The Sony HXR-NX5U professional AVCHD video camera is the first of Sony's NXCAM camcorder line. It has all the bells and whistles you come to expect from a mid-size camera, plus a GPS feature that tags your clips with your geographical location. We haven't seen that in this type of pro cam before. The HXR-NX5U is well suited for the serious videographer shooting in a variety of environments and needs a camera that can do it all without tapes and with the more cost-friendly SDHC memory cards.

Packing a Punch

The HXR-NX5U is as compact as a camera needs to be in this category without sacrificing too much surface area for the camera controls. If you like buttons, dials and switches, you'll quickly fall in love with this camera. That is to say, this is a serious tool for videographers who want more control over their camera.

On the right side of the camera is the standard handgrip, which is plenty comfortable. The power on/off and record start/stop is squarely on the back. Just above sits a zoom rocker and a conveniently placed Expanded Zoom button (or the 7th assignable button if you choose a custom function). We like the placement of the Expanded Zoom button here. It allows you to quickly and more accurately check your focus, which is always a challenge with these high definition cameras. On top of the right-side layout are 2 XLR mic inputs,, each line/mic/mic plus phantom power per each channel and finally a shotgun microphone holder.

Last, but not least, on the rear of the right side is an area reserved for the additional flash memory unit (sold separately, HXR-FMU128, $800). While our review unit did not ship with this additional accessory, we have to note that it is a very attractive add-on for a shooter who does a lot of long recordings. Wedding and event videographers will be able to boost their recording times to 11 hours in FX mode (24 Mbps). We think that's a great feature. The flash memory unit can also detach from the camera and connect directly to your computer.

The rear of the camera houses your main connections: composite video, left and right composite audio, HDMI out, component out, USB and HD/SD SDI out. You'll also find a recessed battery compartment, the on/off switch for GPS and the dual SDHC memory card slots. Upwards, near the eyepiece is a headphone monitor switch that allows you to quickly change between each channel or a stereo mix. This is a nice feature if you commonly mic up two different sources without the additional personnel of an audio mixer constantly evaluating the mix.

The camera's left side is a plethora of buttons and controls. For shooting controls, you'll find the 3 selectable ND filters, auto/manual focus switch, push button auto focus and an iris button. We also have additional gain, white balance and shutter speed controls, too. The auto and manual audio levels for both channels are built in beneath a door that even when closed reveals your selections but inhibits you from an unintended adjustment. Menu and mode controls are also on the left side and 6 assignable buttons, allowing you to make a variety of customizations. All in all, it's a busy looking camera, but everything is well laid out. If there was one area of improvement it would be making the push auto focus button a little bigger or maybe adding a nipple to the button. We found it a little challenging to press on the first try with big fingers.

On top of the camcorder is the LCD at 3.2 inches and 921,000 pixels. It flips out from its resting position and reveals the camera's playback controls. The top handle is quite robust with plenty of room for accessories and control. However, if you use the front accessory shoe with a device that extends backwards, it may interfere with the LCD screen's ability to flip out or in. That's probably something you can plan for in advance, or you can use the additional accessory shoe in the back of the top handle.

Sharp Optics

The Sony HXR-NX5U has a Sony G lens with 20x optical zoom. The lens' focal length (35mm equivalent in 16:9 mode) is 29.5mm to 590mm. While we've seen slightly wider angles from camcorders of this style, it should be a good length for most. On the long side of the lens, 590mm is really great, so long as you're shooting with a tripod.

Along with the standard focus ring and zoom ring, we really like that there's a manual iris ring. Like many cameras in this class, the iris ring is not fixed, but in our tests it performs nicely. This is a one-quarter-stop iris meaning that the aperture changes gradually so that aperture changes are subtle and almost unnoticeable to the viewer. Wide open, the aperture is at f1.6, which lets in quite a bit of light.

The Proof is in the Pudding

Indoors, we shot some tests in very typical low-light situations to see how the Sony HXR-NX5U would hold up. We were able to get great performance from the fully wide f1.6 aperture in poorly lit rooms. Color and detail held up fairly well in these situations with noticeable noise in the darkest of areas, but no more than we'd expect to see. When getting into more challenging indoor situations with less light, noise became a problem quickly. And, as you can guess, adding gain to the mix didn't help. The HXR-NX5U can go to 21dB of gain, although we don't recommend it, unless it's a last resort.

We could test many more features with plenty of light outdoors. We were pleased with how well the HXR-NX5U held highlights for an AVCHD camera. It's certainly not a strength of all cameras in the AVCHD category, but this one did quite well. In fact, there were several situations where we expected the sky to blowout completely into a wash of white, but instead we saw some color information in the sky. That was a pleasant surprise.

Overall, the color reproduction on the Sony HXR-NX5U was wonderfully balanced and fine resolution is great. This is just what you'd expect from a camera in this price range and category. The AVCHD codec at 24Mbps performed wonderfully with motion and through a variety of camera movements. It performed quite nicely in scenes with sharp contrast, which is usually something you'd try to avoid at all costs. The Sony HXR-NX5U has superior video quality of a camera in the AVCHD category at this bit rate.

The onboard mic is decent, but the HXR-NX5u also has a supplied shotgun mic. Slightly longer than 6 inches, this mic does a much better job focusing on sound in front of the camera. There's also a foam cover to help reduce some wind noise. We had no problems capturing good audio and the variety of controls made it a snap to get our audio set up and ready to go.