Description

Capture stunning 1920 x 1080 Full HD video and 3.0 Megapixel images with the ultra-compact HDR-CX110, which features an "Exmor R" CMOS sensor for superior low-light performance and a Carl Zeiss® Vario Sonnar T* 25x optical zoom lens to help bring you closer to the action.

Customer Reviews

 Insanely small and does great job in low light and of course quality and price - must consider this - Aug 31, 2010

I got this about two weeks ago
pros - small size - incredibly small - yet great picture. Low light performance is amazing. Good battery life (I added FV70 - as included battery has a life of about 1 hour).
cons - no memory included - so I have to wait to get my new transcend 16GB speed-10 card. Someway it is better as I broke my last camara and spent lots of money trying to get my videos out of that camcorder. Here I can open and take the card out and boom.
Got format fatory software for free - it will read the current format on the card and convert to regular formats (like AVI etc.)
I checked the converted files on PC and looks great. I haven't tried Sony's software yet, but will try it in couple of weeks.

 Excellent beginner's/home use camcoder - Aug 26, 2010

This camcoder can record in HD quality (1080i) and directly on to SD memory cards. It is very small in size, simple to operate, has a number of built-in functions (which you might hardly use though) and has a nice lcd screen. As with our previous Sony camcoders, this also produces excellent video quality and acceptable audio quality.

The camcoder would easily fit inside the palm of an average-sized adult and has a 2.7" LCD screen. You open the lcd screen to switch on the camcoder (it has not view finder). There is a manual lever to open the shutter and you are ready to shoot. The zoom and record buttons are conveniently located and can be operated by your index finger and thumb respectively. The lcd indicates battery life and remaining recording time. You can set a number of features (transitions, video quality (9 mbps to 24 mbps) etc). It has 25x optical zoom and okay quality 'shake compensation' feature. Most default settings are okay for home videos. Of course, there are menus for play back, review and delete videos. There is also a direct burn feature to burn directly to specific USB DVD burners w/o a computer.

The videos are in 'm2ts' format and can be copied to a computer just using the SD card. Sony also provides a software to download, edit and burn these on to discs in bluray, AVCHD or SD-DVD formats. The software runs only on a PC though. However, the m2ts files can be viewed easily using VLC player software. you can connect the camcoder directly to a computer using USB cable or to a TV using a/v or component cable. HDMI cable is not included, but is optional (there is a mini hdmi port on the camcoder).

The videos are of excellent quality - even with the 9 mbps setting, they are very good and gives you quiet a bit of recording time (~1.5 hours) on a 16GB card.

 Just what I was looking for... - Aug 22, 2010

I recently purchased this camera to record all of those priceless memories a new addition to the family can bring. After doing alot of product research and suffering through one failed attempt at purchasing a camcorder, I found this one. Let me just say that it was the best camera for the price. The video is extremely crisp and vivid under normal lighting and conditions. It does get a bit "grainy" under low light, but it beats the competition hands down in low light. This camcorder has a lot of useful features that I was really impressed with, and they are very user friendly. I admit that the menus and user interface leaves a little to be desired, but that seems to be common among the Sony Handycam line of products wether it is SD or HD. However, I still give this camera 5 stars, and if I had it to do all over again I would, no doubt, purchase this camera.

 GOOD LOW LIGHT RECORDING!! - Aug 03, 2010

For those who record indoors and do not want to shine bright lamps in peoples faces. A friend of mine had a Canon HF-R10 HD Camcorder and this Sony CX110 blows that one away in low light recording. The video from the sony was way more crisp and smooth than the canon. My friend ended up returning the canon and bought the sony. Very convenient and fast to upload video to pc with the included software.

Pros: Good low light recording, 4 different HD recording modes, good software, convenient uploading, good battery life, touch screen menus, easy to navigate, stunning HD video captures, edit/trim clips on camera.

Cons: Smile Detection useless for picture captures, but great for auto face focusing. Can feel funky to hold with the small strap.

Overall Great Product!

 Sony Camcorder - Aug 01, 2010

I have enjoyed my camcorder. Still learning more about it. I would highly recommend it.

 Great camera for the money - Jul 30, 2010

First HD cam corder. I edit all my video using Adobe premiere elements 8.0 and was worried about editing HD with my window pc. first video went well. I don't think I will ever go back to standard def. 25X optical zoom is excellent . did not experience any blurred images for fast moving subjects like the pocket cameras. Bought camera for a vacation hope it goes well. Owned camera about a month. Great buy for the money.

 Wonderful Little Camera - Jun 13, 2010

I wasn't going to write a review, but after re-reading some of the prior reviews and one of them giving 1 star for a poor user interface, I feel compelled to offset the reviewer's 1 star with my 5 stars.

I've had the cx110 for over a week and love it and see no reason for the prior reviewer's 1 star rating. The cx110 is small and light weight and comes with us to all family events. It is is a huge improvement over my old Hi8 camera purchased 8 years ago. Now, I don't feel like a dork pulling out a brick of an antiquated video camera to preserve memories.

I found a great deal on a 8gb SDHC class 6 card at frys dot com via slickdeals dot com. I'm recording at the 2nd highest level quality (FH) and the 8gb provides ~50-60 mins of recording time. The highest quality setting provides ~40-50 mins of recording time.

The quality of recorded video/audio is excellent for the size and price of the camera. It handles low light pretty well in my opinion. Natural light colors come through great.

My plan is to take the .mts files and burn them to a DVD and play them back on my samsung c5500 blue ray player. I guess this has something to with AVCHD or something which I'm still trying to figure out. The bad thing now, is my older Dell struggles to playback the HD video.

The camera's provided PMB software looks okay, as it imports the mts files and will categorize them by date/time into a calendar view which is nice. It also includes a trimmer/editor in which you can cut out the beginning and/or end of a video clip and save it as a new file. The PMB program will also take the files you select and make a dvd out of it.

I know there are other editing/authoring programs out there, but this one is free and included with the camera. Note: if your computer has choppy/stuttering play back issues like mine, check out a free player called Splash (lite). Play back is a lot is smoother but still not the best (which I attribute to my specs: older P4 dual core and older 256mb Ati video card).

Supplied with the cx110 is a usb cable, composite cable for SD tv viewing and component cable for HD tv viewing. I bought a mini HDMI cable on amazon for ~$5, and have yet to use it. I also bought a 30mm UV filter to protect the lens for ~$6 on amazon as well... Small investment to protect a $400+ camera.

In summary, if you're thinking about this camera go for it. I'm glad I pulled the trigger on this camera, as our baby coming in Dec 2010, will have plenty of HD memories to look back on when he/she gets older. Not to mention my current sons 7 and 4 yrs, love watching videos of themselves, and the cx110 is perfect as we can watch videos instantly, as many times as we want. And also delete unneeded videos when ever we want. DO IT!

Send me a comment if you have any questions.

 amazing little camera - Jun 09, 2010

Worth Every penny. Got it pretty quick. The HD quality is mind blowing ( I was expecting too much). The sound is crisp as well, no idea how it manages to capture so much detail.

 BEWARE! POORLY designed device - May 26, 2010

What a mess of a device! This camera is junk... VERY hard to figure out the menus... NOT intuitive at all. I create software so I think I should know... This is possibly the worst user interface I have ever experienced. Sad because its a good quality camera, just ruined by a crap interface. Buy any other brand.

 Nice camera but mal-functioned in 90 day warranty period - May 26, 2010

We really do like our Sony HDR-CX110 high def Handycam camcorder. It is easy to use and takes beautiful high def videos. Unfortunately, our camera had to be returned to Sony for repair during the 90 day warranty period. This is the description of the problem I provided to Sony with the returned camera: "When viewing door of Handycam is opened, it responds with a message: "the viewing lens cover might be closed, check the cover" regardless of whether the lens cover is open or closed. The viewing area of the screen is dark even with the lens open (not covered), but in other respects normal. It will actually record videos and take pictures but the picture and video recorded is blank/dark. Audio (when recording a video) does record and play back."

I hope the camera they return to me is more reliable. They will provide a new 90 day warranty period. I have to pay shipping to the Sony repair center but they will pay shipping when they return a functioning camera to me. Luckily the problem started just before the 90 day warranty period expired. They will cover both parts and labor. Given this experience, I would suggest purchasing an extended warranty for this camera.

 Sweet camcorder for the money - May 25, 2010

I've had it about a month and so far I love it. I've videoed an outdoor evening wedding reception with only overhead string lights. I was well pleased with the results. It's better than my older Panasonic 3CCD under low light conditions. I used it with a uni-pod and it's so small and light weight, it didn't tire me out. The high speed mode is neat for recording golf swings. I like not having to use a Fire-wire to capture video. It's already saved in standard formats so transfer to a PC VIA USB is plenty fast. I went ahead and purchased the recommended Sony 16 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Flash Memory Card and it works fine.

My only negative was when I went from indoor A-C to outdoors on a humid evening, the camera wouldn't focus for about a minute or two.

I am satisfied with both the camcorder and Amazon.

 Love this camera! - May 25, 2010

The ONLY reason why I rate this camera four stars instead of five has absolutely nothing to do with its performance as much as it has to do with the fact that I neglected to check out its big brother- the camera one model up in the line includes an on-board built in hard drive. While that increases the cost of the camera, it is value added because the high capacity/high speed SD cards (which are purchased separately are not cheap- so my advice would be to check out the step ups. Aside from that, Sony has a winner hear- easy to use, excellent image quality, dead simple file transfer and an intuitive interface make this a dream. Highly recommended for those who already own high capacity SD cards and/or don't care about built in storage.

 First Video Camera Purchase - May 17, 2010

I wanted to buy a video camera because I was going on my honeymoon in 2 weeks in Hawaii and I wanted to capture the memories and scenery. After reading the reviews and nailing down the criteria for my first video camera puchase, I was swayed by what I saw for the CX110. It was somewhat more expensive than I wished, but had HD (which was a must), and had good reviews to back up the money. I am glad I listened to the user reviews.

1. It is very compact. I can fit it easily in one hand and into a cargo shorts pocket. It also fits nicely in my wife's purse if she wanted to carry it.

2. It has a touch screen LCD which is very intuitive. I did not read the instructions (well, maybe a little) and mostly figured everything out on my own. The menu system is easy to navigate once you understand the basics. If it is too complicated, just point and hit record and the default "auto" feature automatically adjust focus and light sensitivity (for evening, daytime, nighttime scenes) for amazing quality. Anyone can use this camera! Even my technophob wife had no problem.

3. Has no built in memory, which is why it is cheaper than the CX150 (has 16 gigs built on it) but I knew that going in. I got a Kingston 32 gig Class 4 memory and have about an hour worth of footage on it from the honeymoon and still have plenty of room. I am not sure exactly much, but i would guess I used about only 15% - 20% of all of my memory. It has 4 different recoridng qualitys, 24 MB per second (best), 19 MbPS, 12MbPS (default setting), and 9 MbPS. I used the second highest quality (since I had lots of memory) and got amazing picture! I used the component cables and am waiting for my HDMI cable for some real digital hd, but the component picture blew me away!

4. The optical zoom is scary good. I creeped on people across our condo and could see how many beer cans they had on their kitchen table.

5. The audio quality is great. You can hear wind on lots of our footage but thats because our fault. Hearing the crashing waves and the birds in the background are a nice treat to our video.

6. I am very happy with my purchase. HD is the way to go and this is a powerful cheap camera. This is all you need to get amazing picture for little cost. Sony is a quality brand and you know if your paying 500 for something, you might as well get something thats quality. Plus, having HD and blue-ray quality video makes it future proof.

** I purchased mine off ebay for $400 dollars and got my 32mb for about $90. I know amazon sells it for 500 but perhaps some shopping would save you some bucks.

 Great camcorder for the cost - May 12, 2010

I have had this camera for about a month now and it is exactly what I was looking for. I previously had a Samsung mini-DVD camcorder and wasn't satisfied with either the battery life or the quality of the video. This camera addresses both of those concerns. The battery life seems to be great both in use and in standby mode and I have been able to tape full softball and t-ball games with no problem at all. The picture is just awesome too. The multiple HD settings allow you to select the definition that you desire and connecting the camcorder to a HD TV is about as easy as can be. My only concern I have with the camera turns out to be a benefit as well...and that is the size. I knew the camera was small when I purchased it, but I was a bit surprised when I unpacked it and saw just how small it really is. That being said, the size makes it easy to pack away or stick in to a sweatshirt/jacket pocket when not in use. The built in 3.1 megapixel camera is nice, but I experience a second delay from when I take the picture to when the camera registers the image. Not horrible, but I have missed a few pictures due to this (perhaps this is a setting issue...still investigating). I LOVE the fact that there is no hard drive and I purchased two high capacity SD Memory sticks to go along with it. Very nice machine.

 Very Nice Cam - Apr 19, 2010

Amazingly small camera with a great set of features. Have only used it about 8 hours, but love it so far. Am a little concerned that it is finnicky about what brand of memory it uses. Keep getting a buffer overflow when using Sandisk 8GB memory card. Otherwise, could not be happier.

 Handycam Camcorder - Mar 28, 2010

My son is 17 and is very interested in a career in documentary filming. He needed a compact video camera that was easy to upload videos and edit that was Apple compatible. He found that in this camera. Great quality. Great price and everything he needed.

 A great little camcorder -- 4 1/2 stars - Mar 26, 2010

My 8-year old Sony mini-DV Camcorder kicked the bucket just as my 14 month son started to utter his first words. I needed to get a new camcorder fast, and based largely on the first Amazon review I purchased the CX110. The image quality and size are just perfect. I have only two complaints and they are minor. First, there is no way to quickly delete a video clip easily right after recording (you have to wade through menus). Secondly, it outputs .m2ts files instead of more common formats like .mp4. Even after installing the right codecs my computer still won't generate thumbnails for my video clips. Now I'm nitpicking -- this is a great camcorder.

 Yes, you can use your SD cards! - Mar 24, 2010

I usually do not write reviews. However, after I have been looking for a "perfect camcorder" I think this one deserves a review. Note, this is not a perfect camcorder, but Sony got it close enough to make most consumers happy.
About a year ago, I decided to go "high definition" . I decided to get a Canon which has so many features, internal light, internal memory, many adjustments. I realized that all the specifications for almost professional looking movies did not make Canon's picture any better than this Sony one. Canon was bulky, heavier, and had less zoom.
Sony packed a very simple camcorder. No option to plug a microphone, no place for accessories like light, not that many manual adjustments. Just a good picture and a very small body. If you want a good picture, portability and convenience, this is for you.
The features that this camera has are the ones that I am going to use: good zoom, transfers videos to portable hard drive and , YES, I can not only use the memory sticks but also SD cards. Thanks Sony. People would avoid some Sony products because they do not want to buy another type of memory.
My only complain about this camera is that it looks cheap! The plastic with Sony logo looks horrible! Otherwise, it is a good buy.

 Sony HDR-CX110 - Great starter HD camera!! - Mar 23, 2010

I purchased this camera a couple of weeks ago after someone I now had also picked it up. It was to replace my old Sony Hi-8 camera that recently quit working. I must say right off the bat that anyone looking to buy a starter, entry-level, low price high definition camera - this is the one for you! At under two pounds, it's extremely light, compact, and portable. (Having longer fingers I almost have a hard time working the trigger and zoom.) As an entry level camera, you must be prepared for the fact that things like memory cards, cases, HDMI cables, and other bells and whistles will not come with this camera - hence the low price.

What you do get is an incredible 1080 24bit HD picture that will blow you away. My first outing was to our local Desert Botanical Gardens to view and film the colorful wildflowers, cactai, and butterflies. I used the HD FX (highest quality video setting) for video, as well as taking 3meg pictures. When I returned home and viewed the footage and photos, my jaw dropped at the clarity and vivid, rich colors in beautiful 1080 on my 52" Sony TV. The details were very crisp and no artifacts were present in the movies. It was amazing.

The camera was easy to use and operate with the simple touch screens, as well as the I-Auto feature to help with the proper contrast and exposure. It was great to pick which scene you wanted without having to fast forward or rewind ever again!! The only drawbacks on the camera that I don't like are the low life battery that comes with it, as well as having to purchase your own HDMI cable separately. All in all, this is a great camera for the price!!

 Great camcorder - Mar 23, 2010

We have only used it a few times but really like it. It's easy to use, small enough to fit in a purse, and light weight. You almost miss it when sitting on the tripod.

 Light-weight little gem - Mar 22, 2010

We had a death in our family recently and there was going to be a lot going on. Family that had not been seen in 10 years or more in some cases and some that had never been met. Also video taped part of the military ceremony...
It's been a while since I've used a camcorder, but this turned really well. I only wish the view finder would open automatically when the camera is turned on and close when turned off automatically. That seems like a no-brainer.

 Excellent quality..Nice breakthrough - Mar 19, 2010

Video quality on this camcorder is fantastic. I did many research and debated between Canon and Sony. I didn't like the model CX100 because of the fact that the poor quality in low light condition. I almost decided to buy canon HF200. I went to bestbuy to buy this canon. I saw this new model CX110 and bestbuy representative explained the features. This CX-110 is a major upgrade from CX100. New sensor Emos "R" and 25X optical zoom were the best one. I then decided to buy this Sony new model instead of Canon.

I am very happy about my decision. I took shots in day light and also in low night, the video is excellent. Amazon.com is very good and i got it within 4 days after placing the order.

I read the review comment of the person who rated 2 for this camcorder. I am surprised to note the reason for the low rating. Even though the specification of this camcorder clearly says no internal memory, i don't understand why people buy and rate low for their mistake.

Bottomline, my prediction is Sony will break-through and out beat other competitor in 2010 in camcorder.

 Don't buy it, it does't come with Flash Card, no internal memory - Mar 18, 2010

I just received my Sony Camera HDR-CX110. The main problem is that this camera has not an internal memoryt, so you have to expend additional USD 100 for a decent flash card 32G memory, despite the fact the camera has good image quality, it only have 3.1Megapixel for still images, what a disapointment. For only additional USD40 you can buy a Sony HDR-CX150, 25x optical zoom with internal memory of 16G; even the older version of Sony HDR-CX 100 is better, internal memory of 8G and 4 Megapixel still images. I felt robbed by Sony with this "new version videocamera of HDR-CX100" DON'T BUY IT, SONY SCAMS YOU WITH THIS MODEL, I will go for a CANON, at least they don't scam you!!

 Wow... Just WOW... - Feb 20, 2010

I was looking to replace my JVC Everio, that had a 60GB hard drive in it. I loved the convenience of the hard drive, since that replaced an older unit I had that used the small tape cartridges. But the prices for the HD capable units are more than I was willing to pay for a camcorder, so looked at the units that just used memory sticks.

I have the Sony DSC-TX1 digital camera and was blown away by its optical quality, and it even took 720p movies which were just insanely clearer than my 1 year old JVC camcorder. That was when I realized I needed to lose the JVC. Almost all the movies I do are of my son, now 6 years old, so the better the quality the happier I would be. Too many artifacts with the low definition JVC, panning was just ugly ugly ugly, and while it had a great response in low light, the picture quality was just not what I wanted considering how good everything else with my TV and still camera.

I was initially going to get the 100 version of this, since it was so insanely cheap for a 1080 capable camcorder, but the bad low light capability put me off, since most of what I record is in my house. And the very low numbers for optical zoom also concerned me. But amazon conveniently puts little links under the initial product listing if there's a new version, so I saw the 110 and the price was good. I did some digging on Sony's site, somewhat confused that the cheap little 100 had 16GB built in but the higher end had none, but when I saw the rest of the specs in comparison, I felt it was a very good unit to give a test run with. My local brick and mortars didn't have it in stock, so I ordered it from Amazon and got the Saturday delivery early on Saturday, plenty of time to charge it up and try it out.

I left all settings at default except for the quality setting. That was easy to find, and the touchscreen on this unit makes it very easy to operate. As with my sony still camera, it has a "user" screen too where you can pin the six most used functions to save you from having to navigate into submenus. I love this feature, as it made my touchscreen still camera so simple and quick to use.

So I did four test movies, all of the same thing (my 6 year old playing with a huge Geotrax set), at all four of the options for 1080p resolution. The camera is smaller than I had expected, very light and fits well in the hand. The only real buttons to deal with in normal operation are the zoom and the start/stop recording, which are placed well despite the small size of the unit. If you want to grab a still as well, which you can do while recording, that button is on top right behind the zoom, so it's easy to get at. So use is great, no problems.

As I said, touch screen menu is great, so changing settings as I went was a piece of cake.

Started with the highest 24Mbps, then the next down (I think it was 17Mbps), then the "default" one they start you out at, 9Mbps, then the lowest. When I was done, I pulled the card out (nice, quick access on the bottom with a great, sturdy, hinged door). Went into my macbook pro just fine, and i started playback.

I have a 13" macbook pro, the aluminum unibody, that I got about four months ago. So new core2 duo processor, nvidia 9400 graphics... And it could not play the highest or second highest quality movies raw... Which told me that they were going to be great on my windows 7 media center. The third and fourth files played, but since the laptop is not a 1080 screen, it didn't look that good. So I went ahead and pulled the memory card out of the laptop, put it in my Dell Zino that runs my beautiful 46" Samsung HDTV, and played them all.

One thing I hadn't realized is that when it creates the files, it creates them in a native bluray playback format, the folder structure and all. So that should make it easy for people who will want to burn to Bluray.

Anyway, on the media center, i played the highest quality one first. And my jaw dropped, and I nearly had to go buy some adult diapers. WOW. That was all I could say or think. WOW. It was just outstanding, WAY better than I had expected. And it's not like I'm so unfamiliar with HD that even bad HD was impressive to me - my first HDTV was purchased back in 1999, a huge 60" Mitsubishi diamond line TV. So I've been using HD for over 10 years now. And this just knocked my socks off.

I had nearly no artifacting or blurring or anything with the movement of the camera as I've come to expect from camcorders. Even the blurring was minimal. And the shots of things were just crystal clear. I had a 1080p version of the movie BOLT running on the TV as he played with his geotrax, so I zoomed in so that filled the viewfinder, and recorded some of the movie. During playback at that scene, I couldn't even tell it wasn't the original playing back, that it was a recording of the TV from earlier, it was that clear.

I was indoors, in Wisconsin on a winter day with snow falling, so there was no direct sunlight, just all clouds. Only one window's curtains open, and no lights turned on inside. And the clarity and lighting was excellent. Every bit I could hope for.

So I tried the next down quality, and it blew me away. As did the third and then the lowest quality. All looked stunning. When I got down to the lowest, I could see some difference between it and the highest, but for what I was, and will be, shooting (my son), I think I'll end up using the default third lowest setting because it was still jaw droppingly good on my HDTV.

I got the 16GB card since the 32GB card was still in the three digit price range, and i have a habit of transferring the files to my computer as soon as I'm done shooting anyway. And at the third quality setting, the default 9Mbps one, a 25 minute clip used just 1.9GB, so I should get about 3 1/2 hours on this card at this rate, so I'll not have to worry about running out of media for my normal use.

The display is crisp and clear, widescreen format, and not cluttered when recording. Response to touch was very good, only once when selecting something from a bottom of a menu did I have to touch it twice, since the first didn't register. Didn't take any pressure to get it to see my pressing.

The still picture while shooting video worked easily enough, but they're not great quality, so it won't replace your digital camera if you have a good one. But it may give you a decent still shot of something you would have missed otherwise...

All in all, this is waaaayyyyy better than I had expected, and more than I had even hoped for. 100% satisfied with the unit.

I can't attest to battery usage yet, since I have only had it for five hours, and only ran about 40 or 45 minutes of recording through it so far. In a few days I'll pop back in here and edit this with the results I've seen with regards to the battery life, since this is evidently the first review of this model.