Product Reviews

I bought this to use as a helmet cam for my motorbike. Really great quality but I find the inbuilt microphone poor on the bike so have gone for an extra one which works great. I think the image quality is exceptional but wish the batter lasted longer

I bought my X3000 about 5 years ago, and it's been a fantastic little action camera. I still use it, but because it's getting a bit dated, not as much as I used to. A couple of years later I bought a Sony ZV-1, but although it's a better camera than the X3000 in some ways - in other ways I find it a lot worse. I keep hoping we'll get a Sony X4000, but in the meantime DJI will have to fill the void.

So I have now had this for quite a while and on balance really like it. Its compact and produces consistent good quality image and sound when used on its own. What I mean by that is the internal; mic is good but I like to use ot also on my motorbike helmet and when plugged into an external mic the sound recording is very much too loud. I have overcome this by using and inline attenuator. (About £20 from amazon). This should be built into software but is a failing. The battery life I feel could and should be improved as this is a great compact vlogging camera but let down by that. Other than thaat all else is great. I also adapted the underwater case to provide a brilliant case that keeps out all the elements when riding in the rain. I would buy again!

I own both HDR15 and As 30 so the choice was easy and as a pensioner not smart enough for a smart phone / small screen on the pack and small controls purchase FDR-X3000 and the head band

Is very handy and great cam for sports but only things missing is the LVR3 is very difficult to buy in the market, if you can advise me where i can get one will be good.

excellent cam, needs better motorcycle helmet fixings

2020 Good product but reply back from sony is very poor about a problem app

This was a used item as I was not wanting to spend to much and as I'm getting on in years, may be a bit to tech for me, I was all so a little concerned that I may not get all the back up that came with a new one So when it arrived and I started to look at what I had got, I was very impressed, yes it did take me a little time and a lot of practise goes to get things right, and I know there are things that I should be able to do, which I have not worked out yet but what I wanted it for is fare better than I was expecting with a little help from YouTube and a lot of help from Sony I am over the moon with my FDR-X300 Action Cam

i bought this and i'm not happy with it. it worked ok took micro card out, out back in and i get a flashing red lites and something i can't read, to small, i tried to format card, but won't let me. so now i have a $00.00 camera and can't use it

After owning 2 GoPro cameras and constantly having problems with some of the products features especially battery life/usage and complicated user menus I decided to upgrade to the Sony FDR-X3000R. In the past I have always bought Sony products especially mobile phones and have always found the build quality exceptionally high and very user friendly. Although I have just bought the camera my friend recommended it and let me trial his FDR-X300R, I also read many in-depth independent reviews on it which also made me decide this was the best camera to purchase. The FDR-X3000 camera's design, size, weight and very easy to use functions combined with many of it's other features especially the remote viewing unit make it a dream to use in all situations. I also really like the availability of the many Sony branded accessories which are of high quality and design and compliment the FDR-X3000. The only complaint I have is towards myself for not buying the Sony FDR-X3000 action camera sooner!

After a lot of review reading I plumped for this camera to fit 2 requirements. 1) action cam, 2) small business videos. It was the Live View feature that made the difference. I have been using for a week and for most of that time I have been in and out of the manual in order to do what I want to do. Its packed with features and therefore deserves an investment of time and effort to gain the full benefits. Issues for me so far the links to Image Edit Mobile and to Live View sometimes takes multiple retries to establish. Possibly due to a clash with my Garmin Edge. Still in progress experimenting. Buying was a struggle due to supply shortage presumably Covid related, and trying to work out the various bundles available which varied from the Sony website. This made comparing price/value a fun exercise. You need to consider a budget for things like SD card(s), mini HDMI cable, spare battery and charger, and any other accessories that you may need.

I bought this unit(FDR-X300R) more than a year ago, used it extensively and being a Sony fan ...I was very disappointed in the product and Sony's bad response to the design problems on the unit.Three design problems: 1) Goes out of focus in sunny outdoors(25 degr/C)-totally useless as 4k.Image is soft and blurry.Sony says its the Glue they use on the internal lenses, gets soft in the heat and lens moves inside, causing out of focus image. 2)overheats and shuts down after 10 minutes in sunny outdoors-again useless.Processor overheats inside the camera 3)Sony gives no response to problems on these units.Many owners complain about the same issues, and Sony ignores us all.These are design problems and not related to just a single unit.No reply from Sony!!!...so sad.

The challenge with anyone going underwater and resisting the massive camera housing and lighting equipment of marine photographers is having a small compact and ultra smart, versatile device to use, with fairly good daylight capture and colour correction capabilities. The X3000 has that plus audio capture through the housing, GPS data and settings for wide or narrow angle. You can improve some of your video and still shots with bright illumination, or simply tail someone with those lights! I took it to 40m depths at Raja Ampat and Palau with little preparation and the professionals were great in offering tips. It is sn action camera and you want to keep the video clips short to make editing easy, and for shooting stills, keep the camera level at eye level underwater so your focus on what you are capturing is always the same. Forget shooting those wide angle large empty spaces of blue... it's more like Street Photography 35mm underwater... stick to the same focal length and you get better results. Again, it's an action camera! The land shots (stills and video) with and without monitor were terrific, if not flawless. The wide angle shots did suffer from lens curvature distortion... you can correct that on Lightroom, easily.

This is a great camera, the stabilization is fantastic and the imagem quality is very high. I bouth the canera because they offer a live streaming option "Ustream". A couple of months after the purchase Ustream was not avaliable anymore and IBM is charging a lot to use it. So if you ever consider to go live with this camera - FORGET IT

Small camera which makes traveling with it easier. Great features which i can use it for normal video recording or as action cam on land or underwater.

Very compact and easy to carry around, with great features and come with many accessories.

The camera goes heads on even with the latest GoPro Hero 8 in terms of image quality and stabilisation. The software and overall UX is a bit outdated and difficult to use. Sound is acceptable even without an external mic. Finally need backlight on the device's screen and the power button responsiveness fixed.

I have just had the opportunity to unbox and do a test usage on this action camera. I do VLOG's outdoors and on motorcycles. I was attracted to this camera because of its ability to work with a direct plug in external microphone. I have not had the chance to test this feature just yet. Preliminary impressions are good. The very short test video's I did in low light and artificial light turned out to be clear and of good quality. My concern at this time is mounting and operating this camera on and around my person in action scenarios. I have used the competitor "GoPro" for some time and have built up a large accessory bundle for their form factor. So, I will need to experiment with the Sony to have a full opinion. But, preliminary impressions are quite good.

Impulse buy in Changi. Great video with wide dynamic range. Video is simple to use either on handset or camera. Majority of function intuitive, but switching between video and stills is PAINFULLY slow; a separate button for stills would increase the useability tremendously. Addition of a 'sighting' viewfinder for use underwater in the package would be extremely useful.

I am totally astonished! And amazed With all sony products!

Bought this about a month ago and used in to film my travels in Indonesia and Cambodia. The image that it yields are outstanding and in my opinion surpasses the GoPro hero 7. The optical stabilisation can be better in the next generation (hopefully Sony will come up with the FDRX4000). Overall, very impressed.

I brought this action cam after reviewing all the other action cams on the market, and deciding this was the right one for me. However after 14 months the camera now refuses to turn on, and beeps every 15 seconds, so is now totally unusable.

The GPS functions stopped working and will be nonfunctional indefinitely. Would not buy this or any other products Sony makes that depend on GPS.

Excellent picture quality, ease of use, great design, love the finger accessory and the remote screen.

great camera ..I'm very happy sony fdr-x3000 !!!!

Battery life is bad... Slow to connect to live view device still need to improve ease of use of the buttons

Great video and stabilization. OK battery life (80 minutes @ 1080p60 50mbs). I motovlog (motorcycle Vlogging) along with hundreds of thousands of others and need (in future models): 1. Wireless audio input. It would be great if the audio could come from the PlayMemories control app where the smartphone could combine/mix audio sources. Bluetooth audio input would also be a great option. You'll steal GP market share with this. 2. Better mounting options. GoPro-compatible mounts dominate, so compaitble mounting or a simple adaptor is important. 3. More battery life (2+ hours). Also, consider an (optional) small separate snap-in pack that connects via the USB.

I"m stuck with a $399 camera that OVERHEATS. You can smell the heat when you enter the room. I purchased this action cam on Oct. 19th. 2018 from Amazon's C**** Camera Seller. It started overheating/shutting down by itself while filming on 720, 1080, and 4k only after 1 month and 2 days of my purchase. I tried to get a refund but because it was over by two days on a 30 days return so "C****** Camera" (seller) refused to accept my request. So after reporting them to the Better Business Bureau they still refused. The overheating has progressively gotten worst. Now I'm stuck sending this camera for repairs to Precision Camera whom are chosen by Sony. I've sent this camera 3 times for repairs without success. Precision Camera don't listen. They keep telling me there is nothing wrong with the camera. The only i can do is continue to send the camera. They don't see the pictures and videos I've sent them. Anyway, Now I"m stuck with a $399 the overheats, without any options. Neither Sony nor Precision Camera don't want to listen. All I've been doing is send this camera for repair and no filming. See pictures and video attached.

Had the camera less than two years...Took it to Moab, Yellowstone and Nova Scotia...Gear videos...but today I can't even use it as paper weight...about a month ago the camera lost the ability to focus...except near focus ...no more than 4-5 inches...everything else in frame is blurry and unusable...Don't buy the camera if you want it to last a while...

A very capable video camera, image stabilisation is excellent. Get a 90mb/s micro SD card, otherwise you'll be limited to low res video.

Have this camera for more than a year now. Really love it. Extremely light and high quality. Use it for scuba diving, traveling and vlogging. Wherever I go, I won't leve home without this in combination with a gimbal. Can't wait to see the next generation or firmware updates to see other features.

Following with previous 10/8 post, as I just received a repair $702 cost to address this issue on a $370 camera, included new LCD which work just fine. this in not right, as this poor focus with motion issue is well documented.

Poor motion focus, sent back to sony for warranty repair.

Straight to the point. Video quality is fantastic. Day scenes at 4K will blow your mind. Stabilizer does excellent job and after a couple of days you will realize that that the use of a viewfinder is not necessary since the wide angle gets it all. Night scenes are OK and nothing special. Now the sound.... As long it is out of the protective case, audio is great, but when it is inside that case, you hardly record anything. Menu is not difficult to master, and the battery will keep up nicely.

I like my sony action cam. I am very happy....))))

I BOUGHT IT BEFORE A TRIP TO MAKE SOME VIDEO CLIPS. IT WAS AMAZING ,SIMPLE,VERY LIGHT AND FAST. I THINK THIS IS THE BEST CAMERA AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW ON THE MARKET AND IT'S VERY CHEAP. 4K VIDEOS ARE AMAZING AND IT HAS GOT LOT OF DETAILS IN IT. WHAT MAKE IT SPECIAL IS HOW SIMPLE IT IS AND THE QUALITY IN EVERYWAY. IT'S JUST AMAZING.

Image quality is very good at both 1080p and 4K, and stabilisation is amazing. HOWEVER, the external mic input has a very hot pre-amp and aggressive AGC, making it impossible to use with most microphones. Sony has said they are not interested in fixing it because it doesn't affect the 3 microphones they list as compatible. See here for more details: https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/action-cam/external-mic-problems/m-p/2493498#M337 Do not recommend this camera if you want to use an external microphone, unless you are sure the microphone you want to use works with Sony's broken firmware on this camera.

I have been wanting to buy this camera for some time now and at last I thought I had to. I am pleased with it. The "link ups" were a bit fiddley but eventually got there. The QR scan pic wasn't supported by any of the QR scanning apps I had, but got over that. I think also it takes a little getting used to changing the settings on the side of the camera, once you get the hang of it, it's OK, but it takes patience, not straight off easy. Other than that I am pleased with it and the results outweigh what I have written above, but still take note of it. It would have been nice for the price to have included a "muffler" for the sound outdoors, it makes a world of difference.

I am overwhelmed with the features of this camera. The manual which I downloaded does not tell me how to delete the video on my memory card.

All good but no zoom... which is missing... So for the next series of model maybe Designer can include

A one and only Major Concern! The Cam dose not come with a Hard Print Owner's / Operators Manual. This proved so Important, that I would not have bought it had I known Sony was going to be Cheep on that Critical Issue!!

After a month the camera picture getting blurry the quality is useless.

We use it for almost 2 years and it is 100% the best Action Camera on the market for the last 2 years. It has the best quality and the best Optical Stabilization. Also all accessories with good quality. I highly recommend this camera and all Sony Products.

This was given to me as a gift. I love that it is so smooth no matter how much you move. Crystal clear I have only videoed on our boat & on my bike.

i bought this for a road trip and to record water sports. the picture quality is excellent and it has a good wide angle lens to pick up all the action. The only downside is the external controller. This allows you to see what you're shooting and control the camera, the downside is the fact it looses connection quite frequently.

i've had this camera for about a week. i can not use it to record videos because it freezes every 5 to 10 seconds.

Bought to update from an older GoPro, very nicely made, simple to use, footage quality is fantastic, stabilisation seems very good with no loss in resolution. lens protector is an expensive extra though.

I bought it in April used under water to check on the fish in my garden pond for damage to them great video f of them great video on my bike no vibration

This camera is really nice. but the loop recording isn't really. Unlike other cameras (like dashcams) it will *not* allow constant recording and only keep those that happen around the time the record button is presses again. This would be so much more useful if used as a motorcycle helmetcam. Please add this feature.

I love this and its accesories. im ready for my vacation now.

Pros- great quality of pictures and videos -c/w high temp alert -user friendly controls -practical accessories -great wider angle lens Cons- heat disappation can be improved, will cause fogging if used with casing over prolonged period -doesnt come with much accesories especially the clip part -abit costly

I have been using this cam on my running adventures and it can withstand the rough trails and spills. The battery power can last for every session I make.

Loving this action cam, use it during my holidays and cycling event. Awesome quality video.

Shutter Speed is slow .... not really good for action camera .... Cant really mount it with external power supply without compromising water proofing.