Customer Ratings & Reviews

I've had this little camera now for just over two years and it holds a very special place in my heart <3 I used this for my wedding and let me tell you EVERYONE had a ball passing this camcorder around and recording the night. First off, if you're only looking for great camera quality-Sony Handycam isn't your guy. You'd just be better off using your phone. Sometimes the picture randomly gets blurry and at night it doesn't do the best in low light conditions... But he's trying his best, okay? However, if you want a small, lightweight, that has great battery life, easy to use video camera/camcorder without all the bells and whistles (and you want to go back to a simpler time, when we had VHS tapes and Blockbuster---sigh---) then this little guy is great! Seriously though the video quality feels like I'm watching my old home videos on the VHS- which I love! All in all, this camera is well worth the buy---if you can still find it! So if you get the chance, just buy it and HAVE FUN!

I like that it is small, handy, light weight, has a long lasting battery, and the price is right. I am now constantly making home movies with my family. I love it!

Light weight, easy to use ... purchased set up as extra video at son's wedding. Great pictures and videos. However, Mfgr's web based service is already no longer supported.

This is a decent camcorder for the price when on sale. The zoom works well and is variable speed and quiet. The video quality is very good in good light, but not so good in low light or indoors. The photos taken with the camera setting are not very good. If you have a Sony camera that takes the X type battery, you can use it in this camcorder!

Bought this as a birthday gift for my son who loves creating videos and wants to be a movie director. He absolutely loves it! The only problem, which has nothing to do with the product itself, is when I made the purchase it recommended a scan disk memory card to go with. I bought it but later found (after he opened his present) it wasn’t the right size. Thought that was weird considering it was recommended to go with the product. A little annoying to have to exchange it, especially during these times, but it is what it is. Not complaining, just saying that to say, if you just started becoming an online shopper some things don’t look how they appear so really pay attention. It ‘recommended’ only 1 scan disk and said it went with this product but turns out the product uses a MINI scan disk. I did read the fine print I guess I just missed that part or assumed the recommended product was for it. Who knows but the product itself we love!

Low light performance might be a little disappointing. Nonetheless, under the right lighting conditions, it is a good performer (in the video department). The lack of a microphone/line input severely affect the quality of the audio that one will get. I use Sony Movie Studio to dub the audio that I record separately using a DAR so for what I use the camera; it is not a factor.

Such a great, user friendly camera! Very small, lightweight, and great quality. Overall I'm super impressed.

We bought this handycam for our daughter's gymnastics meets. Our intent wasn't to get a high-end camera, but one that would capture the meets. It picks up sound very well, and is lightweight, and easy to use. I really like how simple it is to hook up to the television for viewing at home. I was hoping the picture quality would be a little better zooming in from long distances, it's a little fuzzy. However, that's a small complaint. Otherwise, from shorter distances, it produces a very clear picture.

This is a really good camera and the price was very low. It was very affordable. Very light and compact, very easy to carry around.

This Sony HDR-CX405 Handycam camera is a great product. The price is unbelievable for what you get. This is Sony, it's basically all I buy. This is a very basic camera without any bells and whistles. The picture quality is very good during daylight and normal bright conditions. At night and during dark scenes however, it lacks in its ability to deliver a quality image without a lot of image noise. It does have a low-light mode that does help a little. The camera is very lightweight. Some people think that it is cheaply built. But there are advantages to going towards an ultra-light camera. It is certainly easier to hold up in the air with your arms for longer periods of time than traditional cameras that have some weight to them. However, parts on the camera probably tend to break much more easily. For me, there is a little plastic flap that covers where the memory card goes and I have managed to leave that open, while the screen slammed shut and bent the hinges on the little flap. It still works and didn't break, but it is bent now but it still closes properly and completely. The other side of the camera has a smaller plastic flap that covers a single input. That little plastic cover flap gets snagged on my hand often, when I put my hand up through the hand-strap to hold the camera properly. It won't last too long and will no doubt break at some point, especially when I'm grabbing my camera as I'm going to film another viral video. They should have made the plastic cover to have the hinge on the opposite side or something. Poor design on the plastic flap covers. The view-screen is not touch-screen, but instead you will use a tiny joystick to move the cursor around on the screen and you press the center of the joystick to make selections. It has a built-in speaker with volume control that allows you to watch back your recorded video while being able to listen to it too. The screen flips out from the camera. The screen can then be rotated so that the person that the camera is recording can see themselves on the screen at the same time. Perfect for recording video selfies or taking selfie photos too. The menus could be constructed better and might take a little getting accustomed to before you feel comfortable knowing where all of the options are located. Personally, I always use Sony products so there is hardly a learning curve for me. I recommend changing the recording to the highest quality possible, which is at 60 full frames per second. Go in to the menu. Go: "Image Quality / Size". Select "Frame Rate". Select "60p" then click "Next". Now click "OK" to save setting. Now you are set to the highest quality of video recording. Note that when it is set to this highest quality, that you cannot press the "Photo" button that is on top of the camera (it sits right up against the zoom lever), while you are video recording. If you do have the video quality set to a lower setting, it is possible to press the photo button which takes a photo while simultaneously recording video. But personally, I want nothing less than the most premium video quality possible, and will sacrifice all else to do so. There is a short USB cord that you cannot remove from the camera. This is a Sony standard and it is just amazing. You can use that USB cord to plug in to any USB charger and it will charge the camera. You can also use the embedded USB cord to plug in to your computer (or easily to any other computer wherever you are) to charge the camera and to transfer images and videos to the computer for long-term storage, editing, and sharing to all of your friends and family on your favorite social media sites. This camera has a micro-SD memory card slot. I have issues with it not inserting properly sometimes and the camera tells me to "Reinsert the memory card". I comply, and it usually works after trying once or twice. I found that a good trick seems to be to turn the camera over so that it is upside-down and then insert the memory card in to the slot firmly. It is so lightweight, that you can use a rope that has a clip where you can wear the rope around your neck, allowing the camera to hang as if a pendant on a necklace. I have had this before with my previous Sony camera that was much heavier and it worked well. This camera uses the very exact same battery as does my tiny Sony Actioncam (Sony's version of a GoPro) and consequently, I now have an extra battery for either camera. The batteries are very slim and lightweight. Great for packing many with you and you won't even notice. It has a great playback feature that will automatically mix clips from your videos from the day and it will create a final edited video for you to watch on the screen, and even allows you to save it for later so you can transfer and watch it on your computer. The zoom is very good. It says it is 60x optical zoom. Do not turn on digital zoom (on any camera, ever) as that distorts the image and is just horrible. Friends don't let friends use digital zoom. The higher the optical zoom number, the better. Don't be fooled by a high digital zoom number cause the higher the digital zoom number, the absolute worse the image will be (totally grainy and blocky and just ugly). I have a 32 GB memory card on board this camera and that gives me 2 hours 38 minutes of video recording at the highest quality. It records in stereo and it does not have any type of microphone input jacks, as it is just a very basic video camera. It has a standard tripod mounting screw hole that allows you to attach it to a standard tripod, monopod, or other attachments. It has a flip-switch near the lens that will open and close the lens cover. It is not a powered lens cover and does not open and close automatically, so be sure to remember to switch it closed after each use to prevent dirt and scratches to your lens. The camera will remind you that the lens cover is still closed, if you forget to open it up before starting to record video. I paid $179 for this Sony HDR-CX405 camera in April 2017 from Best Buy Honolulu. I don't expect this camera to be available for very long as I think it will soon be a discontinued item. This camera for this price range will be replaced be the next camera in the line. This camera should provide you a few years of service at a minimum and even longer if you take care of it.

Super light weight, very easy to use and long lasting battery. Excellent picture image and the image stabilizer works as advertised.

***** Watched a YouTube video about purchasing different camcorders and although it's been available for years, have to say, it was 10x better than i was expecting. Simple, small, easy to use and will purchase another to keep in the car. I can't think of a camcorder that comes close to the quality of this Sony for the price. Don't buy one, buy two. Great for gifts. Phones are nice, but what happens when you get a call or Message? Using this to recapture my elderly mothers memories as we go through the albums. Hope to write a book about both my parents amazing lives, and how they were betrayed by their older children.

I was looking for a camera/camcorder for my sister as a Christmas gift, she loved it. It is small, easy to use, takes great pictures and it can zoom.

Bought this camera for a rail trip to the Grand Canyon. Camera was easy to use as it fit in my right hand with easy to access video, still shot, on and off buttons. Flat screen display was nice to use except when in a position where the sunlight washed out the display. Bought two batteries as previous experience with another camera made me wish I had done that at that time. Buying a separate charger for the batteries might be a good idea as you have to charge the batteries IN THE CAMERA which means you can't use the camera at that time OR must remember to charge the batteries over night or when the camera is not being used. Great zoom (60x). Bought 128 GB memory which turned out to be over 14 hours (!) of recording time (2nd highest resolution setting - which allowed taking still shots AND video shots WITHOUT going into menus to change settings!). Just came back from trip so have yet to actually look at what I shot (video) or print (still photos) so can't offer any comments there.

Great little camera for the price. I needed a camera to record soccer games. I use it with a tripod and the quality is fine for creating a highlight video that will be viewed online - if you're looking for higher quality video, spring for the 4K camera. Menus are intuitive enough once you get used to tiny toggle instead of touchscreen. I upload to my Mac Mini. Definitely buy an extra battery, ideally with a travel charger to use in the car. One battery is not quite enough for an entire soccer game. Feels flimsy compared to old-school Sony camcorders, but it's easy to use and gets the job done for a very reasonable price.

For a long time I’ve trusted on Sony products and not disapointed with my new camcorder. It is small, compact and very light. the image quality is perfect for what I need with a great 60x zoom, perfect for the school concerts of the kids. I used to use a Nikkon camera to shoot videos, although good for pictures and ahort videos it was just about time to upgrade to a real Video recorder. Looking forward for the next school activity to use it!!!

Did a lot of research to find a cheaper option to film my children’s multiple sports. This camera has worked extremely well to capture basketball, soccer and cross-country events in HD. I upload to iMac (iMovie), edit what I need to and then upload to Youtube. Ive had zero issues and have filmed over 25 events so far. Zoom capabilty is invredible.

Very easy to use light weight and compact. I purchased it to record my daughter's soccer games and it is very clear and easy to use

I bought this video camera because it's a Sony and Sony has a very good reputation. It also had decent reviews. I haven't used it nearly as much as I thought I would. But when I have used it, it has done a nice job. Very Compact size fits nicely into my palm. Battery life seems to be very good as well as the zoom feature. I expect it will prove to be a decent purchase and value for the money spent.

Fantastic product at a great price. It is super simple to use and we were able to basically open the box and get right to filming. It automatically steadies your shots, so even with shaky hands like mine, everything ends up super smooth. Great zooming capability and clear picture. Highly recommended for taking good videos on a budget.