• Sony's TG5V camcorder is small, light, and expensive as hell

    Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

    Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More

    tg5v
    If you’re looking for a portable video solution, but don’t want to go the cheapie route (Zx1 or Flip MinoHD), these tiny camcorders are a good bet. That is, if you’re prepared to drop a Cleveland on it. “Around $1000″ is the asking price for this sexy little piece of kit, and to be honest I’m not sure it can possibly merit that. But let’s see what it has to offer.

    It’s got a nice Zeiss 10x zoom, although when you’d need that much zoom in a video is beyond me — wobble and aperture would limit its usefulness. And you sure can’t fault its form factor. The pistol-grip style has worked will in the past, and its extremely slim and foldy design (with 2.7″ screen) makes it excellent for travel as well. The 1920×1080 video will be as good as it can be given the small sensor and AVCHD compression, which is certainly good enough for any TV you’ve got.

    Interestingly, it’s got a built-in GPS unit, so it’ll geotag your stuff. Might be cheaper to write where you are on a napkin, but hey it’s your money. It records to Memory Stick Pro Duo, which of course I’m sure you’ve got lying around the house in various capacities. Oh wait, I’m thinking of every other format. That’s right, I went there.

    It’ll be available in May, so better start saving up.

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