Sony HDR-CX500V

Still Features (10.38)

The Sony HDR-CX500V doesn’t have a huge set of still features, but it does have some basic ones. The camcorder touts a 12-megapixel still image capability, but its top native resolution is around 6.2 megapixels. This means the two highest image size options (4000 × 3000 and 4000 × 2250) are interpolated from a 2880 × 2160 image. A 6.2-megapixel capability is still quite good, although it is not as large as the native resolution you’d get even from a cheap digital camera. There are also numerous HD camcorders out there at offer native 8-megapixel and 9-megapixel still image resolution options (like the Canon HF S11, JVC GZ-HM400, and Sanyo VPC-HD2000).

The CX500V does have a built-in flash located just above the lens. The flash has a variety of settings including redeye-reduction and three brightness intensity options. The camcorder also has a 10-second self timer and 5 different photo size options in still image mode. You can capture still photos in video mode, but the images are limited to a 3840 × 2160 (8.2 megapixels) resolution when you’re shooting HD video.

One of the more unique features on the HDR-CX500V is its Smile Shutter technology. The Smile Shutter will automatically snap a photo—even while video is recording—when a smile is detected within the frame. The feature actually works quite well at detecting smiles and you can even set the detection sensitivity to low, medium, or high. All of these ‘Smile’ features are only available if Face Detection is also activated on the camcorder.

There’s nothing incredibly special about the photo playback setup on the HDR-CX500V. Still photos are arranged as small thumbnails and can be viewed in full-screen or output to a television via any of the camcorder’s video-out terminals. You can also run slideshows on the CX500V and display photo data (like aperture and shutter speed) for a selected still image. The camcorder’s GPS system can tag the locations of photos as well as videos.

The HDR-CX500V did quite well on our still color accuracy test. In fact, it did better with color accuracy here than it did in our video color testing. The CX500V managed a color error of 2.8 with a saturation level of 101.9%. These are both excellent scores, and it bodes well for the CX500V’s overall still image performance.

All of the camcorders in this set had very good color accuracy in their still images. The Panasonic HDC-TM300 (2.65 color error) produced the most accurate colors, although its numbers weren’t that much better than the Sony. The JVC GZ-HM400 came in third (3.08 color error), followed by the Canon HF S11 (3.87 color error). Each of these camcorders captures a detailed still image with solid colors. The Canon did appear to overexpose the image a bit, while the JVC did the opposite and underexposed its still image.

The noise levels on the Sony HDR-CX500V’s still photos were okay, but they weren’t anything spectacular. The camcorder averaged 0.87% noise in our still noise testing, which is less noise than the Canon HF S11 and JVC GZ-HM400 measured in the same test. Still, this is more noise than the CX500V measured in our bright light video recording, so we expected better from the camcorder.

Still sharpness is probably the most important of our still image testing because it gives you an idea of how much fine detail its photos are able to capture. In our testing, the Sony HDR-CX500V managed a horizontal sharpness of 1914 with 7.8% undersharpening and a vertical sharpness of 1676 with 10.6% undersharpening. These scores aren’t bad, but they are a far cry from the 12-megapixel resolution (4000 × 3000 image size) Sony touts the camcorder as having. In reality, the camcorder has an effective pixel count of around 6 megapixels for still photos, which we talked about earlier in the Still Features section of this review. For a 6-megapixel camcorder, the CX500V’s sharpness scores aren’t bad. They are better than the Panasonic HDC-TM300 was capable of, although the Canon HF S11 and JVC GZ-HM400—both of which have higher pixel counts—did better in this test.

Other Features (4.50)

The Sony HDR-CX500VGPS (Global Positioning System)

You can tag your videos and photos using the HDR-CX500V’s built-in GPS. This allows you to organize your clips by location or view your media on a map pinpointing where each clip was shot. Many Sony camcorders now include GPS (any camcorder with a ‘V’ at the end of the model number), although we haven’t been overly impressed by the feature. Turning GPS on uses up battery life quicker, and it can take the camcorder quite a while to determine your location. Still, it can be useful if you’re doing lots of traveling and want the camcorder to keep track of where you were when you shot your videos.

Disc Burn

On the inside of the LCD cavity is a DVD disc burn button that allows you to burn video directly to disc if you have a compatible DVD burner. Sony sells portable burners that work with the HDR-CX500V and connect via the camcorder’s USB terminal.

Smooth Slow Record

A limited high-speed recording feature that allows you to shoot 3 seconds of video and turn it into 12 seconds of slow motion video. Smooth Slow Record shoots at 240fps (4x faster than regular 60i), but you can only shoot 3 seconds of video with the feature. The setting appears to be designed for shooting golf swings (it is represented by a golf swing icon), and you can set to record the three seconds before you hit the record button or the three seconds after. The feature produces better quality video than the slow-motion settings found on JVC’s GZ-HM400 and GZ-X900, but it doesn’t have as many options as those camcorders (the JVCs can record 120fps, 300fps, or 600fps).

Fader

You can put a white or black fader at the beginning or end of your clip.