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Introduction
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01.Design
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02.Product Tour
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03.Performance
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04.Color Performance
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05.Low Light Performance
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06.Motion Performance
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07.Sharpness Performance
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08.Sample Videos
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09.Usability
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10.Ease of Use
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11.Handling
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12.Controls
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13.Features
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14.Recording Options
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15.Hardware
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16.Other Features
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17.Sony MHS-CM1 Comparison
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18.Sanyo VPC-CG10 Comparison
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19.Flip UltraHD Comparison
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20.Conclusion
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21.Photo Gallery
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22.Specs & Ratings
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23.Comments
Sony MHS-CM5
Previous: Page 6
Motion PerformanceNext: Page 8
Sample VideosSharpness Performance
Video Sharpness (10.97)
The Bloggie continues Sony’s tradition of exemplary sharpness performance in its budget camcorders. Last year’s Webbie MHS-CM1 shocked us with its impressive sharpness and this year’s model was much the same. The Bloggie MHS-CM5 demonstrated a horizontal sharpness of 800 lw/ph and a vertical sharpness of 600 lw/ph. This is an excellent performance for an inexpensive camcorder. More on how we test video sharpness.
Stabilization (1.14)
The Bloggie features digital image stabilization—a feature that was not available on last year’s Webbie lineup. Unfortunately, SteadyShot is not available when shooting in either 1080/30p or 720/60p modes… it’s only available in 720/30p or VGA. That’s certainly a significant limitation, since most consumers that are worried about shakiness are also worried about shooting reasonably high quality video. More on how we test stabilization.
Of course, even if you are willing to shoot in one of the lower quality settings, you won’t find the stabilization to be particularly effective.
As you can see from the table above, the difference in shake is only very slight, even in our low shake test. The Bloggie registered a 19% shake reduction on low shake and just a 2% shake reduction under high shake conditions.
Most camcorders in this category do not have any kind of shake reduction. The Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 employed a digital image stabilization system that did virtually nothing to improve camcorder performance in our shake test. Last year’s Sony Webbie and the Flip series of ultracompact camcorders do not advertise any image stabilization.
Shop for the Sony MHS-CM5
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