 Excellent all-around video, audio, feature and build quality |
| Review Date: August 20, 2008 |
| Reviewer: AT, California |
I have a Sony standard definition miniDV camcorder, and also bought the HF100 and the Sony CX12, both flash camcorders.
I found the Canon to be the better value: good to great video and audio quality in good lighting conditions, better user interface, and standard SD cards will save you money and hassle vs. the Sony CX12.
However, the Sony is the superior product IMHO based on the following features: much better low-light performance (by low-light I mean indoor night-time videos of kids with under ordinary incandescent lighting (without lots of halogens)). Sony DVD HD DVD burner is more flexible than Canon's, for example, you can shoot video in HD, and burn a standard DVD for people w/o HDTVs and Blu-ray. I understand to do this on the Canon burner, you need to record in standard definition to begin with. Build quality is a little higher (LCD joints stiffer, battery/inputs door covers more firmly attached). Slightly better audio (I noticed you could sometimes hear "clicks" from the Canon's zoom button).
The first 2 items (low-light & recorder characteristics) seal the deal for me. Generally, the camera is comfortable to hold, image stabilization is excellent (better than the Canon). Flash performance for still pictures is poor. |
Simply the best
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| Review Date: September 12, 2008 |
| Reviewer: B. Bates, Santa Fe, NM USA |
This is simply the best camcorder I have ever owned, and I have owned seven dating back to 1987. I have a fairly new Sony hard disk camcorder and this HDR-CX12 has it beat hands down. The hard disk will skip and stop recording if the buffer is exceeded when there is repetative movement, whereas the HDR-CX12 just keeps on recording. The storage media is so much easier to deal with than the video tapes in other camcorders. I purchased this camcorder for my motorcycle tours and it has worked out perfectly. I wish that Sony would get away from using their Sony-only storage media (in this case the Memory Stick Pro Duo) and start using the storage media that is more widely available. I would also like to have more storage on the memory stick than 16GB, but that is the max currently. But, until then I will continue to buy Sony simply for the quality of the product. Highly recommended for anyone looking to purchase a quality camcorder.
Pros: extremely small camcorder, storage media easy to handle, video quality outstanding (records in HD), simple to operate, quality product.
Cons: not waterproof, Sony needs to develope storage media greater than 16gb (seems like a ripe market for Sandisk?), pricey (but most likely worth it), pricey stoage media, so much fun that I end up recording TOO much. |
great!! I love it!!
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| Review Date: October 21, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Hoo Hean Ee, Sinagpore |
I got this digital HD camcorder because I prefer having SSD storage media(no moving parts)such as memory stick to store my video footage. I feel that memory stick and should be more robust and resistance to shakiness when I shoot the video.( I also own a PSP so the memory stick should be able to work too)
The features worked very well as advertised but there are some thing to take note, there are additional purchase to get full out of the device:
1. Get a new lithium battery. The supplied ones won't last for a full
day if you do lots of shooting.
2. Get a camcoder bag. Good bag protect your investment from scratch and
dust.
3. Get a protective plastic filter for your LCD display.
4. Get a UV filter for attachment in front of the cam. This is to
prevent scratches and dusts going into the lens when shooting.
5. Get a soft wiping cloth. To get rid of dust off your cam in the end
of day.
If you need a good camcorder with quick 'ON' time and good quality video, I highly recommended it. The only down side is the memory stick is a bit expensive and highest capacity in the market right now is 16Gig . |
I love this camcorder
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| Review Date: October 7, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Saravana Kumar Kuppusamy, Winston Salem, NC, USA |
Well, i am an amateur when it comes to camcorders, so my review may NOT be very technical. I love this camcorder, this is my first HD camcorder and the picture quality is real amazing. I use this camcorder mostly to take home videos and for our trips. The camcorder is real sleek and fits nicely in your hand. I dropped SR12/SR11 just because of their weight and their bulky harddisk. One down side is that this camcorder uses just a memory stick, they are expensive, but they are reliable. i have been using memory sticks with my Sony digital camera as well and no issues until now. If they could provide one more slot for relatively inexpensive SD/SDHC cards it will be a killer camcorder. A nice feature is the smile shutter and it takes stills of your subject without you being aware. It is a nice feature and will bring smile to your face. The PMB software that comes along with the camcorder is good enough to transfer and view the HD videos in your laptop. However, for advanced editing, you should probably order a video editing software like Sony Vegas movie studio or vegas Pro as your budget and needs are. I have just ordered the Sony vegas movie studio platinum pro 9 and hoping it will be fun to edit the videos. The still picture quality is very good. I tried the night mode in dark, it works, but subjects will look like ghosts, so not using that one a lot. a good buy, will recommend it. Amazon ships it fast too.
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Fantastic Camcorder
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| Review Date: December 7, 2008 |
| Reviewer: B. Hayes, Midwest |
I exchanged the Sony TG-1 for the CX12 due to limitations of the TG1 (see that review for further info). I was between the Canon HF10 (which I also returned) and the Sony CX12, and in my opinion the CX12 beats the Canon. Here are my thoughts:
The sony produces a beautiful finished image; the colors are vibrant and the image is crystal clear. Even in less than optimal lighting conditions, the sony's image remains clear, with less noise, although color does begin to wash out (I'm talking 75 watt bulb as only light source in 17' x 17' room). The Canon was noisy in all but sunlit shooting, and the finished product did not have the punch that the sony did, even with the "vivid" setting.
The jog dial at the front of the camera is customizable (I chose exposure) which is very convenient. The canon requires you to use the joystick toggle which has an audible click when using during recording.
The sound on the Sony in 5.1 is excellent.......very clear. The canon was good, but often sounded muffled.
The included battery will last about an 80 minutes.....longer than the Canon at 55 minutes.
Many people rave about the Canon's ability to shoot in 24P or 30P. I found both settings to be very annoying. Shooting in those modes resulted in jerky image playback, especially fast moving subjects, or panning the camera. I did not notice any better low light performance in those modes either. I don't miss those options on the Sony.
The biggest negative is Sony needs to improve the image stabilization. This is the only item the Canon comes out on top. For some reason the sony seems to pick up more random hand movements than the Canon.
Another negative is the annoying structure of the Sony menus, very perplexing until you become accustomed to them..........C'mon Sony, get some consumer feedback on the next camera.
On a final note, I see alot of reviews complaining about AVCHD. First, this is an HD camcorder. You can easily burn HD content onto any media (DVD-R, DVD+R DL, BR Disc) using either Sony Vegas Studio for PC, or Toast 9 for mac. The greatest thing about this format, is there is no converting necessary to burn a blu-ray disc playable in a blu-ray player. (If you don't have one, get one) I burned an 8 gig disc in BR format (DVD+R DL) in Toast 9 in about 20 minutes. The footage was stellar. If you are converting these files to anything else and outputting to mpeg-2, you are wasting the HD ability of this camera. I shutter at the thought of capturing the DV footage from the tape of my other camera, and waiting 2 hours for a DVD to be rendered and burned.
Overall, this is a great camcorder, at a great price from Amazon. I can't believe how far these things have come in the 4 years since I bought my last one. If you are waiting for improvements, why bother. I hear people talking about wanting full 1080P recording. Unless you plan on siting 5 feet from a 60" panel.....you really won't be able to tell the difference. I am recording in HD-HQ mode, the second highest quality, and the results are stunning. My advice is to run out and buy this camera.......it won't get much better than this at this price point. |
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