Customer Reviews

Sony MHS-CM5 bloggie HD Video Camera (Violet)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Amazon is obviously filled with fake reviews from either fanboys or competing company employes. I bought this camera, and even reviewed it, compared it to other cameras like the Kodak zi8 (search google for "letsfindjesus bloggie" to find videos of my review). The Sony is the best under $200 camcorder on the market. Its auto focus is quick, the colors are rich and accurate, and the mono mic actually sounds good. It has a built in usb plug (which is also used to charge) and pretty good face detection. The still camera (unlike the pocket cams) actually takes decent 5 megapixel photos. It has a playback speaker which is loud enough. The 5X optical zoom is smooth, and the digital zoom is well... a digital zoom. Bottom line, for the price the picture quality and build is mighty good.

There is some negatives, I listed them below, none are deal breaking.. more of a wish list. The biggest feature missing for me is Steady Shot (image stabilization) on the 1080p and 720/60 frame modes. The Kodak zi8 has this, but it looks like crap on 1080p so I guess I would rather not have this feature if the hardware is too slow to process the steady shot. Which is why im guessing Sony didnt include this feature on the higher quality modes.

Pros:

-Very acceptable video quality
-Good sounding mic
-GREAT accurate colors
-5X optical zoom
-for once a decent still camera
-quick zoom
-SD memory card capable and Memory Stick Pro Duo
-Record and upload.. its in a format that just.. Works.
-Mac and PC friendly

Cons:

-Battery lasts a little over an hour (buy an extra!)
-Steady Shot is only on 720P (30 Frames/sec) and VGA
-lens cap instead of hardware lens open/close
-mic is mono (but its not bad)
-no manual focus
-low light (like all low cost camcorders) isnt the best, and the focus is slow/struggles in low light

I bought this camera as we prepared to go on spring break. We didn't have a whole lot of time to figure things out before we left so we had to learn on the fly.

The good:

Lightweight, easy to use
Good picture quality overall
Color does shift with different light levels though

The bad:

An issue I found was with the image stabilizer. Honestly the images look better with it off. The picture is too jumpy and struggles to frame things up and focus with it on. Seems counter-intuitive but I can't explain it any other way.

The Ugly:

The Sony web site indicates the unit comes with a charger - wrong
In typical Sony style the customer service agent tried to imply to me that the charger was only included if I bought it directly from Sony. The problem is that if you intend to travel and do not have a computer to hook the USB cable up to you are out of luck for charging the battery. After multiple calls to Sony pointing out their website is wrong I finally gave up and called the local Sony Style Store. The manager looked up the website info and agreed that it was wrong. He had me come by the store and gave me the charger needed to charge the battery without a computer. A huge thanks goes out to him, I hope Sony corp customer service can learn something from this.

Amazon buyers please be aware your package will not include a battery charger. It will only have the USB cable to charge the camera.

Overall:

Don't expect quality on par with a $1000+ camera. But as far as this camera goes it's pretty good and a good value

I bought the CM5 after trying out a couple of other HD camcorders. I just wanted a basic, easy-to-use camcorder that films in 1080p and was easy to upload to YouTube, Facebook, etc. This camera met all those requirements. It is very easy to use, takes great quality video and uploading to YouTube was a snap with the included software. I've never been a BIG fan of Sony's imaging products because they use the Memory sticks but this camcorder will accept either the Memory sticks OR SD cards. It was easy to setup. The camera has software built-in (like the Flip does) but it also comes with a more feature filled version that you can install on your computer. It transfers and uploads easily. The only drawback is that it won't stand up on its own whereas, based on the location of the flip-out USB connection, you would "think" that it should. It has froze a couple of times but not while recording, only when trying to turn it off. I had to pop the battery out and back in and it worked fine again. Certainly not a deal-breaker for me. The mic is good also despite being a mono mic. The camera has an image stabilization feature but it is NOT available at 1080p. That being said, I did not encounter too much shaking (that wasn't my fault) when filming in 1080p. Nice things about this camera vs the Flip (as that is obviously what it's trying to compete with): it films in 1080p/30fps (no Flip does that), it has removable memory (SD or Memory sticks)so you can bring along extra memory, and it has a removable battery (so you can bring along an extra battery without having to recharge it). The view screen is a little hard to see unless it's angled right at you. Other than that, I really like the camera. If you are a non-techie that wants an easy to use camera that films in 1080p, you should get this camera.

For those of you that think $200 will get you results of a $1500 video camera, you can forget that! For the price, this is an excellent camera. It's small, easy to use, starts up quickly, and takes great video. It does struggle in low light, but most cameras do. The picture looks great on my Sony 1080P TV.
A great feature the camera has is the ability to zoom while recording. Many point and shoot cameras do not allow.
As for it being 1080P. Of course it's not Blue Ray quality 1080P. But the resolution is there. It does have a sharper picture than the 720P Sony DSC-W290.
This camera is worth every penny. And this is coming from someone who installs home theaters for a living.
As for the review about the 1080P complaint. You need to learn that it's more marketing than anything. There is a difference between low cost 1080 sensors and expensive 1080 sensors. Yes it shoots great videos. No it's not as good as a high end $125,000 piece of equipment. And yes you will get better video if you spend $1500.
As for taking still images, it's your average camera phone quality. But that's what the DSLR is for.

I purchased this camera and only tested it briefly before going on vacation to Disney World.
It performed beautifully in many sutuations, including the fireworks show. It is slow focusing in low light, but the quality of the videos, once focused, is very good. I also tested the 5MP stills and the quality was very good.
My only complaint is the screen. As with all cameras w/o an eyepiece, or even your cell phones, it is very difficult to see in sunlight. Even with the brightness up full, you must try to stand in the shade to get some idea of what is on the screen. One suggestion is to throw a towel, jacket or whatever over your head and camera, that should help. p.s. I did not try that.
The software supplied is something else. I still haven't gotten it to work correctly and video downloads will not run within the PMB program supplied. I have to use a quicktime video program to view on my PC.
However, that said, the videos play beautifully on my HD TV.
Buy a minimum of 16GB SD class 4 card and another battery and you are all set. USB charging is horrible, agonizingly slow.
Buy a charger and you will get a full charge in 90 minutes and not hours and hours that the USB hookup takes.
Enjoy! It's a fun camera.

I purchased this little camera for one reason. I needed something to fit in my pocket so I could pull it out and propose to my girlfriend when the time was right. The right time was in Disney World when we stopped next to Cinderella's Castle around midday. I said, "let's do a video recap of the day for the vacation video." and then preceeded to hold the camera in one hand while pulling out the ring with the other while balancing on one knee.

The great thing about this camera is that it takes a memory stick as big as you're willing to spend on it. My 32 Gig SD card holds roughly 14 hours worth of video. This is a big plus when you're running around Disney World for 5 days. Similar cameras that have internal memory are locked at about 1 to 2 hours of footage and you need to empty the camera.

The camera itself creates very high quality images. The different resolutions and frame rates allow you to pick and choose based on the action in front of you AND the lighting.

720 @ 30 fps - this is great for low light situations. I recorded some interior stuff at the other settings and the light information got a lot lower. I think it must have something to do with less strain on the capturing of twice the information allows the camera to concentrate on bumping the exposure.

720 @ 60 fps - This is my favorite for bright and outdoor situations. The video moves like butter. However, if you have an unsteady hand, plan on bouncing. This setting has no image stablizing.

1080p @ 30 - It's honestly the setting I use least. The picture is very nice, but the files are pretty big and I think I prefer the slightly smaller image better.

The camera bag i chose was a small digital camera bag by Swiss Army. It hold the camera snug and has just enough space for an extra battery. The camera case was small enough that I was able to keep it in the large pocket on my cargo shorts. This was a big plus because we didnt' have to go through security to "Check All Bags."
YES, buy an EXTRA BATTERY. You can shoot 5-10 minute clips for 4 or 5 hours, but it's always good to play it safe.

Oh yeah. She said yes.

Cameras like this Sony are designed mainly to easily capture scenes of opportunity that are usually of transient interest. The emphasis is on getting the shot in real time and showing the results for a few days after the event. Most of what gets photographed or recorded isn't worth keeping; even professionals scrap more than they publish.

If one wants to create a permanent archive, he obviously won't tie up memory chips but instead transfer the images and videos via computer to optical disk or some other inexpensive medium. That would be the time to use video and image editing software to correct for exposure times, chop out mistakes, create slow motion, and so forth.

This camera produces pretty good videos and stills that can usually be turned into excellent ones if a person wants to take the time to enhance them. The information is there. Naturally, the thousand dollar and up cameras take (somewhat) better videos, but these are also the cameras that often get left home or in the trunk of the car. A $179 camera on the scene will always take better pictures than a $2000 camera safely locked away in a lightless metal box.

I am so glad I purchased the Bloggie! It takes fantastic pictures, wonderful videos and what I like most about it is, once you download the video, you can actually pick a scene from the video and turn it into a picture!! I love how easy and fun it is to share the video and pictures on Facebook or my Blog. My father said that it's really simple and quick to download the videos that I send to his email address as well. I recommend this product to anyone. I would also like to say that the battery life is exemplary as well. I recommend the hard shell protector case to go with this product.

While it does HD, don't expect the 1080P quality to be like watching a Blu-Ray movie. But for the money, all around good camera. Loved the fact that it has 5X optical zoom. Like most low-end camcorders, it struggles in low light - especially in the HD modes (I found using 760 30P to be the best compromise for low light indoors, and 760 60P for outdoor action sequences). Saw a review on CNET that advised not to use the built in image stabilization, so I've avoided that and been pleased overll. For under $200, a good buy!

The Sony MHS-CM5 is the best I have found for the type of use. It has 5X optical zoom when most of the others in its price range have digital zoom only. This feature is the main reason for my purchase and it works very well. Video is very nice using the HDMI cable. Stills are clear, color balanced and pleasant to look at. I would like more slow-motion options but what does one expect for under $200.