Sony HDR-SR5E 40GB High Definition Camcorder

Product Description

Beautiful styling meets amazing HD recording times with the smallest lightest AVCHD hard disk Handycam models from Sony. Offering up to 15 hours of recording this camcorder makes shooting your own High Definition pictures even easier and more rewarding. The ultra-compact elegant and stylishly-designed HDR-SR5E offers 40GB disk capacity for up to 15 hours HD recording time (in LP mode). The shooting capacity is enabled by powerful AVCHD compression technology that allows long recording durations with excellent HD picture quality. As well as offering high compression efficiency variable Bit Rate recording adjusts bit rates while shooting balancing optimal picture quality with maximum storage efficiency for higher picture quality. ---Using the AVCHD format to capture HD 1080 images for incredible detail and vibrant colours. The ClearVid CMOS sensor with Enhanced Imaging Processor offers excellent dynamic range and reduced smear compared with conventional CCD sensors. Exceptional sensitivity with a minimum illumination of only 2 lux (Auto Slow Shutter ???ON???) allows successful shooting in twilight or dimly-lit interiors.------------

Customer Reviews:

Could do better.......2008-01-05

After reading all the above reviews it makes me feel that they must have been written by Sony employees. I've just purchased one of these cameras, mainly because I've had a long allegiance to Sony and have been somewhat disappointed to say the least. The quality of the images are good provided that it is in a bright, well lit environment, but try to record in low light levels (without the slow shutter which is useless for moving objects) and and it really fails to impress. My old Sony digital 8 camcorder was a lot better in this respect. The camera does not give you the ability to switch resolution unlike some other HD camcorders. I would have liked to have had the option to switch to 720P but you can only have 1080i- fine if you've got a 1080i tv set. The other problem with 1080i is the frame rate- much too slow for moving images whereas 720P will provide twice the framerate i.e 60fps. Another major problem I have found with this camera is its autofocus- seriously slow and again if lighting levels are low which leads to another problem- accessing the manual focus. Unlike the SR7 and SR8 you can only access it through the touch screen which is a bit fiddly in the middle of filming and even then difficult to operate accurately. The supplied battery is useless if your planning on taking it for a days filming at a sporting event or similar as it runs out much too quickly. I had it on holiday with me recently and found I had to go back to the hotel each afternoon just so as i could use the camera at night. If I havn't got rid of it before my next holiday I intend buying the npf-100 battery which should overcome that problem. Overall I would say to anyone thinking of buying this camera to have a good shop around first. As a big fan of Sony I have been left very dissappointed by them on this occassion. I had looked at the slightly more expensive Panasonic HD camera and I'm now feeling that maybe I should have switched my allegiance on this occassion.

at the price can't be beaten.......2007-12-07

i bought this camera recently from amazon & was pleasently suprised by the size & weight of the camera. i think the electrical stabilization is probably not quite up to par with the 2 higher spec cameras(sr7/8), but just requires a little bit of getting used to holding the camera steady.The camera touch-screen interface is very intuitive & impressive, although people with larger hands may have problems.As for picture quality, i would say that, given the compression to enable long record times, the picture is quite outsdanding. filming flowers/shrubs in our garden i found that you could see every leaf vein, even on maximum zoom. the sound quality is also good, only let down by wind noise when outside in windy conditions. The other slight glitch is that when filming in quiet conditions the noise of the camera's hard drive can be heard faintly. this can be improved by switching the camera's microphone to it's lower setting. We had problems running the supplied software on our windows xp machine with the software not seeing the dvd rom drives. This was cured by removing one of the 2 rom drives on windows computer drive management. with the addition of night vision on this camera, overall i think this camera cannot be beaten at this price, especially as sony are offering £50 cashback & sony vegas 7 free at the moment.

Great Camcorder BUT one massive issue!!.......2007-11-26

Hi, firstly let me say that i totally agree with the other comments posted, yes this is a wonderful camcorder with the magnificent film quality , sound quality and build quality and the added bonus of a 40gb hard drive to store all your footage on - no need for tapes , dvd e.t.c. BUT... and this is one very big BUT (which i cant believe any of the other people which have reviewed this camcorder have not commented on) when you are recording , when the footage is being wrote to your hard drive (which is every 9 seconds) it makes 2 some times 3 little popping kind of noises (every 9 seconds) and it picks this up on the recording so when you have finished shooting and you playback you can hear this. Its not much of a issue if you are outside or if you are somewere where its noisy because you wont hardly notice this. but if you are like me and sometimes will be recording in more quieter enviroments it is terrbile. which is a massive shame because this is a fantastic camcorder. Massive design fault though in my oppinion putting the mic right next to the hard drive. I have now taken this camcorder back and replaced it with the Sony HDR-CX6EK (memory card) rather than hard drive. This is a much better camcorder. No silly popping noises. So to finish.. all in all yes the Sony HDR-S5E is a great little camcorder with some fantastic features its just a shame its been let down by a massive design fault! If you dont want silly 'popping noises' (caused by the hard drive) every 9 seconds in your filming then i would stay clear of this camcorder. I would advise the other people who have reviewed this camcorder to place there camcorder in a quiet room and put it on record or 1 minute or so then play it back, you will then know what im talking about! thanks.

Sony hdr-sr5e.......2007-11-24

Bought to replace my ailing JVC camcorder ,I wanted a high definition picture for not too much money.This seemed to fit the bill nicely.at just over £500.
Having just returned from a holiday in Rio de Janeiro and the Iguassu falls and viewed the footage taken I am over the moon with the stunning picture,it is better and far sharper than my Tv picture or the pictures from my digital camera.
Snags met so far,the battery runs out too quickly with too little warning,the lack of a viewfinder means filming small moving objects such as soaring birds,toucans in trees etc is more difficult and the zoom is a bit fierce.Also it is too easy to leave the camera filming when you think you have switched it off
I havent managed to save it to computer hard disk yet.hopefully it wont be too much of a problem
Build quality looks to be good so far
For the money its a great buy

Superb in every way.......2007-10-02

This is another superb camera from Sony. As soon as you take it out the box you know it's something special just by the way it feels, looks and sits in the palm of your hand. The build quality is superb, on many cameras you'd just get a normal resolution LCD screen to watch while you record but Sony have even installed a 2.7" HD screen. The docking station makes it easy to backup or transfer files and everything feels sturdy and made to last.

The video quality is just unbelievable, it is the highest quality you could imagine and looks even better than £2,000 TV studio cameras - no joking. Due to the x.v system the colours are lifelike, sharp and very bright. There's no ghosting, blurring or shaking at all thanks to the super steady shot, it's hard to see how this kind of quality could ever be improved upon. I filmed a cat walking on a fence which was a good 50 metres away, I had it on full zoom filming through a glass window and even then it was so clear you could see every whisker on his face. I have used it on a 40" and a 19" TV, it looks stunning on both. Thanks to super nightshot It's equally as good in total darkness for all those of you who do ghost hunts or film nightlife, you can see up to 20 metres away and the quality remains as stunning and clear as if it were day. With up to 28 hours of "film" in standard definition and 5 hours at the top quality I doubt you'll ever run out of room and it's so much easier than carrying round spare tapes with you everywhere you go.

There're lots of super features like the "old film" effect where you can make it look as though you're recording on an old black and white camera from the 1930's. There's steadyshot to get rid of shaking caused by your hand. You can use the camcorder as a normal digital camera too and get 9999 pictures on the hard drive and there's memory stick slot you can use too. The camera even has a flash, you can take them while still recording videos and the photos are as good as on a still camera thanks to the 4 megapixels. You can record in 5.1 surround sound which can really add a new dimension to your films and if all this sounds too much for you then just hit the "easy" button and the camera makes all the decisions for you! There's a cool slow motion feature so you can record live action at about half the speed, great fun!The list of features goes on and on.

Editing is a slight problem although it is getting easier as time goes by. In High definition mode it records in a new format called AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition). AVCHD is not very editing friendly, it won't load into about 90% of editing programs such as windows movie maker so I thoroughly recommend buying Sony Vegas 8 platinum for about £50 at the same time as this camera so you can edit footage. You'll need a powerful PC to edit HD footage (minimum 3.0 GHZ with 512mb ram and a 256mb graphics card) and even with that it takes 30 hours to publish a 1 hour film in 1080i. You could always just film in normal resolution though and you can easily edit that straight into any program.

Overall this is a top-notch camera.There are higher spec models in the range such as the SR7 and SR8 but they just have bigger hard drives and a very slightly better lens so this seems the pick of the bunch for me. I tried several hard drive high definition cameras before i bought this including JVC and Aiptek but this Sony model just blows everything else out the water.

UK Electronics:

UK Electronics List

UK Electronics