Sony HDR-XR500E camera How do you cook a great camcorder? Simple, take the Exmor-R tech, slap on the G lens, toss in SteadyShot image stabilisation and top it up with the best consumer-friendly features and wallah - you get the HDR-XR500E - a stonker of a camcorder, capable of full HD recording.
Despite its weight, it feels sturdy and comfortable to hold. The zoom rocker and the record button are well-placed to allow for full cruise control. The oddly-placed mode-changing button is the sour bit as it makes role-shifting a tad tricky - so no going from Santosh Sivan to Vikram Bawa in a switch. The touchscreen-driven menu interface is easy to use, but the structure is a complicated maze that can drive you up the wall, time and again.
It packs in a 120GB hard drive- that's a good 15 hours of footage, a 5-channel mic, a flash unit, and 3.5mm jacks for headphone and an external mic too. The 3.2-inch touchscreen is a delight to flaunt your loot it's sharp and large as large can be.
Garnished with yummy tech like the back-illuminate Exmor-R sensor and the renowned G lens, video quality is surely its best flavour, even in low light. The autofocus and autoexpose systems are nerve-wrackingly fast. SteadyShot stabilisation works like a charm, no matter how much the camera bobs around, it delivers smooth results. The built-in mic does a great job at capturing each sound made, but the missing wind filter may be a bother in the jungles of Gir. Stills are average at best, with artifacts clearly visible.
Now that's what we'd like to call a perfect recipe for a night wanderer's success.
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