Sony Handycam HDR-CX12 – Excellent for videos and photos
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Great video quality, decent manual controls, still photos too look good,
Thumbs Down:
Lacks wind filter, no viewfinder, tiny LCD.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Sony Handycam HDR-CX12 is a 1080i camcorder, with 150x digital zoom, has 5.6 megapixels, optical sensor size is 1/3”, videos are stored in MPEG-2, AVCHD format, special effects Monotone, Pastel, Sepia, minimum shutter speed is 1/30 second, maximum shutter speed 1/250 seconds, shooting programs include Sports lesson, Portrait mode, Spotlight, Landscape, Fireworks, Sunrise, Sunset, Candle, Beach. Camcorder sensor resolution is 5.66 mega pixels, camcorder effective video resolution is 3.81 mega pixels, camcorder effective still resolution is 5.08 mega pixels, camcorder interpolated still resolution is 10.2 mega pixels. Images are stored in JPEG format.
There is no internal memory but Sony gives a 4 GB Flash – Memory Stick PRO Duo card. The camcorder has Zoom lens – 5.9 mm – 58.8 mm – F/1.8-3.1, Focal length is 5.9 mm – 58.8 mm, lens aperture is F/1.8-3.1, has 12x optical zoom, minimal focal length is 5.9 mm, maximum focal length is 58.8 mm, filter size is 37mm, macro focus range is 47 cm. Additional features include Dolby Digital 5.1 channel recording, Takes photos while movie recording, Progressive Shutter System, Dynamic Range Optimizer, Backlight compensation, Smile detection technology, USB 2.0 compatiblity, Touch-screen control, Accessories hot-shoe, PictBridge support, Face detection. Connectors include 1 x Headphones, 1 x S-Video output, 1 x HDMI output, 1 x Component video output, 1 x USB, 1 x Composite video/audio output.
Supported Operating Systems are MS Windows 2000 Professional, MS Windows XP Professional, MS Windows XP Home Edition, MS Windows Vista. Included cables are USB cable, 1 x A/V cable, 1 x Component video cable. The device is powered by Sony NP-FH60 1000 mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery.
Razzle Dazzle:
Design of the HDR-CX12 is quite similar to Canon’s HF10/HF11/HF100 models, it looks slimmer, rounder and more elegant. There is a gentle upward curve which lets you use the photo button, zoom switch and power/mode switch comfortably as compared to other flash based camcorders.
Inside Dope:
Performance wise, this camcorder is similar to its hard disk based HDR-SR11 sibling. It gives excellent HD video quality and has the same midlevel set of features. The body of is compact because there is no hard disk inside. Presence of the flash based drive makes the body smaller and although it is easier to carry, the small size also means a relatively smaller LCD. We aren’t fond of such small touch screen because the buttons are too tiny and hence give the fingers a hard time. The bezel has same controls of calling up the menu systems, recording and zooming. Beneath the screen, there play, infodisplay, Easy (full auto) and backlight compensation button. There is also a NightShot switch for toggling through Sony’s infrared mode. The media slot is covered by a small door on the bottom. On the top of the device, there is a 5 channel microphone and Active Interface Shoe along with a sliding cover.
The component output proprietary connector and a mini-HDMI connector are located underneath the plastic door. The camcorder doesn’t come with an HDMI cable but there is a component cable bundled. There is a Quick On which, as the name suggests, boots up the device pretty quickly. With a partially filled 4 gig card, our booting time was cut down from 5 seconds to 2 seconds. Battery is a bit large for such a camcorder fortunately it doesn’t protrude out too much from the body. There is no room for mic input or headphone jacks, eye-level viewfinder, or video light. There is no USB connector either; you have to use the bundled Handycam Station for transferring the videos.
The 12x zoom lens is protected by an electronic cover and there is photo flash right next to it. CAM CTL dial is located below which lets you activate shutter speed, white balance shift, exposure compensation and manual focus but you can only program the button for one of these features at a time. For assigning, you will have to hold the button down for a bit and then choose from the menu which pops-up. If you don’t like fiddling too much with the settings, there is auto feature which includes D-Range Optimizer and face detection along with smile shutter. The latter can be used only in stills. There are also a couple of scene modes to choose from.
There is no internal memory, but we are not complaining about this. Sony gives you a 4 GB card along with the camcorder. At the highest quality of 16Mbps 1,920×1,080/60i AVCHD format it can store 25 minutes of video. The device can also shoot at lower HD quality of 1440×1080/60i and there are 3 standard definition options as well.
We didn’t have any issues with the performance of the CX12, in low light it struggled a bit to focus but that is not uncommon in camcorders. In bright light, the autofocus was accurate and quick. Operating zoom was easy too. SteadyShot optical stabilizer does good job in minimizing the jitter all the way to the zoom range end. Sony gives a rated battery life of 3 hours and it takes 2.5 hours to charge it. There are higher capacity batteries available.
Just like the SR11, it has the same five-MP ClearVid Exmor CMOS sensor along with f1.8-3.1 40-480mm-equivalent lens which gives sharp videos, less clipping in highlights and excellent exposures as compared to most camcorders. The white balance is solid and colors look accurate. In low light, the videos showed a bit of noise but the shots are still usable and there is not much loss of detail. Photos too look good. Audio recording is good as long as there is no wind.
Nitty Gritty:
Sony Handycam HDR-CX12 has to be one of the best camcorder we’ve ever had in our test centers. It has excellent video and photo quality which makes it a very good buy.
