If You Want a Good Video Camera Instead of a Camcorder, Do NOT Buy a Sony A65. I Did. Dumb.

Gary North

May 3, 2012

I bought a Sony A65 based on rave reviews. The reviewers were not paying attention.

This camera is touted as a great substitute for a camcorder. It records such fine video images.

This is true. But you can only shoot for 30 minutes. Then it overheats.

But that's not the main problem. The main problem is audio. You can't hear what you are recording.

The designers decided that no one needs to know what a video sounds like. A video is for watching, right?

You can test the video's sound, but only after you have finished shooting the video.

I got this from Sony's customer support.

We understand that you want to test the audio of the video during recording with earphones.

With the Sony A65, we can only test the audio after recording.

Here are ways in which you can do that:

1. Playing the videos back in the camera; 2. Transferring to and then playing the videos in a computer; and 3. Connecting the camera to a television that supports HDMI.

The Sony A65 does not have a port where you can connect a set of earphones and it also does not have an option for you to test the audio during recording. However, testing the audio in the Sony A65 with earphones during playback could be possible once a portable LCD monitor CLMV55 is attached to it. The accessory has a 3.5 mm stereo mini-plug port where a set of earphones can be connected.

We hope, the information above answer your questions.

Thank you for choosing Sony.

Is this stupid, or what?

I suggest that you buy this camera for taking photos. It takes great photos.

For shooting silent videos, it's great. It was made for this.