Sony HDR-CX160 High-Definition Handycam Camcorder (Black) Reviews

My new Sony CX160 HD HandyCam. The a lot more I use it, the much more I am loving it.
It is extremely practical to use with a ideal dimension for my medium sized palm, and the zoom &amp record buttons conveniently placed on the camera physique as effectively as on the touch screen. The touch screen is quite excellent. I would suggest employing a scratch guard which makes it easier to clean given that it is prone to finger prints. The touch screen interface is extremely intuitive (a single cant go incorrect with the interface with Sony) and takes only couple of mins to get utilized to. I began shooting correct soon after unboxing it. Coming to the most critical aspect – the picture. The picture high quality of the videos is totally stunning. Even under low light (indoors), the picture high quality is quite very good when shot at FX mode. I usually choose FX mode (60i) which is truly the second ideal mode in terms of picture clarity but provides you that further shooting time with negligible image degradation as compared to PS mode (60p @ 28Mbps). PS mode is as close to a professional camera that an under 0 camera can get.
With a created in 16Gb memory a single can shoot about 90 mins of HD videos in FX mode. I got a Transcend 16Gb class 10 for little much less than 30 bucks to make the total to 3 hrs of videos at one particular go, which imho is really a decent quantity of video. The battery (Sony NP-FV50 V series) that came with it has a back up of small above 2 hours with a mix of record and play back instances. I am very joyful with these occasions although. For back up I did buy a NP FV 70 replacement (Vivitar brand) nonetheless, it did not perform nicely and I employed to get an error message soon after about 4 mins. I returned it and bought one more Sony NP FV 50. I would advise acquiring one more Sony NP FV 50 battery only if you ever require a back up energy (NOT EVEN origniaL Sony NP FV 70).
The sound recording top quality is also fairly excellent. With about 3 hours of recordings so far, even though I haven’t really observed the sound recordings in as well a lot detail, I can say that the sound is just excellent. We have enjoyed the image as effectively as sound high quality of all the videos that we had shot with it.
The tiny (about five-7 cms only) USB is fixed on the camera body. I discover this function really cool given that you dont have to remember to carry the USB cable as such (of course, the extension cable certainly helps), as also it is sort of hidden in the camera strap so its not visible and does not lead to an hindrance while recording.
Coming to the nonetheless photographs, I would say I was a quite disappointed with it in that the photographs are virtually useless. Due to this I have disabled the auto smile shutter which will take a image instantly when it detects a smile, even when the video recording is in progress. The attribute is excellent, but the images are not.
The software that came with it – Sony PMB – is a just about okay kinda software program in that it does what it is meant to do – manage and burn DVDs. You can produce DVSs fairly simply with it. Nevertheless, the amount of display layouts is quite restricted (only about five to be precise), and it does require a decent processing power. Nevertheless, with HD videos, a decent processing power is anyways a should.
I would have given it a 4.five, but it certainly does not deserve a 4 So, I gave it a full five. If you ignore the nonetheless image high quality, imho is not what it is meant for, the other functions this kind of as golf shot, slow-mo shot, a single touch focus in which the camera focus on an object you touch in the lcd screen and keeps in concentrate all through the shooting by following it, the much more than decent battery back up, you won’t be disappointed with this one. I got mine from Costco for 0 bucks with taxes, inclusive of a decent pouch adequate to carry its USB extension cable, an extra battery, along with the camera, of course.


five/23 Update on spare battery: Bought a ‘High Voltage’ brand NP-FV 70 battery from Digi Acc seller. I am glad that it worked with my Sony CX-160. At first, I was disappointed given that even the Authentic Sony NP FV 50 did not operate with it and I used to get an error message after each and every three-four mins. Digi Acc was prompt to send me a battery that worked.

I’ve owned and tested a new Sony CX series camcorder every year given that the CX7. I’m really impressed with the Sony CX160 for ground footage. Testing it the other evening when my pals rode bulls for the very first time (“Dysfunctional Bull Riding” on youtube) I was impressed on the active steadyshot getting capable to decrease my hand held shaking although the camera was heavily zoomed in. The low lux produced the above video super brilliant even in a dark arena. The external mic is nice to have back on a consumer degree CX series camera. I personally don’t like the built in USB cable considering that I tend to mount my cameras in boxes and helmets but for the common joe, it is great not to appear for a USB cable. The other plus with this camera is you can now charge by way of this cable. Therefore a normal USB charger port in your vehicle or computer can charge the camera. This will take longer than the standard Sony charger but great in a pinch. I’ve noticed the USB downloading speeds are very slow in this camera. It will take a minute or so to download a 200mb clip from internal memory. You also can not run the footage straight off the camera like you could with the 150.

Speaking of footage. The good quality out of this camera is great! I am super impressed by the image high quality.

I dropped this down by a point considering that I use these cameras for skydiving and the optical stabilization (OIS) causes flutter when the camera is in a vacuum brought on by certain physique positions. I could see this currently being an concern with individuals mounting these in selected positions on motorcycles or other quick moving autos exactly where there is not laminar airflow about the camera. (youtube “Sony HDR-CX160 Tests”). Sony requirements to lock the stabilization optics when the stabilization is turned off!

All round I am going to keep this camera for ground footage but going back to my EIS primarily based Sony HDR-CX150 camera for intense sports.

Thx,
Trunk
HYPOXIC Extreme Electronics

I finally took the plunge and upgraded from having to discover blank discs for video recording to this lightweight and compact recorder. I really like the function of getting in a position to place it all on a HD, and the zoom is fairly unbelievable at 42x: I tested one particular in a Fry’s shop ahead of acquiring here on Amazon, and was ready to choose off small text words on a sign halfway across the store.

The image equality to me is crystal clear, and transferred over to my personal computer for ripping to a DVD with no any problems at all. Piece of cake.

Even though it does come with 16 gig of memory, I went ahead and paid added for a 32 GB SD memory card: the last thing I needed to have transpire is run out of area right in the middle of whatever I may be recording.

I didn’t buy an upgraded battery with the first obtain, as I thought I would see what kind of overall performance I would get with the one particular that came with it: I’m getting about 2.5 to 3 hours, but your benefits might vary depending upon usage. For me, that is more than enough for one particular session of whatever I may be recording, but I will much more probably than not buy a greater capacity battery, as I have been caught prior to all set to go to some occasion and realizing I hadn’t charged the battery. With the USB-compatible charger (included), for this one particular I will be ready to plug into my USB-compatible cigarette adapter, but I’d rather have the piece of thoughts of a greater battery and will order 1.

The only “unfavorable” I have is I have larger hands, and it will take some acquiring utilised to this dimension camera. That doesn’t influence efficiency of the camera.
All in all, at 8 right here on Amazon it is a great get, and saved me + bucks from acquiring the exact same point at Fry’s.