Customer Ratings & Reviews

This camera is extremely easy to use and has a great picture and image stabilization features. It also seems to have lots of "professional" features that I will probably never use but for someone who knows more about photography, they could be useful.

I love this camera because of the ultra wide angle lense coupled with an awesome zoom. I bought this camera for 2 main purposes: film high school sports, and film real estate interiors. Works great for both applications.

I purchased this video camera for my wife to replace our older Sony HDR-SR11 which we enjoyed for years. We like having a separate camcorder vs using phone or ipads, The quality is better. I was not able to look at the AX53 as our local store did not have one on display. I ordered on line and took a chance. Upon unboxing I was disappointed. The build quality and feel were not close to the old AX53. The view finder protrudes from the body. When you add the battery that comes with it sticks way out and is not protected. I wonder how long it will be before it breaks. I was disappointed to find no hard drive only memory cards. It is not a big deal but the AX53 has both. I was not able to discuss the camera with an associate b/c they did not have one and they looked at me like I had 2 heads for wanting to purchase one. Having said this, the picture quality and ease of use is OUTSTANDING! it is FAR superior to our old AX53. My wife loves it. which is reason enough to buy it.

This is a great camcorder! Easy to use and the picture quality is excellent. Took this to Alaska and I’m so happy I did. I got really good videos.

The auto focus is excellent. The camera is so simple to use its not funny. The picture quality is great. The menu is very easy to navigate and set up is a breeze. If your looking for a filming quality camera at an affordable price look no further!

I've started a new hobby-radio controlled airplanes. There are so many beautiful planes at the field and so much flying talent there that I knew I had to capture it. I knew I had an old video recorder somewhere. I found my old Sony Handicam in a storage box. The battery even held a charge. But, I realized that technology has taken a HUGE leap forward since I last used it. I started looking at Sony, Panasonic and Canon cams. All had good features. I did searches on You Tube and found that of the three brands, Sony was used in posts the most. This camera had what I wanted. It's light and ergonomic! The video of RC planes in flight is fantastic! Good color and responds to changes in brightness quickly. See: You Tube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdh_54dn6qY&t=9s

This is my second boss optical stabilization sony. The first was a pj hdr. Internal memory 32 gb . max card 32 gb. Intermediate I still love it. HD 60 frs per second makes great lighting pics. It lacks a lot that it's newer brother brings. It was the best stabilized handy cam back 2012 , It was nice to project the video clips I had just taken on the wall. But in arizona it is only good for that because I didn't spend extra for the viewer. WARNING BY THE VIEWER. You still get the led screen on the side of ax53 but even with the shade I bought for my first sony I can't see the led screen in bright sunlight. The viewer eye diopter helps a lot and to use the focus on the side so I don't need reading glasses is perk . And I can see what I'm videoing or photographing. The ax 53 brings new manual features and excels with auto active stability only in hdr and active stability in 4k , standard stability 4k- best for moving slow, and off best for tripod photography or time lapse videos. This handycam excels in photography with it's manual settings and will video like an almost pro just on active 4k auto. You will need a sd card that writes at 150 mp/ps . That means on the front of the card it should say 300 mb/ps . That is the read speed and cards love to put the biggest number up front to sell them . You will need more than sonys recommended 100 mb/ps write due to temperature and other shooting conditions . Believe me you don't want your video to skip frames or just stop recording. Worse compression on a 4k camera you just bought. It is worth 30$ extra for professional card after buying a semi professional camcorder. The guality of your photos and videos will really show the differences. I bought a 100mb/ps read and found the difference, Set at 60 mb/ps on ax53 it stoped in middle off tapping and cannot blow up pictures as big without guality issues. With 300 mb/ps read set cam at 100 mb/ps write and WOW! I do not sell sd cards nore do I recommend . but most types recommend by sony for this model should work . I just prefer more professional. On average a 300 read will write 1/2 to 2/3 the speed on front of card. This is the most stable camcorder I Have used and the digital zoom works better with faster card. macro is great . Face video has smile picture take which i love I'm videoing and click an extra smile pic automatically. 4 k dual puts out an extra mp4 4k for fast upload ext+ext+ great lens. loving it.

Takes a while to focus and is a heavy camera. The price is way to high for this camera!!

While we are somewhat new to the Camcorder world, we are very impressed with the quality of this camera, and with the relative ease of use. It seems to hold a charge well, the image stabilizing works well and the lens is sharp and delivers clear video imagery. There seems to be plenty of scope for filming in a wide variety of different situations. We haven't tried to film any fast-motion video (cars moving by for example), so I can't speak to that capability, but overall it does very well.

Love this camera. This is our FOURTH. We have a small church and use these for our live streams, and for recording. Easy to use and very intuitive for the novice. We even had one knocked over from a six foot tall tripod, busted the viewfinder, put a dime-sized dent and crack in the housing...and the camera still streams and records, indistinguishable from the other three. We plan to eventually buy two more to fill out our arsenal.

Decided on this camcorder after researching the Canon and JVC competition. Love the quality of the video and it's easy to use. Very happy with it. Definitely worth the price.

I have used it for my son's rugby matches and it handles the wide angles need to capture all of the action and it zooms in and out nicely. Very stable picture quality.

Excellent, easy to use camcorder. It does not have all the "extra" features you will find in a professional grade camcorder costing much more, but it does have incredible image stabilization, great image and video quality, and it is very easy to use.

Bought this to replace a Canon. I did a lot of research and finally made a decision and went with this one. The images/video is so incredible. The only con I have is it’s not very good in low light settings. I’d highly recommend YouTubing the camera and looking at the accessories you can attach, which on the accessories there’s a ton you can choose from to add onto the cameras. Excellent streaming camera to social media or other platforms. It was also easy to hook up to your smartphone just read and follow the instruction booklet. Make sure you register your camera through Sony online as well to start your One Year Limited Warranty.

Its a user item, buy with a lost accesories, a good price.

Easy to use, lightweight and delivers better imaging. Amazing optical stablizer means handheld use can still deliver smooth video. Have used it in low light for recording events with good results.

After owning this camera for almost a week, I have had the opportunity to take it out for some test excursions. The results are good so far, and the price of the camcorder is justified. The video is very clear, smooth, and bright in well-lit scenes. Low-lit scenes have some video noise, but you'll need one of Sony's 1"-sensor camcorders to reduce that noise (at a much higher cost). I edit the video files with either "DaVinci Resolve" or "iMovie", and the XAVC files produced by the camera allow for a good amount of range in the adjustments. I like my landscape scenes to be a bit more saturated than stock, so colors can be bumped up a little and still look good with a lots of dynamic range. The built-in microphone works ok, and the electronic wind noise reducer is effective. The BOSS system works well at removing much of the camera shake, but is not a full substitute for a good tripod, especially at long telephoto lengths. It especially excels at keeping shake down when on the move while shooting. Unfortunately, the "Intelligent Active" Steady-cam mode is disabled for 4k. Leaving the BOSS system on while on a tripod seems to have no ill-effect. Sony's version of point & shoot: "Intelligent Auto"... I leave on about 80% of the time and works very well. It makes quickly flipping on the camera and hitting the record button a confident move, knowing that the end result is going to likely look great. The AX53 is a true "run & gun" camcorder. Otherwise, I use the adjustment ring to set the parameters I need, especially exposure for landscape shots. The ring has a nice slightly dampened, tactile feel to it. No wonder so many use this camera for online vlogging. With the BOSS system almost responding like a mechanical gimbal, an improved video sensor that was developed for this camera and lens, and 20x telephoto through Zeiss glass... well, you can figure out the end result. I do wish Sony would include a lens hood. There is lens flare at times. For that reason, I gave the AX53 4-stars instead of 5... Otherwise, this is a great camcorder for its price point. Playing back the 4k video produced by this camera on my 75" 4K screen is glorious!!!

Not easy to get films crossed over to the computer but the picture quality is amazing.

First off I want to say that Best Buy's customer service was very helpful with this purchase. I made the mistake of purchasing my camera as an open box item in an effort to save a few hundred dollars and, in addition to the box having looked as though it had been through a war, the camera was physically dirty and did not function properly. Recording in 4K mode was not possible and caused the camera to crash immediately. Upset, I contacted my local Best Buy store and they immediately set up a return at the store with no questions asked and I was able repurchase it as brand new. No fuss, no hassle. Now, on to the camcorder itself. The new one functions absolutely perfect and is excellent. The 4K video is beautiful looking and the image stabilization is far and away the best I have ever experienced. The 20X zoom is great and thanks to the image stabilization I can hold the image steady easily when zoomed fully in. The camera boots up very fast which is great for capturing those quick family moments. Although it does have some manual control settings, it is mostly focused on the casual user who just wants to pick it up and easily record beautiful footage quickly and automatically. The "Intelligent Auto" mode achieves this with fantastic results. I love having a camcorder that I can just pickup and start recording without fiddling with settings and still achieve professional looking results. When you do want to play with the settings, the 3 inch capacitive touchscreen works great and is every bit as responsive as a quality smart phone screen. I also like that it has an actual viewfinder instead of only relying in the flip out screen. While the screen is great, I find that I can see better using the viewfinder when I'm out in bright sunlight. For what I use it for, which is family memories and vacations, this camcorder is ideal. Just don't buy it as an open box item, as I found out the hard way.

This camera produces excellent quality video. I videoed a campfire at night and the video had very good quality. It doesn't look like a daylight video but it is well light and clear. I did not use any exterior lighting, just the light of the campfire. I downloaded video into a Mac computer. The only drawback was that it needs a fairly new operating system to download. If you just plug the camera in, it doesn't recognize it. You have to go about the download differently. The still photos are very good quality also. Overall, I am very pleased with the camera's ease of operation and quality of video. I especially like the eyepiece viewfinder as I have trouble seeing the screen in bright sunlight. This makes it an excellent camera to video daytime outdoor sports.