The Sony Handycam HDR-XR520 is a feature-packed premium video camcorder that records in glorious high definition.

THE Handycam HDR-XR520 is Sony’s latest video ­camcorder to sport the shiny Full HD (High Definition) label. Aimed at users who want to capture their special moments in glorious HD, the XR520 is indeed a serious camcorder that means business.

Decked in black, the XR520 is a sleek looking camcorder that certainly will turn heads. Given that the XR520 is Sony’s top of the line camcorder, it is a solidly constructed camcorder that looks both solid and durable.

While it is rather big and hefty in comparison with other camcorders, we could still fit it into a camera bag with room to spare.

At the front is the camcorder’s long-reaching 12x optical zoom lens which has the focal range of 43mm-516mm (35mm equivalent) in 16:9 aspect ratio and 52mm-624mm when recording in a 4:3 aspect ratio.

The lens offers a diverse range that gives users great flexibility for a variety of situations from filming both close to far away subjects.

While it doesn’t have a very wide angle for capturing better indoor shots, the excellent zoom range more than makes up for this. We can’t argue that the camcorder’s autofocus speed is lightning fast, snapping things into focus almost instantly even in low light ­situations.

That said, the XR520’s optical image stabiliser really helped in keeping our footage steady when we had to zoom in on far away subjects.

The XR520 is also Sony’s first camcorder to use the new Exmor-R CMOS sensor that is said to improve the camcorder’s low light performance.

It has a generously large 3.2in LCD touchscreen that serves as your main viewfinder. The screen shows off excellent detailed images that makes it easier to inspect images as you are recording and the ability to twist the screen at different angles makes both high and low angle shots easy to pull off.

Most of the camcorder’s settings are controlled using the LCD ­touchscreen, leaving relatively few physical buttons on the outside to control its functions.

While this does simplify the controls on the camcorder, it takes several additional button presses and a lot of patience to navigate through the rows of menus. It certainly isn’t the best user interface we could have hoped for but it gets the job done once you are familiar with it.

We found the small electronic viewfinder more of a novelty than a practical feature as it was far too small for any real use. In addition, you have no way to interact with the camcorder or change settings while in this mode.

Features

Being a full HD-capable camcorder, the XR520 can record videos at an astounding 1,920 x 1,080-pixel resolution. However given that HD quality videos typically take up a lot of storage, you would probably be a little concerned about how much available memory you’re carrying.

Thankfully, you also have the option of recording in standard definition in MPEG2 video format.

In any case, the XR520 has a large 240GB built-in hard disk that provides more than enough storage space to hold all your videos.

Still, despite the large hard disk you’re still subjected to the limits of the camcorder’s battery life — it can last roughly up to an hour of recording.

Additionally, the camcorder supports Memory Stick Pro Duo memory cards for extra storage in the unlikely event you should run out of space on the internal hard disk.

Without a doubt, the difference in terms of both quality and clarity of videos is immediately evident. There’s definitely a wealth of detail to be found in the HD videos and the video quality was unbelievably sharp and silky smooth even when subjects were in motion.

Even the sound quality of ­recordings was notably very good with stereo surround sound ­available during playback.

The lack of any manual recording modes such as Shutter or Aperture priority may disappoint users who want to be more creative with their video recordings. However if you don’t mind letting the camera do most of the work, you’ll find the automatic modes quite effective at delivering quality videos.

One small consolation though is a small dial tucked underneath the lens that can be used for manual focusing. Here users can easily alternate between manual and auto modes with a press of a button.

Just note that turning to adjust the focus using the dial makes the camera unsteady.

Very often we needed to brace ourselves against something to steady the camera while manually focusing. That said, the ideal situation would be use a tripod for smoother manual ­focusing.

Performance

Leaving the camcorder on ­automatic mode yielded ­surprisingly good results when recording out in broad daylight. Videos looked remarkably true to life with accurate colour ­reproduction and motion was silky smooth. We can forsee this being a good camcorder to have if you’re recording an event like an outdoor birthday party or a child’s sports day at school.

We were also impressed by the high quality audio recording from videos with added stereo surround sound — the sound was remarkably clear during playback.

There’s also a Smooth Slow Record mode that basically takes a short 11 second slow motion video, which is great for capturing fast motion like a balloon bursting. The drawback, however, is you are limited to capturing only 11 seconds, nothing more or less.

We were also impressed with the camera’s low-light mode which made indoor scenes reasonably brighter and more visible. Despite the evidence of noise, the videos remained relatively sharp with decent contrast.

In addition to taking great ­looking videos, the XR520 has a 12-­megapixel still picture mode. It takes pretty decent photos that’s on par with a high-end compact camera and the built-in flash works just right for lighting up close subjects.

Unfortunately the camcorder’s camera didn’t perform so well when it came to capturing shots in low light conditions. Images exhibited lots of noise in dark areas and high amounts of noise ­reduction that blurred out much of the details.

Software support

The included PMB software does most of the transferring and management of your digital videos on your computer. It is a fairly basic and standard program that does a decent job at managing your files, allowing you to arrange them by date, scene and even people via its neat facial recognition feature.

Facial recognition allows you to easily identify people in videos and sort videos out by scenery, people and even by their smiles. However, the feature doesn’t always work particularly well if the video is moving too fast or people aren’t facing the camera directly.

Additionally, PMB offers the option of exporting your videos to other mediums such as burning them onto discs or sharing them online via e-mail or uploading them to an online service of your ­choosing, be it YouTube or Flickr.

One major downside to the ­software is that it is for the PC only, leaving Mac users out in the cold. It would’ve been great if Sony included a Mac version of the software.

Also there isn’t much else you can do with the software. The only form of creative freedom you have with it is trimming videos.

There are no video-editing functions that allow you splice together a quick and simple video even.

Conclusion

The Sony XR520 offers a lot of ­different features that will prove invaluable to the budding ­videographer. Its expansive 240GB hard disk is great for holding a vast amount of video data so you won’t ever need to pop in a disc or ­memory card in between recordings.

The long 12x optical zoom is another useful feature that gives you lots of flexibility with your shots. The optical stabilisation does help too and the video quality is crisp as the movements are smooth.

It isn’t half bad when it comes to taking pictures either — just avoid doing so in low light conditions.

A few things do undermine the XR520 — such as the LCD ­touchscreen’s user interface which forces you to click through rows of menus to reach the desired settings. Also, the manual focus dial isn’t easy to use when you’re doing handheld recording.

At RM5,299, the XR520 may also be a little out of reach for first time video users who may want to consider a cheaper alternative.

Still, if you have the budget for a high-end camcorder that’s great for general purpose video recording, the Sony Handycam HDR-XR520 is certainly worth a look.

Pros: Good video quality; large storage size; 12x optical zoom.

Cons: PMB software is for the PC only; poor still photos in low light conditions; no creative recording modes.

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