4 stars - Image quality:
The picture quality is good to very good. You can adjust almost everything manually. With XAVC S I have not worked, because my Sony Vegas Pro 10 does not control the codec.
The white balance is outdoor outstanding. The colors on my calibrated monitor is very natural. No matter what the lighting conditions, I've never had to make a manual white balance. Indoor (with mixed light) but I would always prefer a manual white balance.
I make recordings with shutter of 1/50, gain to 0 and automatic autoexposure. The recordings are relatively bright, almost a bit overexposed. So I'm filming now with -0.5 EV and can be eaten lights and shadows absaufende largely avoided. The use of the ND filter is extremely important. Without filter almost any outdoor shots were overexposed.
The autofocus is very good. Therefore, I very rarely work outdoor with manual focus. The focus can not be adjusted farther one. In my opinion, the sharpness is very good and not over-sharpened. In the post I sharpen not after at normal resolution.
4 stars - Audio Quality:
I use only with stereo sound Full Manual Control. Auto gain control can only cause dynamic jumps and surround sound, I think in the consumer sector as superfluous. The manually gepegelte tone is good to very good. The Wind filter I've turned off. For that I have glued a small wind coat with double-sided tape on the mic. A frequency circumcision Wind I do then in the post.
For presentations, I use a Giant Squid lapel mic, where the camcorder provides the necessary tension. The recordings must of course be reworked because the ball-Mic provides a fairly dark sound. But can the CX900 not help it.
The only complaint is a slight hum, which can only be heard in absolute silence on the recordings. Presumably, it is the image stabilizer. Even with soft nature sounds this humming is covered.
3 stars - Image Stabilizer:
The image stabilizer is average. The setting 'active' eats thereby naturally also a little wide angle, which with 29.8 mm is not already so outstanding. When shooting with the Velbon monopod M50 I get very quiet recordings. However, I must always have the stabilizer set to 'active', because it otherwise still wobbles a bit. The recordings are then but as calm as a tripod.
2 stars - operating concept:
The operating concept of the Sony CX900 can not convince me absolutely. Positive are the single switch for iris, gain, shutter, white balance and focus. Unfortunately disguises himself from me, and the fixation of the iris. Since I expose automitisch, the value must be set to 'A'. Every now and then the setting to a fixed value, which I do not always notice immediately be fixed.
Please What is this nonsense USB port on the wrist strap?
Also the loose lens cap is a bad joke and totally inappropriate for a camcorder in this class.
The menu is a disaster. The duration of the recording is displayed only if you can show all parameters. But then the screen is overloaded so much that the motive barely there looks.
Why the current zoom setting on the left side is almost always displayed? Thus, the framing is very difficult. I know myself, in which zoom range I am.
The diopter compensation on the viewfinder is almost always adjusted. First, I think then that the focus is manually set incorrectly.
Photos are actually quite good. Just why is not used in photo mode, exposure compensation for videos. So these are always slightly overexposed. Also, I can not choose a different exposure time, without affecting this in video mode in Photo mode. In addition, the manual switches are sometimes blocked in photo mode. Probably a bug in the firmware, which could very easily fix.
Conclusion: the CX900 offers a good to very good picture and sound quality. Unfortunately, Sony has the CX900 given a not very coherent operating concept. This is a shame, because without the partial Bugs would be the camcorder for me an absolute high-flyer. Also you need not wait for a new firmware, because one wants to sell new models again. With the recent and current firmware 2.0 only an error in the operating procedures has been corrected. Overall, I rate the CX900 3.5 stars because of the top image quality.
