Sony HDR-CX520V review – with GPS
Thumbs Up:
Geo-tagging of videos and photos; best performance and video quality; compact design.
Thumbs Down:
Expensive price tag; no iris, manual shutter speed and audio controls; clumsy control layout; no SD card support and wind filter.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Sony HDR-CX520V is 1080i camcorder that has 1/2.88” 12-megapixel Exmor-R CMOS optical sensor. The camcorder offers wide-screen video capture, digital photo shooting mode, SteadyShot Optical Image stabilizer, 150x digital zoom and 3 lux minimum illumination. Maximum shutter speed is 1/725 second, minimum is 1/8 second and camcorder slow shutter mode is 1/30 second. The CX520V has 64GB integrated hard-disk drive and one Memory Stick PRO Duo for external storage.
Sony HDR-CX520V has 3 inches LCD display and rotating viewfinder of 230,000 pixels resolution. The camcorder has inbuilt microphone with surround and zoom feature. It also has built-in flash with auto flash mode. Digital video format is MPEG2 and AVCHD, and still image format is JPEG. The recording speed options are SP, LP, HQ and FH.
Digital scene transition options are White fader and Black fader. Shooting programs include Twilight portrait, Twilight mode, Portrait mode, Spotlight, Landscape, Fireworks, Sunrise, Sunset, Beach and Snow. The white balance is of three types: Automatic, Presets and Custom. White balance presets are Outdoor and Automatic. The exposure modes are Automatic and Program.
Zoom lens has a focal length of 5.5-60mm with an aperture of F/1.8-3.4 that features 12x optical zoom. Sony HDR-CX520V has 37mm filter, inbuilt lens shield and TTL contrast detection auto-focus. Zoom adjustment is motorized drive and focus adjustment is Automatic and Manual.
Sony HDR-CX520V also features search mode including Face index search, Map index search and Index search. The additional feature set includes Dolby Digital 5.1 channel recording, Lox Lux/Night Mode, Takes photos while video recording, Dynamic Range Optimizer, Backlight compensation, USB 2.0 compatibility, Touch-screen control, Smile Detection Technology, Accessories hot shoe, inbuilt speaker, Face Detection and inbuilt GPS.
Sony HDR-CX520V has five connectors: 1×S-Video output, 1×HDMI output, 1×Component video output, 1×USB and 1×Composite video/audio output. Software inside the provided disc are Sony Picture Motion Browser, drivers and utilities. Supported operating systems are Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP4/XP/Vista.
Sony HDR-CX520V has Sony NP-FH60 lithium ion rechargeable battery. Sony is providing one year limited warranty with the camcorder. Accessories supplied inside the package are USB cable, A/V cable, component A/V cable, remote control, drivers & software disc, battery and power adapter.
Razzle Dazzle:
Sony HDR-CX520V is 2.6 inches tall, 2.6 inches wide and 5.2 inches deep and weighs 13 ounces. Despite of having large lens, the camcorder is small and compact in size. It feels well built and solid.
Inside Dope:
Sony HDR-CX520V and CX520V are the siblings of HDR-XR520V and XR500V. Both CX520V and CX500V are better in control layout and interface over their blemished predecessors. However, they offer same quality of high-definition videos.
Both Sony HDR-CX520V and CX500V only differ in inbuilt hard-disk drive and costs. The CX520V offers 64GB memory for $1299.99, whereas the CX500V offers 32GB for $999.99. Both of these models does not have EVF, mic and headphone jacks. On the contrary, Sony HDR-CX550V offers 64GB hard-disk drive with EVF, mic and headphone jacks for $1199.99. The CX550V costs more as compared to Panasonic HDC-TM700 which offers the same features.
Sony had moved the dial to the back, which you can operate with left hand. But your left hand will block the LCD on using the dial. You have to hold down and move the button for selecting WB shift, AE shift, Exposure and Focus. The dial is very tight enough and wrongly located. You can only rotate it in little increments.
You will find the GPS switch, disc burn buttons, Night Shot, playback and power button on the corner of the display. Memory Stick Duo Slot, USB and mini HDMI connectors are located behind a cover. You can use right forefinger to comfortably use the photo and zoom buttons located on the top of Sony HDR-CX520V. We like that zoom control is well balanced and you can easily maintain slow and steady rate. 5.1 channel microphone sits on the front of CX520V and accessory shoes is located under sliding door. Zoom and record options are available on the touch-screen display.
Sony had also revised the menu system in Sony HDR-CX520V. You can select and put six different menu options to custom menu that will pop-up with other menus. We appreciate the Sony to remove confusing Options and Home menu dichotomy.
Sony HDR-CX520V offers 6-megapixel Exmor-R CMOS sensor which is better than 3.05-megapixel CMOS sensor of Panasonic HDC-TM700. Also, 6-megapixel CMOS sensor of Canon Vixia HF S200/S20 does not provide better picture quality like 6-megapixel Exmor-R sensor of the CX520V. The Panasonic model only succeeds in EVF, mic and headphone jacks in relatively low price – $999.95
Like other manufacturers across the world, Sony had indicated the GPS support by affixing V in the end of camcorder’s name. Sony HDR-CX520V has inbuilt antenna and in-camera geo-tagging for photos and videos. The company has a license of NAVTEQ Class 4 map data for providing inbuilt maps and links for GPS satellites inside the CX520V. It is important to mention here that map data and geo-tagging is not available for each location, so you have to check before purchasing and traveling. Moreover, the GPS implementation is limited but remains useful. It does not contain street names and complete set of landmarks. It can mark museums and galleries, but does not mark parks. You can use geo data for map display of photos and videos. When you download the videos from camcorder to the computer, one sidecar file for metadata (geo-data) will be created. This file can only be used by Picture Motion Browser Software.
Smooth Slow Record mode allows getting slow-motion and brief captures. This mode is limited, but its successor Golf Shot mode in the CX550 is a better one. The SRS mode is not usable in low light and provides dark results. Sony HDR-CX520V, CX500V and CX550V has infrared Sony Night Shot mode. The other advanced features are Face Touch, capability to down-convert from to MPEG2 for direct DVD transfers and up-convert to 60p playback on TV via HDMI.
Both Sony HDR-CX520V and CX500V are using back illuminated Exmor-R sensors and 12x zoom G-series lens like their XR siblings. As expected, the CX520V and CX500V deliver identical performance and video quality. Both of them have Active SteadyShot image stabilization for providing steady video even at full zoom range.
The Exposure and Focus range were quick responsive, but slows down in dim indoor light. Automatic exposure seemed to be little dark, particularly in backlit conditions. Even, usage of spot exposure or turning on auto backlight correction could not improve the situation. Focus was good in both low light and bright. We liked that it also focused closely.
The auto exposure and auto focus systems works quickly, but AF system seems to be confused in background and foreground subjects like that of in other camcorders. The LCD display is a bit smaller and has low resolution as compared to display of XR models. We are disappointed that the low resolution is quite frustrating.
The video quality of Sony HDR-CX520V is good and sharp in bright light without any substantial aberration or fringing. The video quality is also good in low lighting. Color rendering and automatic white balance are good. The camcorder delivers well dynamic range of colors with little color de-saturation in living room. In low lighting, you will notice some visual noise. You can also see some rolling edges and de-interlaced playback also.
Lox Lux mode of Sony HDR-CX520V is better than various low-light modes. It produces bright picture with little image noise and de-saturation, but without slow-shutter speed artifacts. It provided better shadow reproduction, mid-tone, sharpness and more saturated colors as compared to other low-light video modes of other camcorders.
The microphone is enough sensitive to provide good audio sounds. We will prefer to use some wind-filter with the camcorder. The still captured images are also good for 12-megapixel resolution.
Nitty Gritty:
Sony HDR-CX520V and CX500V both offers novelty feature of GPS/Geo-tagging of photos and videos. If you are looking for higher-end quality videos with geo-tagging feature in hard-disk based camcorders and do not need audio jacks and EVF, then CX520V and CX500V will be good to purchase. However, you will find above missing features in the CX550V, Panasonic HDC-TM700 and Canon Vixia HF S200/S20 at relatively less cost.
