Sony HDR-CX700V Camcorder Review

Color

The Sony HDR-CX700V wasn't as strong on color accuracy as the flagship models from other manufacturers, but it still put up respectable numbers. The camcorder managed a color error of 4.2 and a saturation level of around 86%. These numbers gave the camcorder a slight edge over last year's HDR-CX550V, but not by much. More on how we test color.

Color Accuracy Performance

Color Error Map
The map above is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camera processed each particular color while capturing video.

The Sony Handycam HDR-CX700V produced a color error of 4.20 and a saturation level of 86.00% in our bright light color testing.

Sony Handycam HDR-CX700V Color Modes

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Unlike the Panasonic HDC-TM900 and Canon HF G10, the Sony HDR-CX700V doesn't have much in the way of color controls. It does have a Cinematone setting that enhances contrast and makes for a more film-like aesthetic, especially if you combine this feature with the camcorder's 24p record mode. You can also play around with the CX700's white balance shift feature to make the color tones hotter (more red) or colder (more blue). There's no specific saturation boost or color preset functions on the camcorder, though.

If you cycle through the chart images below, you can see the Sony CX700V produced a good image in this test that looks similar to the competition. The colors appear a bit more muted on the CX700V, however, as the Canon HF G10 and Panasnoic HDC-TM900 both had saturation levels near 100%.

Low Light Color

The HDR-CX700V took a dip in color accuracy when we dimmed the lights for the low light test. The camcorder measured a color error of 5.37 and a saturation level of 70.72%. These numbers are a little bit below average for a flagship model, but they are still respectable. The good news is that they are better than last year's HDR-CX550V by quite a bit. The new Sony camcorder has more vivid and accurate colors than the old. More on how we test low light color.

Low Light Color Accuracy Performance

Color Error Map
The map above is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camera processed each particular color while capturing video.

The Sony Handycam HDR-CX700V produced a color error of and a saturation level of in our bright light color testing.

We like the Canon HF G10 and Panasonic HDC-TM900 more as far as color in low light is concerned, but the Sony HDR-CX700V isn't that far behind. Its colors look good, if a bit weak, and the camcorder was able to retain a decently sharp image in low light. Many of you readers are probably aware that the HDR-CX700V has a 24p mode in addition to 60i and 60p recording. We did some testing of the 24p mode in low light, but we saw little difference in our color accuracy or noise tests when using this mode.

Noise

Similar to what we saw in our color test, the Sony HDR-CX700V put up good, but not fantastic, results in our noise test as well. The camcorder averaged around 0.61% noise in bright light, which is a bit higher than last year's HDR-CX550V, but this increase isn't anything to worry about. The good news is the camcorder did better than last year's model in our low light noise test, and that's an area where noise is more of a concern. More on how we test noise.

The crops above give us a good amount of insight as to what kind of sharpness and detail the CX700V is capable of capturing. As you can see, the CX700V didn't record an image that was quite as sharp as the Canon HF G10 or Panasonic HDC-TM900, but its level of sharpness was nearly the same as last year's CX550V. Things looked a bit sharper when we shot using the camcorder's 1080/60p mode, but the crop above is taken from the highest-quality 60i setting. Continue onto the next section of this review for more details about the Sony's sharpness capability (and the differences we noticed between the 60i and 60p frame rates).