Sony HDR-UX1 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Sep 29, 2006 1:00 AM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (8.0)
The HDR-UX1 is a very easy camcorder to operate, with a simplified menu structure that differs from most previous Sonys. In full auto mode, the camcorder works well. Exposure and focus are reasonably accurate, though the camcorder runs into difficulty with low-contrast subjects, such as when shooting in low light, or a scene with little color variation. Zooming or panning across complex scenes can also throw off both exposure and focus, and in dynamic shooting situations, manual controls will yield better results. The camcorder’s auto white balance also struggled to produce a natural color balance in mixed lighting.
There are two automatic spot controls in the Sony HDR-UX1 menu, spot focus and spot meter. When either spot control is engaged, a white frame appears just inside the borders of the LCD frame, and by touching part of the image, you can govern what portion of the image the camcorder uses to make its adjustments. These options perform well, and the new menu structure makes them accessible relative to most Sony camcorders. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that using spot controls like these will slow you down and if you’re going to resort to menu-based controls, you may want to go with full manual mode.
The Sony HDR-UX1 also sports several preset shooting mode options that are also available in the menu. These program AE modes are designed to optimize the camcorder’s auto adjustments for specific lighting conditions, and include Spotlight, Portrait, Beach & Ski, Sunset & Moon and Landscape options. These modes can yield decent results, but they are gross adjustments that don’t allow for fine-tuning. They may over or under-compensate for the actual lighting conditions you encounter which is yet another reason to get acquainted with the HDR-UX1’s manual controls. It’s an accessible feature set that is better-implemented and more robust than on most Sony camcorders.
Overall Manual Control (7.25)
The manual controls on the HDR-UX1 are easier to use than on most Sony camcorders, which feature a touch screen-only interface. This camcorder also uses the touch screen for many manual control settings, but it has the advantage of a streamlined camera menu, a larger screen, and best of all an external multifunction ring. All this adds up to a decent suite of manual controls that surpasses most other camcorders in Sony's consumer line. The ring itself is a great device, controlling the focus, exposure, AE shift, or WB shift. By pressing and holding the Cam Control button near the ring, you can toggle between ring control assignments. This means that changing the ring's function does not require a trip back to the menu, and is adds significantly to the ring's utility. The HDR-HC1, Sony's first truly consumer HD camcorder, had a ring that controlled focus or zoom. Now with expanded abilities (but the loss of zoom control), the ring is back and better than ever.
The multifunction ring is also a great element of the HDR-UX1. With options to control focus, exposure, AE shift, and WB shift, it has most of the controls you would want close at hand. It seems a loss that you cannot use the ring for zooming, but the primary zoom toggle is great, so you might not miss it. Overall, a ring is almost always a great addition. It allows for easy manual control adjustments without having to go through the menu and interrupt the shot, or more importantly, your attention and engagement with the shot. The big 3.5" LCD screen makes this all the easier.
Both sides of the lens ring.
One big difference in this camcorder (and the HDR-SR1) is that the menu system has been completely overhauled. Rather than the enormous scrolling wheel of options that you'll find on all the other camcorders this year, Sony has tried a new tactic. The menu has decreased in depth and increased in width. What does this mean? Well, the animated gifs help illustrate the point, but in short, it means that it's faster to access controls. Options are closer to the surface. There are also two completely separate menus - the Camera menu and the Home menu, both are accessible by a single tap on icons in opposite corners of the screen. The Camera menu is where you're more likely to find manual controls, but there is some overlap in the Home menu. The manual control, or Camera menu, is located in the lower right corner of the LCD screen represented by an icon that looks like, well, a menu. Pressing the icon brings up a tabbed navigation bar across the bottom of the screen, with six options. The first three tabs are designated by camcorder icons, labeled one, two, and three, and they encompass manual picture controls. The fourth tab is an un-numbered icon that seems to depict a screen, and provides access to fader effects, digital effects, and picture effects. The last two icons in the camera navigation menu are designated by toolboxes, and numbered one and two. Behind toolbox one are settings for recording quality and audio recording mode, and behind toolbox two are guide frame, zebra, flash level and redeye reduction settings.
The top levels of the Camera Menu (left) and the Home Menu (right).
We found it annoying that when you’ve engaged any of the camera menu settings and hit OK to engage the setting, the menu closes putting the camcorder in record-ready mode. If a user has taken the trouble to enter the camera menu, odds are she or he is going to make more than one adjustment – say to both exposure and white balance. Rather than structuring this menu to allow setting multiple manual controls at once, Sony forces you to press the camera menu icon in the lower right after every change. It’s analogous to being forced to leave and then re-enter a convenience store after purchasing one item. If you’ve only got one item on your shopping list, that might not be a problem – but adjusting this camcorder will likely require multiple trips back to the store.
The Home Menu contains everything else - all the advanced controls, the formatting options, the video quality controls, and so on. As we said, there is some overlap with the Camera Menu in the Home Menu's Movie Settings sub-page (are we losing you here?), but you'll be able to figure it out. All in all, it's an intuitive system and a big improvement over the old menu.
The Movie Settings sub-menu of the Menu Menu
Both the Camera Menu and Home Menu are smartly arranged. As the .gifs above show, similar features are grouped together when possible. For example, page 1 of the Camera menu has all the focus options and page 2 has all the exposure options. It's this kind of attention to detail that makes Sony so good at creating user-friendly camcorders.
Finally, there is a little mini-menu for the multifunction ring, which is accessed by pushing and holding the Cam Ctrl button on the left side of the lens barrel. Here is where you set which function you want the ring to be used for. Twisting the ring allows you to scroll through the options.
The mini-menu for the multifuntion ring.
Zoom (8.0)
The Sony HDR-UX1, like nearly all Sonys, offers two zoom controls. The primary control is a toggle located on the back right of the top, placed just so for the forefinger of your shooting hand. It’s a relatively large toggle, placed well above the body for easy back-and-forth movement – a better feel than we’ve found on most consumer Sony camcorders. Pressure sensitive, the toggle gives you about three zoom speeds. The second zoom control is a pair of buttons underneath the screen on the LCD panel. Marked “T” and “W,” these non-pressure sensitive controls can only push the zoom at a slow-medium speed. You can not adjust the speed of these zoom controls something which we would have liked. It would have been nice if the zoom controller on the UX1 was bigger, it would enabled even more control and feel in line with the camcorder's other feature set.
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 The two zoom controls: the primary toggle on top (left) and the buttons on the LCD panel (above). |
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Zoom Power/Ratio (10.0)
The Sony HDR-UX1 has a 10x optical zoom and a digital zoom that can be capped at 20x or 80x. These controls are found in the Home menu, Movie Settings. A 10x zoom is about what we should expect for a large imager like this. Smaller imagers in consumer camcorders allow for higher optical zooms. Frankly, the trade-off of a better image for a smaller zoom is well worth it. The ability to set the digital zoom at a 20x cap is a useful quality control.
Focus (8.0)
The focus is controlled in two ways, either through the touch screen menu or through the multifunction ring. You can arrive at the touch screen focus control through page 1 of the Camera menu. When engaged, a hand with an “F” in the middle appears, along with icons of a man and a mountain. You tap and hold the icons to adjust. The problem is, about half the screen is taken up by icons and the other half by graphics, so what you’re focusing on better be right in the center of the screen, or you won’t see it. We do like that the camcorder approximates where in the focal range you are: 0.1m, 0.5m, 40m, etc. It’s not a fine control, but at least it gives you some idea.
The second focus control, the ring, is less precise letting you know where you are in the focal range, but the feel is much better. Focus is the key control for high definition, because the increased resolution means focal errors become that much more obvious. Thankfully, the HDR-UX1 comes equipped with an Extended Focus. Once turned on (in the Camera menu), the Extended Focus automatically zooms in about 2x every time you engage the manual focus control. A second or two after you’ve made a change, it jumps back out to your original zoom level. The benefit: you can see the subjects more clearly to make a better focus decision without manually zooming in and out. The HDR-HC1 had a similar control except it was an external button. The HDR-HC3 dropped this feature. We’re glad to see it back.
Exposure (Aperture) (7.5)
The exposure controls are located on page 2 of the Camera menu and Home menu under Video Settings. Here you’ll find Exposure, Spot Meter, AE Shift, and Program AE. Only two of the options can properly be called manual controls. Spot Meter and Program AE controls are like controls with training wheels. The kids dig them, but adults would rather have full control. (See Automatic Control above for more details.)
Like most consumer Sonys, the exposure control is a sliding scale with plus and minus icons on each side. Tap the screen until you reach the desired exposure. The controls are presumably in EV steps, about 28 steps, but the exact increment is unknown.
The AE Shift is very similar, but has a much smaller range – only 8 steps. The relationship between AE Shift and the Exposure control is subtle and a little confusing. If you make an AE Shift adjustment, and then you engage the Exposure control, the AE Shift setting is negated. It’s also negated if you use Spot Meter. But if Exposure and Spot Meter are in auto, the AE Shift should function in tandem with any other manual control. AE Shift can be controlled from the touch screen in the Camera Menu, or selected as a function of the multifunction ring.
The exposure controls in the menu.
Shutter Speed (0.0)
There is no shutter speed control on the HDR-UX1. For all the manual controls they did load onto this, the first high definition DVD camcorder, Sony still skimped out on shutter control. We don’t like it, but Sony sticks pretty fiercely to their policy of withholding certain controls from consumer products in order to justify prosumer price points. Panasonic consumer camcorders all offer fully independent shutter and aperture controls, and both JVC and Canon have shutter priority modes.
White Balance (9.0)
There are two white balance controls on the HDR-UX1, same as the HDR-HC3 – both are in Page 3 of the Camera menu. The first is the standard Auto, Outdoor, Indoor presets, along with the One Push (Manual) setting. Making a manual adjustment is simple, and takes about five seconds. Some manufacturers offer more presets, but the auto control on Sonys is better than most, so you probably won’t miss them.
The second control is a White Balance Shift, a sliding scale with plus and minus icons on each side. A movement to the plus side warms the picture’s colors (increases the red and decreases the blue), and a move to the minus side cools it (increases the blue and decreases the red). You can go +/- 4 increments. The controls is a quick way to shift color without using the overkill of an Indoor or Outdoor preset. The White Balance shift can be adjusted using the touch screen in the Camera menu, or as a function of the multifunction ring.
Gain (0.0)
There is no gain control on the Sony HDR-UX1. You can find these controls on Panasonics only in the consumer camcorder realm. We really wish it had it since gain is a bit more of a problem on CMOS camcorders.
Other Manual Control (5.0)
Thankfully, Sony has come around to the understanding that people who spend over $1000 dollars on a camcorder sometimes feel entitled to a few extra controls. It’s not much of a list, but it’s certainly appreciated.
Guideframes - This control divides the screen up into a 9-part tic-tac-toe board to help you compose shots. The guideframes to do not appear on the final DVD.
Zebra - Zebra stripes are thin, constantly scrolling lines that appear in areas that are blown out – the “hot spots” where the whites are so bright that the imager can no longer read the information. You can set the zebras to appear at 70 or 100, IRE measurements that indicate how close you are to maxing out (70 is a safe, conservative setting).
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