Product Comparison: Sony HDR-CX405 vs Canon VIXIA HF R700

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Sony HDR-CX405 HD Video Recording Handycam Camcorder

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Canon VIXIA HF R700 SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer

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General Specifications

Brand

Sony

Canon

Model

HDR-CX405

VIXIA HF R700

Origin

China

About the Product

Make it memorable with Sony Full HD/60p quality. Capture amazing footage in low light and control. Get close to the action with a 27x zoom, wide-angle Carl Zeiss lens and say goodbye to shake with Steady Shot image stabilization. It’s the perfect starter camera.

From creative video essays to fun family times and travel memories, the VIXIA HF R700 camcorder can be ideal for families, new parents and anyone looking for great-quality results, done simply. See how the camcorder's remarkable 57x Advanced Zoom and SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer free up your creativity and shooting flexibility by helping you capture distant subjects without interrupting the scene, and achieving smooth, steady video throughout the zoom range even if you shoot while walking. Record beautifully detailed Full HD video directly to a convenient removable SD card for quick and easy sharing.

Key Specs

Sensor Resolution

9.2 MP

2.07 MP

Sensor Type

Exmor R® CMOS

CMOS

Maximum Frame Rate

60 fps

Video Resolution

1080 p

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Sony HDR-CX405 HD Video Recording Handycam Camcorder

Nice camera. I like its high quality of resolution, but be careful it is very light.
Camera that is high quality and high resolution for a wonderful price.
Love the simple instruction as well as great resolution.
I can shoot videos with the same resolution and audio using the camera on my phone. This product does not shoot in true "HD."
Not worth, resolution is not good and the storage is not good

Canon VIXIA HF R700 SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer

1080p 60FPS video is buttery smooth with no frame dips or choppy segments.
The lens has front threads for attaching filters and additional lenses.
This has all the features I require and takes great video with stabilization, which helps or a lot for spring events and action shots. Zoom is awesome and steady.
I was impressed by this camera. The sensor is great, it was able to handle every scene I was able to throw at it.
The video was not very sharp for a full 1080p camera. There was even a slight white outline around the subjects in the video, which caused added fuzziness.
Due to the small CMOS Image Sensor, the video quality is not as good as i had hoped for!

Size & Weight

Height

2.38 in.

2.3 in.

Width

2.25 in.

2.1 in.

Depth

5.13 in.

4.6 in.

Weight

6.7 oz.

10.8 oz.

What customers say about "Size & Weight"

Imaging

Optical Zoom

30 x

32 x

Digital Zoom

350 x

1140 x

Aperture

F/1.8 (W) - 4.0 (T)

F/1.8 (W) - 4.5 (T)

Image Stabilization

Optical

Face Detection

Yes

Low Light/High Sensitivity

Yes

Image File Format(s)

AVCHD, MP4, JPEG

AVCHD/MPEG-4, JPEG

What customers say about "Imaging"

Sony HDR-CX405 HD Video Recording Handycam Camcorder

Perfect camera for the price. Good quality images.
The sony camera is a great item. The quality of the images and movies is excellent.
The camcorder has a very good zoom, excelent image quality
With low light conditions image looses quality.
Camera feels sheap.... and image quality to mach...

Canon VIXIA HF R700 SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer

Video quality is top notch in decent lighting conditions, and acceptable in low light conditions.
Image stabilization works great for handheld, there are 3 different types of IS for your situation.
Image stabilization is surprisingly good even at high zoom.
The face detection feature can cause more problems than it solves, often times making the entire scene uncontrollably pulse in and out of focus while shooting indoors.
If you don't have enough light your video will look grainy, low res, out of focus... This is true for all cameras though, keep your expectations within reason.

Display

Display Type

TFT LCD

Touch Screen

Yes

Aspect Ratio

16:9

Screen Size

2.7 in.

3 in.

Touch Screen
Screen Size

What customers say about "Display"

Sony HDR-CX405 HD Video Recording Handycam Camcorder

Takes very clear video and looks great on HD screen when viewing.
Very simple to use, clear video recording. Compact and clear screen
This is a light weight video camera with a nice size LCD screen. It is very easy to setup and use. It was just what I was looking for.
The screen menu is self explanatory and very simple to use.
My only problem is that it does not seem thus far able to record while the lcd screen is open.

Canon VIXIA HF R700 SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer

LCD screen is bright enough to see clearly in daylight.
The LCD screen rotates 180 degrees to point forward, so you are able to see the shot while standing in front of the camera.
The video is clear and the touch screen is responsive.
The tough screen is great at first but if you have big fingers it can be a pain to have to edit things quickly.
My biggest complaint is that in direct sunlight the LCD screen can be really hard to see, but that by no means is a deal breaker.

Features

Microphone Type

Built-in Zoom

3.5 mm stereo mini-jack

Slow Motion Recording

Yes

HDR Mode

Action Camera

Night Recording

Yes

Wind Noise Reduction

Yes

Shock Resistant

Water Resistant

Extras

Optical SteadyShot™ with Intelligent Active Mode, Up to 26.8 mm wide-angle lens, Exceptional image quality, Highlight Movie Maker, Motion Shot Video, Built-in USB cable, Dual Video Recording, Dual Record mode

57x Advanced Zoom, SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization, Audio Scene Select function, Intelligent Image Stabilisation (IS), Pre-Rec function, RGB primary color filter, Touch Decoration, Video Snapshot mode

What customers say about "Features"

Sony HDR-CX405 HD Video Recording Handycam Camcorder

This camcorder is simple to use and has great features. Best quality videos. Also got a great deal for thanksgiving.
I like the feature of the charging cord attached to the camera.
Great camera with lots of features. Beautiful pics of Alaska.
I love all the features on the camera. Such as the filters you can film in.
Great camera for value. The features are strong and the device is easy to use.

Canon VIXIA HF R700 SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer

If you run out of battery power mid shot the camera will still save your video and not corrupt the file.
The built in microphone is pretty great, it records in stereo and does an ok job at boosting the gain to appropriate levels.
I love how it automatically shuts off when you close the tough screen on its side.
MIN/MAX button displays the last High and Low temp that you measured, so that is helpful as I am cooking as I tend to forget.
The tripod mounting threads are plastic and can be stripped if you're not careful.
No external light. That's sort of a big deal. Minus 1 star!

Connectivity

Wi-Fi Enabled

Yes

Microphone Input

Yes

Tripod/Monopod Mountable

Yes

Output(s)

Micro-HDMI (Type D), Composite Video Out, Bravia Sync, USB 2.0

Mini-HDMI (Type C), USB 2.0, Composite video/audio

What customers say about "Connectivity"

Sony HDR-CX405 HD Video Recording Handycam Camcorder

Great camera, easy to operate and connect to computer.
Fits well in hand and has in-built usb to connect to pc. Videos were excellent.
Easy to use. Not hard on the battery. No problems with connecting to the PC. Pleased with both video and camera features
I love this camera. Easy setup and easy to connect to tv. Even my kids are able to use it.
Video quality looks really good when connecting directly from Camera to my Samsung LED TV.

Canon VIXIA HF R700 SuperRange Optical Image Stabilizer

Also ports for a mic, a/v out, HDMI and USB...many more choices than the Sony I had.
My setup is to use a video capture device to record the video directly to computer via HDMI cable (provided by Canon) which is the best way to get clean uncompressed video, and then choose exactly how it should be recorded to disk.
I wish I had sprung for the model with WiFi but now I know for next time.

Power

AC Adapter Compatible

Yes

Battery Model

NP-BX1 rechargable battery

BP-727 Li-ion rechargeable battery

Charging Interface(s)

USB

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

1 year(s)

Certifications