Sony Handycam HDR-CX350V user reviews

Pros Lightweight, easy to follow menus, breath-taking video quality. Great 3-way steady-shot stabilizer. Even at high Zoom settings, images look steady.

Cons Would have liked more storage space. My last camera had a 60 Gig storage capacity for a lower price. Oh, the body is kind of a weird color. Seems to change depending on the lighting. Sometimes the camera body looks dark purple.

Summary I purchased this unit as a replacement for a Sony video camera that I received for my birthday. I found that I needed something with better low light focusing and performance.
I've received many compliments from friends that have seen video shot with this camera. Everyone loves the colors and high definition video. I've yet to try out the GPS feature, and may never do so.. Maybe a feature that Sony can make optional in fugure releases at a lower cost.
The very first video that I shot was a super close-up of my Girlfriend's tongue. Sounds gross, but at maximum magnification, I could see eery individual taste bud. One could have lots of funding Macro vieos. So far I like it a lot and look forward to making many intersting videos.

Pros SUPERB HD VIDEO!
pristine low light shooting

Cons the software it comes with is sub-par.
battery life is a little short

Summary I practically use this camera everywhere I go. It has fast startup, unmatched video quality. I bought the direct-copy usb adapter and it works like a charm, I can copy directly to my external hard drive with no computer. The features are endless. The Highlight feature is amazing and makes playback easy and entertaining. I found out that the gps feature still functions while the camera is off, so I decided to remove the battery while not in use to preserve battery life. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking to take excellent HD video.

Pros Compact. Light. Absolutely amazing video quality. Steadyshot is a must. No moving parts (cassettes or hard drive). 32 GB more than enough.

Cons As always, mic is crap during windy days. The toggle on top of the camera is too sensitive; makes jerky zoom in/out. Better using the touch screen for zooming. The 7.1 mega pixel camera does not give good results: grainy image. The Fader option.

Summary I bought my last Sony Camcorder in 2002 and it had cassettes (Mini-DV). I am so happy that I finally upgraded to the new Sony Handycam HDR-CX350V. I paid $899.99 canadian for the camera and I am really pleased. The video quality is amazing. When recording outside during a sunny day, the image is crisp and detailed. During darker scenes, the video quality is not bad at all.

Like I mentionned in the Cons, the toggle on top of the camera is too sensitive and it's hard to make really slow and uninterrupted zoom in/out so the best way is to use the touch screen to zoom.

I was not sure if I wanted to go with the 32 or 64 GB. I am finally happy I did not spend the extra money to go with the 64 GB since 32 GB is more than enough for the everyday use, unless you plan to leave the videos on the camcorder and rarely transfer them to your PC.

I would never buy a camcorder that does not have a steadyshot. It is worth the extra money over a HDR-CX110R, trust me!

The Fader option cannot be set as default in the options. Since I don't edit my movies, it would be nice to have the fader option as default.

The video format is AVCHD (*.MTS).

Here is how I convert my files:
- tsMuxer (if I need to join the different scenes before converting them)
- RipBot. Convert the files into MKV container without converting the 256 kbps AC3 sound. Resize into 1080p and 720p. I end up with 2 files, the 1080p for archival and the 720p to play over my home network on SageTV (or Media Centre).

Hope this helps!