of the most important features in a camcorder. This camcorder is fine for birthday parties other indoor events but don't bother recording your child's soccer game or school play because you're not going to be able to zoom in far enough to even see them.

You notice when you shop for camcorders that the cheaper the camcorder the worse the zoom and some of the cheapest HD camcorders like the Flip series don't even offer an optical zoom.

Some people will argue that you can purchase a zoom lens which is true, but you don't always have time to put on a lens and you don't want to leave it on all the time because then the video will be constantly zoomed.

Google "How Much Zoom You Really Need" and you'll find a recent article on About(dot)com that says "For your typical soccer field you will probably need at least a 25x zoom.... A zoom of 25x or more should be all you need for your average high school auditorium."

At the time of this writing (2011) there are very few if any camcorders with a 25x optical zoom, but try to find one with the largest zoom possible. To simplify your search I would suggest googling "hd camcorder with 20x (or 25x, etc) optical zoom". This should give you a list of possible candidates to choose from.

Did some prior research, had good reviews. Very happy with the camera feature as well as video. Microphone does pick up background noise as well as wind, but still quite pleased. It fits perfectly in my hand- light weight and portable. Even if you don't take the time to read the instructions- how to do general operation is self-explanatory. I like being able to take still photos while recording. Very happy with the purchase- already recorded two "shows". I would recommend purchasing an extra battery if you plan on using it often- or if you forget to charge it. Happy filming!