27.3.2010

I don't think of myself as a gadget sort of person, but I have to admit, I really like this Bloggie. I won't go into technical details like some other reviewers. Instead, I'll say what I use this device for and how it copes.What caught my eye about the Bloggie was the 360 degree filming capability. As somebody who spends time in both dance schools and horse-riding schools, I wondered whether putting the Bloggie in the middle of each type of school and filming the activity would allow useful recordings to be made so that people could see what they were doing well and what they could improve at. So, dance or ride around the school and then see a 360 degree view of what had been done. That was the idea.In practice, that's not so practical. The Bloggie records the 360 degree view using a clip on attachment, but replaying the recording on the Bloggie does not produce anything remotely useful. Instead, it is necessary to download the recording onto a PC and convert it into a widescreen/panoramic view using some supplied software. This actually does a remarkably good job within the constraints of the recording resolution, so the 360 degree recording is not just a gimmick, but the need to use a PC for this does make it slightly impractical for my intended purpose. However, it's still ok for watching recordings back later on, subject to caveat about image quality.Using the Bloggie without the 360 degree attachment has been very useful. Again, in dance schools in particular it has been useful for me to record people trying sequences of steps to show where things are being done incorrectly, as well as recording experts doing demonstrations of how things should really be done. For that, it has been excellent. The user interface on the Bloggie itself could have been done better, but it is functional, if not intuitive.Another thing I have used the Bloggie for a lot, is recording activity at various bird nest boxes and feeders around our house. Standing at a window with a normal camcorder scares many birds away, but the Bloggie can easily be left on a window sill with the lens easily directed at the nest box or feeder. Set it to record, come back 20 minutes later and see what you have got. Using the Wide->Telephoto control on the side of the Bloggie allows these recordings to be very close up and I have got some great recordings this way. It doesn't compare to images from my still camera and telephoto lens, but that kit is nowhere near as portable as the Bloggie. The Bloggie fits in my pocket, a decent still camera and telephoto lens needs a shoulder bag.Other than those specific uses, I carry the Bloggie around in my jacket pocket ready for any occasion when it might be useful. My mobile phone has a reasonable video camera built in, but I prefer to use the Bloggie. It is more controllable, the ability to swivel the lens can make recording very discrete, and the software for managing recorded videos afterwards is pretty good. I have taken some surprisingly good pictures using the Bloggie, both stills and video.There are a few minor niggles. The USB cable is ridiculously short. It would have been nice to include a protective cover for the Bloggie for when it is being carried around in a pocket. I'm also not convinced about the sturdiness of the device generally, particularly things like the USB connector. The user interface on the Bloggie, both in terms of buttons and software, could have been better (as mentioned before). Other than those very minor niggles, and the price being a bit high, I really do like the Bloggie.[Note added 01/10/2010] - I am now doing a six month long part-time course, that requires photographic evidence to be kept of work done each week in order to gain the qualification at the end. As a result, I regularly pass my Bloggie to other people to take pictures of me doing whatever it is I am doing on the day. I find that I have to explain how to use it every time (people find it confusing), and quite often they think they have taken a picture but actually haven't. So, if you use the Bloggie in a similar way, do remember to check that whoever you passed it to did actually take the picture that you wanted.[Note added 15/02/2011] - Unfortunately, my Bloggie is now dying, after approx one year. It has not been ill-treated, but now only works intermittently. The behaviour suggests that there may be a dodgy connection. In exploring how to get my Bloggie fixed or replaced, I have found the manufacturer's web-site confusing and unhelpful. I have emailed them but am still waiting for a response. Looks like I'll be buying a Canon camera to replace the Bloggie...[Note added 13/03/2011] - My Bloggie died and the manufacturer didn't reply to my email, so I decided to go for a different manufacturer and bought a Canon Ixus camera instead. Although I liked the Bloggie, the difference in picture quality is immense - they are aimed at slightly different markets, but based on my experience, if you want to get good quality pictures then the Ixus is the one to go for. Sorry Bloggie - I liked you, but you have been outclassed.

2.3.2010

This is a very smart little device, with Sony's usual high build quality. Very simple to use, just press 'record' and you're off. Picture quality is excellent, and the rotating lens is a great idea that allows you to film stuff at odd angles, or even yourself.The 360 attachement is great fun, though you might find it not worth the extra cash. It is basically just a conical mirror that attaches over the lens, allowing you film in all directions at once. You can then use the software that comes with the camera to 'unwrap' the cylindrical image, giving you a super-wide angle picture. The quality suffers, as you might expect, but the novelty value more than makes up for it. It's lots of fun,and you can get some great effects with it. I'm imagining things like holding it up above your head at a party and filming everything, or leaving it running in the middle of a table at a family meal and filming the whole thing... lots of possibilties!Battery life is fantastic, and the camera is about the size of a chunky mobile phone. Easily small enough to always carry with you, and quick to start and fantastic for filming your life. The rotating lens also has a trick, in that with it set at the correct angle, you can very easily film people and things while 'appearing' to be using a phone to send a text message. Excellent for candid shots. There is a tripod screw at the bottom, and the camera will stand up on its own. You can also rotate the lens so that you can lie it on its side and film.However, this camera does have some downsides, and they are silly ones. Sony always makes beautiful objects and then spoils them by overlooking the details.Firstly, image stabilising only works on the lowest quality setting, 30fps at 720p. Not a huge problem, but why?Stills camera is very poor, not much better than a mobile phone. And no flash! Given the excellent xenon units sony uses on its mobile phones, there's not much excuse for this.Low light perfomance is essentially non-existant. This is the biggest downside - this camera is meant to be always with you, and your most fun is usually in the evening, out with friends.The user interface is very unintuitive - pressing 'play' to view pictures often results in you going back to record mode, or at least, not actually showing you the image.Deleting a picture or recording takes half a dozen key presses, which means you rapidly fill up the memory card as you're too busy recording to stop and file through things to delete stuff. Silly things, but they get in the way, they slow you down.The supplied software is awful, and is really only useful for 'unwrapping' 360 images as I've mentioned above. For example, you can't rename files! There is just no option to do so. If you 'manually' rename a file in windows explorer, the sony software promptly crashes.The 'upload to internet' functionality is poor (no facebook! no flickr!), although you can manually add sites to upload to. However, this works by simply copying the file location of the video to clipboard so you can upload from the site's upload page which the software opens for you. Clunky, but it works - oh, except that Sony for some reason have decided you must use Internet Explorer rather than your default browser. It also can only copy the location of a single file. Sony's usual poor attention to detail here - it's a good idea, but not much use in practice.Despite my whinging, this is a really fun bit of kit and I'm really pleased with it, hence the 4 stars. It's simple to use, discreet, excellent quality, looks good and is a lot of fun. However, this camera sells at a premium and if Sony want to compete with the likes of the Flip or Kodak's excellent cameras (which sell at almost half the price), its very disapointing not to be much, much, better.

12.4.2010

Starting with the good stuff, the camera is lovely. The new Sony Bloggie is definitely a step up from the older MHS-PM1, the finish is better - a lovely deep metallic purple with shiny metal highlights - a larger screen and joy of joys, a supplied 4gb memory stick. I can even remember it's name without having to refer to the packaging. The smart little snap-on panoramic lens adds another layer of creative possibilities too. Given it's point and shoot credentials movie quality is good in decent light (just don't go expecting Blu-ray levels of detail) but as expected tails off in poor light. The difference between 1080 and 720 movie setting was minimal, so I left it at 720 which to me seemed a little smoother.

27.2.2010

I have had the Bloggie for a week now and I have really enjoyed it. I have never had anything like it before - I was previously using a Panasonic SD Camcorder which is not really pocket sized.This is truly portable. Fits into a small mobile phone case. Takes no more than a couple of seconds to be ready to go.The stills picture quality is poor. It looks quite good when composing a picture on the nice clear screen but the final photo is consistantly grainy and poorly lit. It claims to be 5MP but I get better stills from my old 3.2MP Sony DSC camera. Also it has no flash which makes it only useful in bright light.The video is clear and sharp in well lit rooms and outdoors. Indoors in poor lighting however,

8.8.2010

The Sony Bloggie is an attractive looking camcorder/camera and it small enough to fit into your pocket. It is very simple to use, just choose whether you want to shoot still pictures or film and off you go. I found that the picture quality when taking still images wasn't good at all but was much better when used as a camcorder. The sound when filming at a concert was very impressive and this would be one of the main things I would use this camera for. Another positive is that you can flick the lens around to any angle to take pictures in awkward places, including photos of yourself.The unique selling point of this camera is the 360 degree filming which uses a little attachment fastened onto the lens.

1.1.2011

I had been looking for a quick, easy and ready to use video/still camera to complement my larger more unwealdy video camera, for some time.The Bloggie fills most of my requirements in that:~ It can rapidly be used from the pocket or a bag without worrying if the lens needs cleaning (this is because of the rotating head which adequately covers the lens against dirt pick up in your pocket etc)~ Filming or taking stills is a one handed operation~ Accessing video scenes and stills is a simple 'plug into a USB' no cable needed~ Charging is just as easy~ Picture quality on both video and stills is good~ The 360'

6.7.2010

This is a really great camera. It worked straight out of the box, no setting up required and the battery was fully charged when it arrived so no waiting. Really easy to use too. I didn't have to look at the instructions.The only thing that stops this package being perfect is that the software that comes with the camera is a bit strange, but I found you can by-pass the software and put the memory stick directly into my laptop and can view the footage directly without needing the software.Really enjoy using it and have managed to catch some really good home videos on it in great quality. Strange 'fish-eye' lense, quirky but I can't think of a reason for using it yet.I have showed it to my mum and she is thinking of getting one (she's 60)

13.9.2010

I use these Sony PM1 camera's a lot, I have 2 now, this new one and the first orange model and this newer one is a lot better. Seems sont have listens and given a bigger screen, charging via USB while downloading and steady picture facility, BUT the 360 lense is awful, its totally unwatchable, captures almost NO detail at all, and is just a gimmick, so dont buy it just for the 360 filming, you wont see anything on playback that you recognise at all.It is however a fantastic camera, and is well worth the stupid price on it's own. I velcro these camera's onto my model planes and shoot aerial HD video for youtube and the quality is amazing,

6.3.2010

I really like this compact little camera. It has a swivel lens that gives great angles for all types of photos and it is absolutely perfect for blogging and general use on the computer. The picture quality is very sharp and it is very simple to use, including connection to any PC. The only quibble it that I do not really get the 360 degree filming and there is no manual advice on how to get the best from this function.

28.5.2010

Bought for wifw (teacher)- As soon as they saw it at school they bought another as suitable for putting events on school web site giving quality videos / picturesfit for purpose / easy to use / quality product at this price

Sony Bloggie MHS-PM5K (MHSPM5K) - Reviews

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