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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Features

  • Performance

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Sharpness & Motion Performance

  • Image Stabilization Performance

  • Noise Performance

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Features
  • Performance
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Sharpness & Motion Performance
  • Image Stabilization Performance
  • Noise Performance

Introduction

For an extra $1750 you can spring for the professional Sony HVR-Z5U, which is very similar to the HDR-FX1000, but comes equipped with better audio controls, more connectivity options, and a set of natively-progressive CMOS sensors.

Design & Usability

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Even basic manual controls have a complex adjustment system, which makes the FX1000 difficult to handle.

Too many buttons are required in order to access some of the simplest and most important manual controls on the camcorder.

For a prosumer camcorder, the HDR-FX1000 could be easier to use. Even though it has far less features than higher-end professional camcorders, it still feels cluttered and confusing. Take, for example, the FX1000's manual control system. To manipulate a setting such as shutter speed, the user must first put the camcorder into Manual mode. Next, you need to locate the shutter speed button, which puts shutter speed control into manual mode. Then you use the inept scroll wheel to adjust the shutter settings. Too many buttons are required in order to access some of the simplest and most important manual controls on the camcorder. Canon's system on the XL H1A of using a mode dial with aperture-priority, shutter-priority, auto, and full manual modes makes far more sense.

All menus and numerous controls on the HDR-FX1000 are navigated using the embedded scroll wheel on the left side of the camcorder. The scroll wheel is problematic for a number of reasons: its finely ribbed surface offers terrible grip, its location is poor, and the wheel is clearly not suited for on-the-fly maneuverability. Users with large fingers will find the scroll wheel unbearable, which is a huge hindrance considering how many features, menus, and settings are controlled using the wheel.

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Features

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Way more features than a high-end consumer camcorder, but not quite as many as a full-fledged professional model.

The FX1000 is a professional-grade camcorder with a ton of features, many of which will be difficult for an average user to comprehend. If you don't need control over things like gamma curve, black levels, and color, then you may want to look at a high-end consumer camcorder instead. But if you're an enthusiast who lives to play around with controls, the FX1000 is going to provide you with lots of entertainment. That being said, the FX1000 doesn't offer the same level of control as Canon's HDV pro camcorders offer, and its system for adjusting controls is often frustrating.

The camcorder often overcompensated and didn't adjust settings to the most ideal level.

Overall, the auto features on the HDR-FX1000 are decent, although the combination of auto/manual controls can get a bit confusing. Sony's lack of a dedicated mode dial makes it difficult to tell what features are set to auto and what is set to manual (without looking at the LCD, thereby taking up screen space). We also found, the camcorder often overcompensated and didn't adjust settings to the most ideal level. For example, in our low light testing color accuracy went down when we switched from using +6dB gain to +12dB gain. This means the camcorder closed the aperture too much to compensate for the brighter light level, thus producing less accurate colors.

Performance

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The FX1000 outperformed more expensive models in sharpness, and kept even with the competition in other areas.

The camcorder outperformed the pricier Canon XL H1A in sharpness.

Frankly, the FX1000's results in our performance tests surprised us. We didn't expect, for example, the camcorder to outperform the pricier Canon XL H1A in sharpness, and the fact that the FX1000 could roll with the Canon in other performance categories is saying a lot. The Sony handled low light video fairly well, producing slightly less noise than the Canon, but requiring a tad more light to record a usable image. Motion results were also quite good, thanks mostly to the camcorder's ability to capture crisp detail even when subjects are moving.

In image stabilization, the Sony FX1000 also put up great numbers. With optical image stabilization engaged, the Sony FX1000 was able to reduce shake roughly on par with the much larger Canon XL H1A, and its results were twice as good as the handheld Canon XH A1S. Battery life wasn't quite as good for the camcorder, but that's mainly due to the fact that Sony ships a tiny battery pack with the FX1000. You can get much larger batteries at an extra cost, and they should last you many hours between changes.

Conclusion

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If you want professional-grade image quality at a reasonable cost, the FX1000 is an excellent pick.

The Sony HDR-FX1000 ($3199 MSRP) doesn't offer quite what you'd expect from a professional camcorder—most obviously noted by its lack of audio controls, connectivity, and a detachable lens. However, our tests show that it can hang with the pros when it comes to overall performance. The camcorder captured some of the sharpest video we've ever seen, and moving subjects in our test came out smooth and full of detail. Seeing this excellent image quality coming out of a relatively cheap camcorder (compared to other pro models) is rather surprising. The fact that the camcorder records HDV footage to MiniDV tape is another plus—tape is cheap, and HDV is easy to edit.

The HDR-FX1000 is not for people who want to fine tune their image with precise controls. Yes, it has lots of manual settings, but their implementation is awkward and frustrating. It isn't easy to make adjustments while your shooting and the level of customization offered on the camcorder is disappointing. If you're looking for fancy dials, clean button layout, and smarter design check out a larger camcorder like the Canon XL H1A.

Overall, the HDR-FX1000 is a camcorder packed with excellent performance and a decent array of features. It isn't the easiest device to use, it doesn't handle with elegance, and it can't do everything that more-expensive camcorders are capable of, but that doesn't mean it's a bad product. If the clumsy manual control setup doesn't frighten you away, the HDR-FX1000 could be a good option if you're looking for professional-quality video at a somewhat affordable price.

Science Introduction

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In the category that counts most—video sharpness—the HDR-FX1000 put on one of the best shows we've seen from a professional camcorder. The camcorder outperformed the more-expensive competition from Canon, and it produced much sharper images than the best consumer HD models we've reviewed as well.

Other tests brought the Sony back down to earth, but the camcorder still managed to go toe-to-toe with other pro models in low light, image stabilization, and motion. With performance, the FX1000 is simply a great pro camcorder with few weaknesses, and it doesn't cost nearly as much as some professional models.

Sharpness & Motion Performance

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The FX1000 shot some of the sharpest video we've seen so far.

The HDR-FX1000 produced a spectacularly-crisp video in bright light, with the camcorder's horizontal sharpness measuring 900 LW/PH and its vertical sharpness topping out at 800 LW/PH. This is one of the few performance areas where the Sony HDR-FX1000 soundly defeated the Canon XL H1A, and the difference may come down to Canon's use of CCD sensors, while the Sony is outfitted with CMOS chips.

Our motion test was the first big surprise produced by the Sony HDR-FX1000. Motion captured by the camcorder looked very good and the rotating images in our test setup were smooth and sharp. Very little trailing was noticeable throughout, although there was some blur between colors. In comparison with the Canon XL H1A, the FX1000 was a clear winner when it came to motion. Both camcorders looked great, but the Canon had more motion blur when we watched the footage from our tests. Don't give this score too much weight, however, because motion is very difficult to judge and one could definitely prefer the 'look' produced by the Canon over the Sony.

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Image Stabilization Performance

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Multiple levels of image stabilization didn't produce very different results, but they all worked quite well at reducing image shake.

The Sony HDR-FX1000 offers several levels of image stabilization, and we found that these generally offered good results, producing significantly sharper, steadier video. Our first test subjected the Sony HDR-FX1000 to a low level of shake, about the same as you would expect from holding the camcorder in one hand while trying to use a control with the other. Sony claims that the SuperShot Hard mode should be the most aggressive at compensating for stabilization, but we found the opposite; the SteadyShot Standard mode did the best job of compensating here, with the Soft mode producing nearly the same results.

Our high shake test applies a larger shake to the camcorder, simulating the sort of shake that you would get if you were holding the camcorder in one hand without bracing it, or if you were walking. In this case, the Soft mode was the clear winner, with Hard mode actually reducing the shake the least. Using the SteadyShot feature in normal shooting, we found that the SteadyShot generally performed well; it did a very decent job of stabilizing the video without introducing any glitches. It also coped well with pans and other deliberate movement; we did not see much evidence of the stabilization system confusing this for handshake.

The bottom line here is that the SteadyShot feature does an excellent job overall; in all of the modes, the video was noticeably sharper and more usable. The SteadyShot Soft or Standard modes would be our pick for most users; they provide the best balance of shake reduction without adding glitches while panning. However, none of the SteadyShot modes could work miracles; there was still some shake in the video. So, the SteadyShot feature won't replace a decent tripod (or just leaning against a wall or other steadying object) while shooting, but it did do a decent job of helping to stabilize video when you have to shoot hand held.

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Noise Performance

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Noise levels didn't stand out from the competition.

The Sony HDR-FX1000 had relatively low noise levels at most settings, although the numbers between 0dB gain and 6dB gain weren't all that promising. The camcorder has no manual noise reduction modes, although it has two negative gain settings, which can be engaged to bring down noise levels when you have enough light. The lowest noise percentage we measured with the HDR-FX1000 was 0.515%, which was obtained when using the -6dB gain setting. This is a rather low noise level, although it is slightly higher than what we recorded with the Canon XL H1A (0.3875% noise).

With low light noise, we also test across multiple gain settings, and the camcorder consistently produced noise values well below 2%. Even when using 12dB gain, which is quite a bit, the camcorder recorded a noised percentage of 1.8525%. These are comparable numbers to the Canon XL H1A, but the Canon does offer manual noise reduction features which makes it a far more versatile device when it comes to limiting the noisiness of an image. Even so, the Sony performed very well in this test.

Using 0dB gain setting and shooting at 60 lux, the HDR-FX1000 produced 1.5125% noise. Without any gain boost the image appeared very dark, which is normal when shooting under 60 lux of light. Bumping things up to 6dB gain the camcorder actually recorded less noise, with Imatest measuring only 1.3425% noise. This is likely due to some automatic noise reduction on the camcorder kicking in at this level. Here, the Sony did much better than the Canon XL H1A, which produced 2.18% noise using a 6dB gain setting. Things didn't get too much brighter at 12dB gain, but the noise levels went way up. This tells us that the Sony HDR-FX1000 has a sweet spot when it comes to noise and low light shooting—keeping things around 6dB gain gets you your best overall results.

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Meet the tester

Jeremy Stamas

Jeremy Stamas

Managing Editor, Video

@nematode9

Jeremy is the video expert of our imaging team and Reviewed.com's head of video production. Originally from Pennsylvania and upstate NY, he graduated from Bard college with a degree in film and electronic media. He has been living and working in New England since 2005.

See all of Jeremy Stamas's reviews

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