Sony HDR-CX500V

Low Light Sensitivity (3.77)

The Sony HDR-CX500V did better than most high-end camcorders in our low light sensitivity test, but that doesn’t mean it performed exceptionally well. The camcorder needed 15 lux of light to reach 50 IRE on our waveform monitor. This is less light than the Canon HF S11 (17 lux) required, and it is far less than the JVC GZ-HM400 (31 lux) needed. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 was one of the best camcorders we tested all year with sensitivity—it needed only 9 lux to reach the same levels.

The Sony CX500V doesn’t have a 24p or 30p frame rate like you’d find on the Canon HF S11 or the Panasonic HDC-TM300. These alternate frame rates can improve low light performance on a camcorder—a fact that is hard to miss when you look at the Canon HF S11’s sensitivity in its 30p and 24p modes. To improve low light sensitivity, the HDR-CX500V does have a low light mode that turns on the camcorder’s auto slow shutter. This allows the shutter speed to drop to as low as 1/30 of a second in low light situations, thus enabling the camcorder to produce a brighter image. Unfortunately the slow shutter produces choppy motion and image trails, which may not look desirable to some people. More on how we test low light sensitivity.

In all, the Sony HDR-CX500V is one of the better high-end camcorders when it comes to low light sensitivity. The camcorder also has Sony’s infrared NightShot system that can record video in total darkness, but does so by giving everything a strong, green coloration (like night-vision goggles).

Low Light Noise (9.20)

The Sony HDR-CX500V measured very low noise levels in our low light testing. The camcorder had an average noise level of 1.29%, which is roughly the same amount of noise we measured on the Canon HF S11. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 did a bit better in this test, while the JVC GZ-HM400 was the worst of the set. More on how we test low light noise.

Sony HDR-CX500V Low Light Noise Comparisons
Sony HDR-CX500V 100% Crop	Panasonic HDC-TM300 100% Crop Canon Vixia HF S11 100% Crop JVC GZ-HM400 100% Crop More...

In the above crops you can see the presence of noise and discoloration on the JVC GZ-HM400’s image. The odd discoloration shown was present in all of our low light testing with the GZ-HM400 and it was actually worse on the JVC GZ-X900. The rest of the camcorders in this set look much better in low light. The Sony HDR-CX500V arguably has the best overall low light image—its colors are vivid, its image is crisp, and it has a minimal presence of noise. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 also managed a very good low light image (with a better sensitivity than the Sony), but its low light image was not quite as sharp as the CX500V. The Canon HF S11 produced a darker-than-average image here, but using its 24p or 30p record mode makes for a much brighter low light image.

Low Light Color (6.53)

The HDR-CX500V showed a significant drop in color accuracy when we did our low light tests, but its image still retained a good amount of saturation. We measured a color error of 5.6 and a saturation level of 77.92% for the camcorder in our low light testing. This saturation level is quite a bit higher than any of the competition was capable of, and the color error score is average for a camcorder of its class. More on how we test low light color.

Low Light Color Accuracy Performance
	Color Error Map
	The map on the left 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 HDR-CX500V produced a color error of and a saturation level of in our bright light color testing.

In the comparisons below you can see how much richer the colors captured by the Sony HDR-CX500V were compared to the competition. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 shows colors that are a bit more washed out, while the JVC GZ-HM400 offers a slight yellow-green discoloration on its image. The Canon HF S11 also captured very deep colors, but its overall image was also darker than the Sony HDR-CX500V.