Product Test: Sony HDR-AS100V Action Camera

What better way to look back on an epic ride than with POV video of every hill crested and every berm shredded. Helmet cameras have come a long way over the last decade and now provide video quality that can actually be watched without getting a headache. Not wanting to get left behind in the ever-evolving field, Sony introduced its HDR-AS100V camera, which features image stabilization so your footage doesn’t look like it was shot during an earthquake.

Tech features:
The ZEISS Tessar lens-equipped Sony HDR-AS100V camera is capable of shooting video in 1920×1080 at 60 frames per second, going down to 800×480 at 240 fps for ultra slow motion. The camera records video onto a micro SD memory card, can capture still images at 13.5 megapixels and features a micro HDMI port for high-quality playback. Perhaps the most significant feature of this camera is its ability to shoot with image stabilization. There are many bumps and vibrations that often make watching POV videos unbearable. Sony seeks to remedy this by smoothing out the shakiness. The camera also offers GPS-enhanced video shooting, which allows riders to overlay information like current speed, average speed and distance onto their video playback using Sony’s Action Cam Movie Creator software. These are the main features that set the Sony camera apart from most of the competition. We couldn’t wait to put this $299 camera to the test, so we charged it up and hit the trails.

Field test results:
Our Sony HDR-AS100V camera included the chest mount, waterproof case, goggle strap mount, optional live-view remote RM-LVR1 and USB cable. The Sony HDR uses a standard ¼ inch – 20 thread thumb screw for attaching the camera to each of its mounts. This method is simple to use but requires a coin to fully tighten the camera to the mounts.

The Sony HDR has a very refined look and feel. We were able to sync the live-view wrist remote with the camera in no time, which made for easy shot framing and starting and stopping of recording. Over the duration of our test, we had above average battery life for both the Sony HDR and the wrist remote. We could ride all day without running out of battery.

Moving on to the function of the camera, the Sony HDR had an easy-to-navigate menu that made it simple and quick to change shooting modes. We experimented with different resolutions and frame rates but always came back to 1920×1080 at 60 frames per second. This shooting mode offered video quality that was on par with the best cameras out there. The image stabilization worked great and separated this camera from others that are available. The audio quality was also terrific compared to other POV cameras that we’ve used.

We ran the goggle strap mount for most of our testing. Although this wasn’t the most comfortable option, due to the weight of the camera bouncing with each big hit, the footage still came out looking incredibly smooth. With the image stabilization feature and the not super wide-angle lens, the video looked more realistic than the warp-speed look of video from Sony’s competitors. This meant the footage sometimes made it look like we were going slower than what we are used to seeing from other cameras, but hey, sometimes the truth hurts.

The biggest downside to the Sony HDR is its mounting options. We didn’t have a good way to mount it to our cross-country helmets, so we went back and forth between the chest mount and the goggle strap mount—both of which cater to the gravity crowd but leave cross-country guys out. We didn’t care for the chest mount much because it put the camera way off our chest and felt awkward. We would like to find a cross-country helmet that works with Sony’s curved adhesive mounts.

Overall, the Sony HDR-AS100V action camera worked very well and offered video and audio quality that surpassed its competition in realism. The video looked closer to “real-life” and was not nearly as shaky as most POV camera footage that we’ve seen.