'You press and hold the center button to select the dial's operation: manual focus, exposure compensation, aperture or shutter, mic level and automatic gain control limit--which caps the signal boosting in low light to minimize visual noise. '
'The new touchscreen system is intuitive and good for beginners, but we did find it a bit frustrating for navigating the camcorder's long menu system.'
'the display is clear and viewable even in quite bright conditions.'
'Ultimately it's slow to scroll through menus and all-too easy to 'select' items when you mean to sweep them.
'
'There's also no HDMI output for an easy single-cable connection for audio and video to an HDTV. '
'slim, lightweight design'
'5-megapixel stills'
'Digital zoom isn't available when shooting at 1920x1080 30p and, when available, should be avoided as it not only looks awful, but is jerky to boot too.'
'The bad: Annoying menu system; no wind filter or meaningful audio controls; relatively big and heavy; expensive; defaults to low resolution, not-full-HD video quality; cumbersome touch-screen interface. '
'The CX550V has a nice array of features including manual focus, aperture and shutter control, and multi-channel audio recording. '
