Sony HX5 - Audio

I had the pleasure to video a rehearsal for a concert and was not too happy with the dynamic of the sound and clever as I was I left my new wind filter at home. The active mode image stabilisation worked very well with the 10 x zoom and holding the camera still for several minutes.





Tests with a Canon S2 IS, Sony HX1 and Sony HX5 did show that the microphones of the HX5 are not capable of recording music in a satisfactory way.

If you heard music through a telephone, you get the idea.
The HX1 was better and clearer but missing the low frequencies also.
The 5 year old S2 was the clear winner with good recording through the whole spectrum.
So if you are planing to record concerts or any other kind of music the HX5 is NOT suitable for that if the sound quality is important for you!

Here is a quick and dirty test, all 3 cameras where positioned next to each other in the listening position of a simple 5.1 system. The audio clip was played loud enough, you had to raise your voice to talk to another person. Since this is re processed first in my computer and than googles computers the original sound is better than what you hear, but to compare the clips, you will get an idea about the low audio quality of the HX5.
BAD SONY, no cracker for you!

Sony HX5 sample
Sony HX1 sample
Canon S2 sample

Workaround: Look for a used HQ voice recorder and mux at home.