As far as launch locations go, this was different. The middle of a desert full of stones sticking up like lost little Stonehenge pillars except they were sandstone coloured and there were thousands of them all around us. Apart for a clearing in the middle, a natural flat area that had been converted to an indoor soccer field, outside if you get my drift.

Two teams of players, one from Italy and one from the UK were in a very serious contest to win as the sun set eerily over a huge sand drift behind us in the direction of the ocean - the west. All around cleared the Perspex walled field were various journalists and associated others, each with a Sony camera of some flavour, clicking and flashing away - so to speak.

Welcome to the Pinnacles in the desert in Western Australia around three hours drive north of Perth in late afternoon.

The match was one of a number around the globe in unusual places to mark the launch of a new series of Sony camcorders, compacts and dSLR cameras. Each location was specifically chosen for its contrast of colour in order to show off the new colour capabilities of these new cameras. Journos attending were given one to play with for the day, and me obviously being a camcorder buff managed to score the top of the range HDR-X520. So is it any good?

The most astonishing thing is that in still camera mode, it can shoot 12 megapixels pics. Even more astonishing is that it can shoot 8 megapixel stills while recording video to its 240GB hard disk. Sadly, unlike its dSLR cameras, the X520 will only shoot to Memory Stick Duo Pro and not everyday SD cards. I suspect the time will come.

What I suspect Sony has done with the XR520 is not go overboard with flashy new gimmicks, relying heavily on refining what it had. Sort of like the six million dollar man. We can make it better, faster .... you know the rest.

And so it is. For example, while the other journos and associated "guests" all piled into a coach for the trip from the Perth Hilton hotel to the Pinnacles, I had the luxury of my own Monaro for trip along with fellow west Aussie and AusCam contributor Drew Turney. Half way there, we mounted the trusty Hague headrest mount, screwed the XR520 on and fired it up for the last hour of the trip. The images recorded (the X520 uses the AVCHD format) despite a less than stellar road service, were rock solid and the onboard mic picked up our conversations clearly (in Dolby 5.1).

The colour saturation was also brilliant with imagery bright, sharp and beautiful on playback on a Sony LCD Bravia via HDMI connection. You can also use component, and there's a USB port to download footage to a PC/Mac for editing, although as always, serious grunt is needed to cater for AVCHD.

Happily, there's a viewfinder as well as the flip-out LCD screen, and it's even adjustable. This makes me happy. However, as most know by now, the touch screen LCD for the majority of controls does not. You can shoot in fully auto mode and let the camera decide all the moves, or turn it to fully manual and have complete control. I like this too.

Battery life is estimated at 4-6 hours depending on factors such as LCD screen use. I managed two hours on receiving the camera that was supposedly fully charged. However for the period on the car mount, it would have been working overtime with image stabilisation and auto focus as well as the LCD being open.

In hand held use, the XR520 was easy to use, balanced in the hand and controls fell to the appropriate fingers where required. There are nice touches too, such as a self closing lens cover and external mic and headphones jacks.

Is it worth $2k

Well as Mr Arnott used to say, "what price quality?". How do you put a figure on an image? I'd say yes, if you are enthusiast wanting all the bells and whistles in a compact-ish camera that gives superb audio, video and stability performance or even a pro that needs a backup camera for his main rig, then the XR520 would be an excellent choice.

We liked:   Stability, Image quality, 12Mp stills, Excellent low light capability
We didn't like:   Touch screen

Auscam Ratings

Performance: 9
Documentation:     9
Features:    9
Setup: 9
Value for Money:   9
Help Functions:    8

Contact; Sony Australia 1300 13 SONY | http://www.sony.com.au | Price: $2499

By David Hague

David is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He lives at Sydney's Avalon Beaches nearly on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety, fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com