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| | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 39 customer reviews )
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272 of 281 found the following review helpful:
 Here is a review Jan 20, 2010
By B. A Reichle
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
85 of 88 found the following review helpful:
 The good, the bad, and the ugly truth Apr 17, 2010
By T. Fogerty
"I like tech stuff"
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
74 of 76 found the following review helpful:
 Great camera for non-techies. Jan 27, 2010
By Arnold G. Tijerina III
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.
75 of 78 found the following review helpful:
Great everyday camera. Feb 06, 2010
By M Coons
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.
21 of 22 found the following review helpful:
Great little camcorder Apr 24, 2010
By Picsphoto
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.
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