Sony Handycam HDR-CX500V Camcorder Review

Manual Controls Summary
• Sony got rid of its Easy Mode on the HDR-CX500V, but the camcorder is still fairly simple to use. • The camcorder is loaded with auto features and they all work very well (even the more unique features like smile shutter and face detection). • Sony's NightShot system allows you to shoot in total darkness, although your footage comes out with a lime-green glow. • Spot Focus and Spot Meter are useful tools for setting focus and exposure, while some manual controls are difficult to set with the touchscreen. • No manual shutter speed, aperture, or gain controls are available.
	Compression & Media	(Page 7 of 17)	Still Features

Auto Mode (10.22)

Even though the Sony HDR-CX500V does not have an "Easy" mode, it does have very good automatic controls. Its auto exposure and auto white balance work very well, both producing accurate results in a short amount of time. The camcorder's auto exposure also adjusted very well when we shifted between different light sources. Another benefit of the CX500V is its AE and WB Shift features that allow you to adjust how the camcorder determines its auto exposure and auto white balance. The camcorder also has an auto backlight feature that helps correctly expose subjects who are illuminated by a strong light behind them.

Sony camcorders often do quite well with auto focus and the HDR-CX500V was no different. It did sometimes take a few seconds to shift between extreme focal lengths, but we were impressed with the camcorder's quick ability to produce crisp, well-focused close-up images without having to switch to a tele-macro setting. The Spot Focus and Spot Meter features on the CX500V are also quite useful, as they are basically manual controls that any novice or beginner can enjoy using.

The HDR-CX500V is also loaded with face detection features, which includes something called Smile Shutter that has the camcorder automatically snap a photo when your subject smiles. Smile Shutter works well, although it is very gimmicky. You can set the smile sensitivity on the camcorder to low, medium, or high—with low only detecting big smiles and high detecting everything down to little smirks. The Face Detection function itself also works well and it enables the camcorder to automatically adjust focus and exposure based on faces it detects within the frame. You can set a face priority to child or adult on the HDR-CX500V, and the Face Detection feature must be turned on in order for the Smile Shutter system to be engaged.

Low Light Modes
The HDR-CX500V includes Sony's popular NightShot illumination system. NightShot uses an Infrared light to enable you to shoot in complete darkness, although it coats your image in a bright, green glow (like night vision goggles). It can be a very useful feature if you're shooting outside at night, or trying to recreate a cheesy horror-film aesthetic.

In addition to NightShot, Sony also has a Low Lux mode, but all it does is allow the camcorder to use a slow shutter in low light situations—just like auto slow shutter on other camcorders. Using the Low Lux mode won't change the look of your footage in bright light, but when you shooting low light situations the camcorder will use a 1/30 of a second shutter speed. This will make motion look choppy and it can be very unappealing, particularly if you're shifting between light and dark scenes.

Scene Modes
There are number of scene modes on the HDR-CX500V: Twilight, Twilight Portrait (photo mode only), Sunrise & Sunset, Fireworks, Landscape, Portrait, Spotlight, Beach, and Snow. Some of these scene modes change the shutter speed, while others alter the white balance and color tones. All these scene modes are available in photo mode as well, but some of them work a bit differently. Fireworks, for example, enables the camcorder to use shutter speeds as low as 1/8 of a second in photo mode, while it doesn't appear to go below 1/60 in video mode.

Zoom (5.5)

The HDR-CX500V is equipped with a standard zoom toggle on the top of the camcorder. The toggle lines up nicely with your index finger and it is easy to control zoom speed variably using the toggle. The toggle has a pretty wide range of speed control, so if you apply a minute amount of pressure you can get a very slow zoom, while a lot of pressure lets you zoom faster.

The zoom toggle is the best choice for zooming...		... while the LCD touch-buttons aren't very good.

You can also control zoom on the CX500V using the touchscreen zoom buttons. These buttons are a complete pain, however, as they aren't always present on the screen. When you tap the center of the LCD the buttons disappear and are replaced with the Menu, Playback, and GPS icons for a second or two. If you don't press anything, the zoom icons will return—but there is no way to get them to reappear other than patiently waiting. These touchscreen zoom buttons are also difficult to press, not very responsive, and only zoom at a single, medium-paced speed. We recommend sticking with the regular zoom toggle for most of your shooting.

Zoom Ratio (4.34)

The camcorder's lens offers a 12x optical zoom, which is slightly better than average for a high-end HD camcorder (most have 10x zooms). There are a few mid-range HD camcorders out there with longer optical zooms—JVC has a couple of 20x zoom models (GZ-HM200, GZ-HD300, GZ-HD320), Panasonic offers a 16x optical zoom on all its mid-range HD camcorders, and the Canon HF20 and HF200 have 15x optical zooms.

The CX500V also has a digital zoom option that can be set to 24x or 150x. These digital zooms should be used sparingly, however, as they do degrade the quality of your video image.

Zoom Comparisons
Wide Angle	Mid Zoom	12x Zoom

Focus (6.5)

There are a number of ways to set focus manually on the HDR-CX500V, the most prominent of which is done by using the manual control dial. The new dial featured on the CX500V is different than the custom control dials found on previous Sonys (and the Sony HDR-XR500V or XR520V). It is located near the back of the camcorder and isn't as easy to adjust as the larger, front-mounted dials found on previous models.

That being said, using the control dial to adjust focus on the CX500V isn't that bad, and it is certainly better than using a joystick, JVC's Laser Touch strip, or touchscreen buttons. The dial is good for making fine adjustments, but it takes a while if you're making major adjustments to focus (you have to rotate the dial numerous times to make wide changes in focal length). When adjusting focus, a small icon appears on the LCD with a numeric listing of the focal length (in meters). This numeric display isn't great—it doesn't have enough intervals—but it is better than nothing.

Setting the focus with the touchscreen isn't fun.

If you don't like using the control dial, you can also adjust focus on the CX500V using the LCD touchscreen. You can set focus manually by tapping (or holding down) on two different buttons. One button brings the focus closer, while the other allows the camcorder to focus on subjects that are farther away. We really don't like this method of focus adjustment because the touchscreen icons aren't very responsive and it is difficult to see whether your subject is in focus when your fingers and icons are covering half the screen.

There's another touchscreen focus setting that works very well, however. It's called Spot Focus and it allows you to tap the portion of the screen you want to bring into focus and the camcorder does so automatically. This system works seamlessly with Sony's touchscreen technology and it can also be used in conjunction with exposure in an option called Spot Meter/Focus.

Exposure (8.4)

Like focus, exposure can be set manually on the HDR-CX500V using numerous methods—Spot Meter, using the control dial, and by pressing touchscreen buttons. Again, we feel the best method for adjustment is the control dial, as it allows you to quickly shift the exposure by simply rotating the dial (the dial is more apt for controlling exposure than focus). Unfortunately, you do have to go into the camcorder's menu to switch the dial to exposure control.

Setting the exposure using the LCD touchscreen is very similar to setting focus on the CX500V. You simply tap the two touchscreen buttons to make the image darker or brighter. We found this system a bit easier to use than the camcorder's manual focus, mainly because the screen produces a graphical display that shows you how much you've adjusted exposure. The camcorder offers 29 increments of adjustment with manual exposure (there are no numeric displays for these increments).

Instead of using the touchscreen, you can also adjust exposure with the control dial.

Spot Meter is exactly like Spot Focus except it adjusts exposure instead of focus. The Spot Meter/Focus option will make adjustments to both focus and exposure when you tap the LCD. The CX500V also has an AE Shift setting that allows you to control how the camcorder performs an auto exposure. You can shift the auto exposure from -4 to +4, with the lower values resulting in an under-exposed images and the higher values producing some over exposure.

Aperture (0.0)

There is no manual aperture control on the HDR-CX500V. This doesn't mean the camcorder has a fixed aperture, it just means you cannot set the aperture value manually. When you adjust exposure on the camcorder it is likely the CX500V is altering its aperture, but you don't know how much or to what f-stop it is changing. Many manufacturers, including Canon, Panasonic, and JVC (on the GZ-HM400 only), offer some kind of manual aperture control on their high-end camcorders. It is a shame Sony hasn't joined the ranks by including this feature.

Shutter Speed (0.0)

As with aperture, the HDR-CX500V does not have shutter speed control either. In fact, no consumer camcorders from Sony offer manual aperture or shutter speed control. You can turn on the camcorder's auto slow shutter (by engaging Low Lux mode), and a few of the CX500V's scene modes offer alternate shutter speeds—but none of these settings allow for manual shutter speed control. The camcorder has a shutter speed range of 1/8 to 1/725 of a second, but 1/8 is only possible in photo mode when using the Fireworks scene mode. For video recording, 1/30 of a second is the lowest shutter speed available (1/60 without Low Lux mode turned on).

Sony is really the lone duck amongst major camcorder manufacturers when it comes to not offering shutter speed. Some sort of manual shutter speed control is found on all high-end or mid-range models from Canon, Panasonic, JVC, Samsung, and Sanyo.

White Balance (7.5)

Sony does include manual white balance controls on the HDR-CX500V. The camcorder has two white balance presets—Indoor and Outdoor—along with a One Push manual option. The manual option works well and is a pleasure to use. You simply point the camcorder at a white or neutral-colored object and press the manual button. Many camcorders have a similar "one-push" style of manual white balance.

There aren't too many white balance presets, but the "one push" manual option works well.

There's also a White Balance Shift setting on the CX500V that works exactly like the Auto Exposure Shift option. You can set the WB Shift from -4 (cooler, bluer tones) to +4 (hotter, redder tones). This can be a good feature to have, particularly if you can't perform a manual white balance and the auto white balance isn't working correctly under a specific type of light.

Gain (0.0)

With no manual aperture or shutter speed control it should come as no surprise that the CX500V doesn't offer any manual gain options. Gain is probably the least common manual control found on consumer camcorders, but there are some high-end models that include the feature. Canon has an AGC limiter function on the HF S11, HF S10, and HF S100, and Panasonic offers full gain control on its models (but only once the aperture has been opened all the way).

Color & Image Controls (2.0)

Other Manual Controls (3.5)

Sony HDR-CX500V Comparisons
Panasonic HDC-TM300	Canon HF S11	JVC GZ-HM400