Are you looking for the absolute best quality video & sound available including astonishing low light performance? Then look elsewhere. Are you looking for a camera that you'll actually carry which is also fast & simple to use while capturing very good HD video and acceptable stills? Then stop looking, you've found it. For my money, a camera that gets used is way better than a studio quality hulk that sits in the closet. This thing will fit in pants or jacket pockets. It's a camera my wife will use!Talk about simplicity, the TG5V has exactly 4 mechanical controls if you include the switch that turns the camera on when you open the LCD. The other three are all located on the back and controlled by your thumb. Zoom ring, video start stop button, still photo button. That's it! Almost all funtions can be set once on the touchscreen menu and then forgotten. But, you can set up a custom menu with your six favorites on a menu that is accessible with one touch of the screen. Very slick and a good thing because the menu is extensive with 14 sub-sections. I set the whole thing up and configured the custom menu without ever opening the manual so I'd rate the new Sony menu design a success.
Video is excellent in HD and still OK in SD. Low light is not the camera's forte but a well lit room is no problem. Batteries last only about 90 min so you'll want a spare. I also bought the wide angle lens and I think most people are going to want that for indoor shots. This camera has a narrower than usual field of vision.
I bought the spare battery & charger kit to free me from carrying the stand and ac/dc converter block. Lastly, I bought the Sony brown leather case with magnetic closure. It's very nice and protects the camera well but I think most of the time I'll carry the TG5V in my pocket in the drawstring bag that came with my Nikon flash. It's perfectly sized and adds almost zero bulk. The wide angle lens has it's own zip leather case. The case velcros onto the camera handstrap and the lens has a separate leash that also clips onto the camera strap. Excellent overall system design.
Edit: Forgot to mention the GPS function. It seems sort of goofy to me but it lets you search for files by location by pointing at the touchscreen. I may grow to like it but for me anyway, it is far from the main reason I wanted this video camera. And it just occurred to me that you may be able to extend battery life by shutting off the GPS reciever.
So why didn't I save $350 bucks and buy the older TG1? The TG5V is about 7% lighter and 10% smaller in volume, has 16GB memory built in, Sony made the touch screen menu system much more usable, and they improved the looks. And then of course there's the GPS thingy?????
Edit 11/07/2009 : Someone left a comment pointing out that when Sony added a bunch of improvements to the TG5V they also took something away. True and a bit strange for a consumer electronics company to remove features. Sony offered 5.1 audio recording on the original TG1V. The new TG5V on the other hand makes do with 2 channel stereo recording. I can think of several reasons why it should have been stereo to begin with but I can't figure out why, once they had 5.1 audio implemented they'd remove it.
So why go with stereo? A lot of customers don't own home theaters with 5.1 surround sound systems. Those who do will likely play back their video on a computer where multi-channel audio doesn't add much "wow". Or they'll burn their memories to a DVD and send it to grandma and aunt Susie who again, don't have a home theater. Or they'll post it on YouTube for others to watch .....you guessed it, on a computer. Also let's face it, this camera is tiny without an input for an external microphone. How good can a tiny 1/8th inch built in mike do separating 5 channels of audio with directional cues?
Do I miss the 5.1 channel audio? Not at all. I view it as an acceptable tradeoff for the worlds smallest high quality video camera that is actually going to get used because of its portability.
Why did Sony jettison a feature they had already designed into the product? No idea. Cost? I doubt it, this camera is marketed to well heeled consumers and the cost difference was probably a few bucks. Maybe they also decided it was a useless feature for the target buyer. Or, maybe their AVCHD codec was having problems with 5.1 audio. It remains a mystery.
This camera video is not as good as the full size, but is very nice in 1080i. It is not a 1080p camera, so saying it is "full HD" to me is really not true. The GPS tagging works, as well as using a standard DVD burner to make disks that have to be read on a BD reader. Curiously, if you use a Sony BD burner, which I also have, the video is fine, but none of the menus are burned into the standard DVD disk. I have a fast XP computer, and you will need that to burn the AVCHD disks.
The sound got hollow and very strange when the background was a waterfall, and also at other times with background sound.
This camera eats batteries, so have 2 or a charger with you.
Video is good, but for this price, is a 720p Vado, Flip or Kodak a better deal? Except for the GPS, the older model has 5.1 surround and is cheaper.
Overall, it is small and a good camera, but pricey.I am crazy about Sony gadgets, saw this cute little HD camcoder, though it is priced little high I bought it.
Ease of use There are no too many buttons to operate. It is simple and handy.
Battery Life Though the specs say the battery can last for 2 hours of video, you loose battery when you replay videos or review pictures. Overall I felt it is better to carry a 2nd spare battery when you are going out
Video in good light Simply superb
Video in low light gets grainy, you might start thinking if it is really a HD cam or not.
Audio crystal clear. Though 5.1 dolby has been removed, 2.1 sounds great
GPS I had been to India for vacation and there were no maps for major cities
Overall:
I rate this as a great handy HD camcoder + still camera in good light but not so good in bad light. I hope Sony rectifies these things in their future releases.PROS
I bought mine for $1500 so the price now is a huge plus!!
pocket size
good enough battery
STABLE picture
BEAUTIFUL 1080p in good light
GPS
Audio is surprisingly good. Compared to the flip cameras, that is.
works GREAT in Sony Vegas Pro
well made strong metal (titanium apparently)
media files created play well on my three media players popcorn, wdtv and asus
CONS
poor low light (but it's tiny so why complain!)
gps takes a while to get running (again, no biggie)
no external mic (not a biggie unless you are recording interviews, lectures)
I use it for family recordings and sometimes hour-long lectures. I have two Kodak Zi8 and Zi10 (Playtouch). The image stabilization is worth the extra bulkiness. Shakey flip-style recordings are NOT good memory keepers.
if you are editing, thank GOODNESS Vegas 11 handles it out of the box. No point complaining about "oh no it doesn't play on my PC" it's AVCHD, so the responsibility is on you to have a decent machine.
The price now is amazing. Just wish it had external mic capability!
******* UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2012
Ok so now it's been nearly a year. The machine is a little battered (i did drop it on a rock on the beach) but still great BUT -the display screen no longer stands perpendicular meaning when I am filming I need to prop it up with one finger (i think a spring is broken inside) NO BIGGIE! Picture and performance still great. I compare to other small cameras which are more modern and this is still a great machine. I would say it is aging gracefully :-) as it is not completely plastic I think it has a lot of life left in it. Unusually, this camera gets a LOT of regular, weeekly use (most get used during vacations only) so I really cannot complain.
TO MY KNOWLEDGE THERE IS NO TRUE POCKET CAMERA WHICH GIVES THIS QUALITY !!!
If know of one please let me know!
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