Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This camera has great image quality, and was a great buy. But one thing that frustrated me (before buying) was that I couldn't find much info about the more advanced specs.
But luckily, I have done the homework for you
Here are some things you might want to know:-The CMOS is 5MP native (resolution: 2592 x 1944)
don't bother with the 8MP it just 'blows up' the image (interpolation)
-The lens, even though the image quality is excellent, is the weak point of this camera. Its a fixed focus without any optical zoom. Theres only digital zoom which decreases the quality the farther its zoomed in, but not too badly.
The 2 focus modes,
Normal: From 30cm to infinity. Best for general purpose video recording. Nothing is really out of focus unless its too close to the camera. Though the image can be slow to clarify on certain patterns such as grass.
Macro: For close-ups. Objects/people look alot clearer/better when focused on than with the normal focus mode, and everything in the background is blurred. But you have to be sure the camera is the perfect distance away from the object so that its in focus.
On the camera, the top setting with the mountain/stick figure is normal focus mode and the lower setting with the flower shape is macro. There are also wide angle lenses available that fit this camera.
-The battery
Battery life for me is very good, but depends on your recording mode, screen brightness etc. Charge to 100% before turning it on (should take atleast 2-3 hours). Also sometimes the light seems to change randomly to show that its charged when its still charging. Theres a defect where the battery is loose inside and rattles around/loses contact with the terminals that make it turn off. Just improvise and put a piece of paper/cardboard below the battery to keep it from being loose.
-The screen is good quality, hard to see in bright daylight. No dead pixels. Camera turns on when you fold out the screen. There are controls on the side for video playback but I haven't had to use any besides 'power'.
-The mic is okay for me, but it tends to record the person behind the camera rather than whats in front.
-Records from AV-IN at 720 x 480 NTSC 29.97FPS
the quality is decent when I record from a satellite receiver (take advantage of this with pay-per-view). When played back on SDTV it looks nearly exactly as the original broadcast besides for some obvious static at the very top of the screen. Format: H264 @ 2.12mbits/sec Audio: AAC stereo 48.000khz BTW you can't do composite-in.
-has TV-OUT with AV-out and Composite-out
You can do everything with TV-out activated that you can do normally, record vids/take pics/change settings. Video and picture quality is terrific, and they load instantly. If you lose 1 of the AV cables, they're the same except for the colors.
-works with my sandisk 4gb Ultra II SDHC memory card
make sure your memory card is 'high speed' or else it probably can't write data fast enough to keep up with the higher quality recording modes. I believe the memory limit is 32gb.
-recording modes:
1080p: 29.97FPS Data rate: 7.58mbits/sec at 1920x1080
720p 60f: 59.94FPS Data rate: 6.04mbits/sec at 1280x720
720p 30f: 29.97FPS Data rate: 4.10mbits/sec at 1280x720
'DVD quality': 59.94FPS Data rate: 3.57mbits/sec at 854x480
'CIF': 29.97FPS Data rate: 750.86kbits/sec at 320x240
All except 'CIF' are 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen)
Image quality is a bit grainy if the room is dark, though you can adjust white balance/exposure settings to fix this. I would say the best overall setting is 720p 60FPS. Theres no stabilization but its really stupid to complain that the footage is 'shaky' when all you have to do is hold your arm more steady/hold it with 2 hands. After all the camera captures exactly what it sees and its lightweight. Theres a tripod mount too.
-tips for playback
The version of quicktime included on the CD is an old version that plays choppy on even the fastest computer. The best way to play back your vids in my opinion is to first:
1. Rename the file from .MOV to .HDMOV
2. Play the file with Windows Media Player
doing it this way uses the graphics card (GPU) to help play the video, instead of just the CPU. 60fps is more intensive than 1080p at 30fps. If you get an error about codecs, look up on google 'k-lite codec pack'. Now the biggest problem everyone has is that the format of the videos (.MOV) is incompatible/doesn't work right with alot of editing software. Most people convert the video to another format which decreases the quality and takes forever. Are you ready for a simple solution that will prevent you hours of frustration?
The actual video captured is encoded to H.264 codec with AAC audio, the .MOV is just a container file. AVI, MP4, MKV and lots of others can hold H.264 video. So all you have to do is...
Rename FILE.MOV to FILE.MP4easy as that...now the file should work in sony vegas and any other editing software that supports H264, and also play back fine with supporting media players. To rename on a PC: Tools->Folder Options->View->Hide extensions for known file types (uncheck the box)
(when importing to vegas 8.0 you have to keep trying to drag the file over the window until an outline appears or it will crash, only release the mouse if an outline appears. Keep trying with new codecs if it crashes/won't work, its glitchy)
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