One of the best camcorder models coming from the Sony 2015 series is the Sony Handycam HDR-CX405. It’s one of the most compact camcorders that you can easily carry with you while going on your trips. Despite its lightweight and compact construction, it certainly can deliver a whole range of different user-friendly camcorder features. You can get this nicely combined camcorder just within a very affordable budget tag. At this point, it’s very usual of you wondering whether it’s just a trap to the allure with any other flamboyant but faulty product. To get rid of this confusion, you would need a complete review answering all of your product-related queries and describing all the camcorder features, right? So, here it is.
The Body
The 6.7-ounce body of the Sony Handycam HDR-CX405 provides great mobility to its users. You can easily carry it inside your handbag or even the backpack. To add more user convenience, there’s also a hand-strap being attached to this camcorder unit to ensure better holding capacity and comfort.
As the camera body comes with compact construction, its optical lens is also smaller compared to other units. The display is just 2.7 inches in dimension. The display is quite bright to allow the users to see clearly even on the bright sunny day outside. Thus, you can easily operate your camcorder quite efficiently and make necessary changes in the camera settings.
Just beside the display, there is a joystick along with a preview button that makes this camcorder unit easy-to-use for different camcorder functions. On the back of this camera body, there’s a recording button, while the top side features a zoom lever along with other common camera buttons.
Visual performance
Sony Handycam HDR-CX405 is equipped with the smallest yet super-powerful Exmor R CMOS imaging sensor. It’s the main reason to deliver the users real sharp images with minimum noise. The technique behind this amazing performance is the ability to absorb an increased range of light by each image pixel. Not only that, but you can also create a blurry background due to this sensor. It gives your capture a more professional look.
The Carl ZEISS lens of the HDR-CX405 model provides a wider-angle view with a focal length of 29.8mm. This feature will allow you to capture larger areas and not escape anything that’s in front of your camera lens. You can easily fit all your guests gathered in a small room or capture a wide landscape outdoor shot without any trouble. You won’t even miss any details of the visuals while shooting with this unit. It produces Full HD still images with 9.4 megapixels and 60p quality videos with an amazing resolution of 1920 x 1080. Ensure maximum clarity of your shoots by reducing picture grain in a drastic fashion.
The best feat that I personally like the most about this camcorder is its available option of choosing your recorded videos output version either as in AVCHD or the mp4 format. If you want to capture super HD videos, you can capture them easily using the AVCHD format.
Again, if you’re intended to share videos on your social platform, then you can choose mp4 videos.
The incredible zooming range of 27x allows better focusing on distant objects. It also provides an advanced level of magnification up to 54x range. Its clear zoom facility also produces twice magnification by mimicking the patterns of nearby image pixels and further duplicating them.
You can easily solve the problem of camera movement or handshaking by the Steady Shot Image Stabilization technique and thus deliverable-free images with minimum distortions. Apart from that, there’s also the 3-way shake canceling technology to allow more stable image performance. That’s why both a newbie or a professional can use this camera conveniently.
You’ll get seven distinct special video effects coming with this unit. These varieties of image enhancement features and different camera filters will present more professional and creative visual presentations. The dual camera mode option will allow the users to capture both the images and videos at the same time, keeping the supreme quality of both the items.
Network and connectivity
HDR-CX405 also comes with the built-in USB 2.0 cable to confirm the quickest transfer of your files. You can also use the same cable for charging your tool as well to save yourself from additional hassles. There are double slots that can support either a micro-SD card or micro-HDMI port. Thus, you can choose the one which will serve the most of your purposes. You can easily store your favorite shots and videos using this facility.
Other features
If you’re a beginner user of Sony Handycam HDR-CX405, you won’t face a single troubling element, thanks to its Intelligent auto feature. This feat will choose the best camera settings that will suit your purpose depending on the ambiance automatically for you. There are 10 scene settings in this camera. So, it’s no matter if you consider taking portraits, landscapes, or shooting under very low-light. The best settings, along with proper wind noise adjustment, will be coming for you.
Another great feat that you’ll love is the face & smile recognition facility. Whenever you touch a face while capturing your shots, the camera will automatically choose the best settings along with the adjustment of exposure, focus, flash, color gradient, etc. The camera also remembers those faces and detects them whenever they are shot again. This feat is something to offer more lively human images and videos.
Pros
- A compact and user-friendly camera construction.
- Intelligent auto-scene selection for beginners.
- Effective dual-mode recording features.
- Better image stabilization to compensate for any random shaking.
- Face detection, smile recognition, voice enhancement, etc.
Cons
- No additional port to connect your external microphone.
- No touchscreen facility.
Test Video
Bottom Line
If you’ve short of budget and want to purchase a camcorder within this range, then within a shadow of a doubt, Sony Handycam HDR-CX405 should be your top choice. You won’t get many budget-friendly camcorder units with high-end status and featuring all top-level camera features like the HDR-CX405 model. Overall, it’s a lucrative deal for you.
