This camcorder performed poorly in low light indoor conditions. Perhaps it does better outside on an overcast day — if that is what you call “low light” — but it was miserably bad in my house. The only room that produced acceptable video was my kitchen, while standing under a double fluorescent light with a bright incandescent light in the adjacent eating area. Other rooms, with 40W incandescent lamps were a blizzard af digital noise/speckling in the daytime.
I went through all of the ISO settings and high-sensitivity lamp mode with no significant improvement. They brighten the overall room lightness, but dark areas were still heavily speckled.
I even purchased a video light that was designed for use with Sanyo Xacti camcorders. It brightened people’s faces, but dark curtains, furniture, etc. were still speckled.
Fianlly, the zoom autofocus is terrible indoors. It barely works at all and that is being kind.
I found this camcorder totally unacceptable for indoor use. I primarily record the grandkids’ birthday parties and family holiday gatherings; so this won’t work. I consider this product to be defective based on their sensitivity claims, poor low-light performance observed and a dysfunctional zoom autofocus.
I returned it to Amazon this morning and when I receive my refund I’ll probably buy the Sony HDR-CX500V. Take stunning Full 1080p High Definition video at 60fps and amazing 8 megapixel digital photos! The Sanyo FH1A Dual Camera is also the worlds first ca. continue reading.
