Camcorder Upgrade, revisited

[Ron Riemersma]

There was a post started back in December on this- but I am in a different price range so thought I would start a new thread. I am looking for recommendations in the $3-400 range. I have done some homework, chatted with the nice people at B&H who suggested the Sony HDR-CX160 for its low light capabilities. The review says "suberb low light performance"... and the guy also felt that Sony was the best when it came to low light cameras.

However, after reading some reviews on other cameras that claim this, some have countered to say that the low light perf was crummy. How can you really know?

So, Is it even worth looking at low light performance at this price range?
Any thoughts on the Sony HDR-CX160?
Any other advice?

Thanks.

 

[David Wolfson]

My wife and I both have CX-160s. It has respectable low-light performance (significantly better than consumer DV cameras had a few years ago) in its "low-lux" mode which sacrifices a bit of resolution for sensitivity. Now, you're not going to get the sensitivity of a $3k, 3-CCD pro camera, but it meets our needs, FWIW.

 

[Jenn Henley]

I got the lower priced CX130 because I am broke but I absolutely love it. I haven't got to do much with it yet but I did plop it on my dashboard and record a trip to class one evening. The low light performance seems amazing to me (will admit I have nothing to compare it to as my last camcorder used tapes). Even on my way home that night it picked up everything in front of me from just my headlights with no issue. I hadn't even tried the low-lux mode either.

I believe the 160 is the 130 with 16gb of internal memory. I got the 130 for about $150 less and just bought a couple new SD cards. For an impulse buy I don't think I did too bad, haha.

 

[Michael Thompson]

I also have a CX130 as a fill in camera until I can purchase something better. I am pleasantly surprised by the footage I am getting. The resolution and playback on my 40' HD TV is much better than my old Panasonic GS500. I realise that we are talking HD vs SD, but the Panasonic was towards the upper end of consumer class with Leica lens and >$1K price tag (at time of purchase), while the CX130 is very much entry level. Against my 60D canon DSLR footage there is no contest, but I find DSLR footage a pain in the neck when solo chasing. The DSLR has to be tripoded as image stabilisation is crap. The CX130 has fantastic stabilisation. Another nice feature of the CX130 and most Sony's I believe is that manual focusing to infinity has a nice Infinity symbol to reassure. The Panasonic had a focus ring, but it relied on using the flip out screen, however that is lost on a long sited 55 year old.

Here are a couple of clips from the CX130, bear in mind that I had to compress footage.

I have been looking for an excuse to post this storm

Watch video >

Non storm footage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiBx3acD8Mc