Thread: Sony Handycam HDR-520VE

A gargantuan, 240GB hard-drive shapes the 520 VE, both in size, stature and price. Sony's flagship camcorder is a bulky handful compared to its rivals but the comfort of 101 hours of high-definition video storage salves the wrist fatigue.

As ever with Sony Handycams, the CX520 VE matches features galore with crisp and clear, 1080i images. The lens deals brilliantly with low light conditions, while the super smooth, 12X optical zoom glides effortlessly to your target, rarely struggling with focus.

With a handy manual focus dial below the lens, an accessory shoe and viewfinder, along with microphone and headphone outs, it also bridges the gap between home movies and forays into pro video.



Another headline feature is the brilliant SteadyShot Active image stabiliser, which keeps your footage still even when you're walking along. by working on three axes: horizontal. vertical and rolling. It's really quite amazing and the best on the market today by far.

We've become accustomed to intuitive and responsive touchscreens on Handycams. It's a shame, though, that the huge one' here doesn't boast the same Ul as the pistol grip TG7, which makes everything an absolute doddle.

The detailed, 12-megapixel stills, "mini movies" editing, which weaves together the best bits of your footage automatically, and GPS for geotagging your footage round out perhaps the most complete camcorder package available today. The only caveat is that these impressive features do not, of course, come cheap ...