Decent midlevel player - value for money-good buy

Category: Review on Sony Handycam DCR-HC48E MiniDV Camcorder

Posted by: 5-Nov-2007

Strengths: great EASY mode,25X optical zoom, crisp outdoors

Weaknesses: docking station, no firewire cable supplied, poor software

Well have been on the lookout for my first camcoder for a while.Main concern was my 400$ cut off, so had a look at most of the camcoders in that range.
To start - i was undecided on the format- miniDV versus DVD, but looking at the products in the market realised that DVDs were in the passing phase - ie from miniDV to HDD/flash(HD).Since most of the HDD based models were outof reach- mini DV it was.
Home user miniDV basically means SONY - well after the Canon Eula series was discontinued - the HC 28- 38 - 48 and 96 series models are the line up for 2007-2008.There is only very little difference between HC28 and 38 - went for the 48 because it uses a megapixel CDD unlike the other. HC96 - though much superior(3MP CCD) is also much more costly.
The cam looks nice out of the box - the mettalic finish looks and feels nice(pictures dont do justice).Has a wide screen LCD(unlike HC28/38) and viewfinder.The usual controls take up their usual positions and turning the cam on and switching modes is a breeze.The cam fits snug in the hand and its quite small and light too.Loading the tape and the memory stick is a no brainer.
Easy mode really takes all the hazzle out of movie recording.Its the auto mode and suits most situations.I found the menu(with touch screen controls-grimey screen!!) to be staightforward once you get the hang of things.The software that runs the menu should have been better designed and the buttons better sized as my fingers hunt for space.
Outdoor picture quality is excellent in both widescreen and standard modes and stills can be taken on the fly while recording albit in VGA quality.In the still camera mode widescreen use, reduce resolution to .7MP unlike the 1MP in 4:3 standard mode.Again the outdoor stills are great.
Zooming is breeze - should only use the 25X optical zoom.The electronic stabilizer used, unlike other comparable models that use optical(pansonic/canon) is just ok at greater zoom distance.
Playback is straight forward and the picture quality and sound is excellent.The battery lasted about 80 minutes with moderate zooming and playback.
Drawbacks-docking station with the connectors is a flimsy idea - thats another hardware to lug around.No firewire cable is provided.Night shot/super nightshot mode is a gimik - should give it the pass.The UI could be better put together.There is no really useful manual control.The software provided is horrible.Sony should provide a lite version of their vegas software - i feel.
Overall happy with the buy.It has 1 MP CCD-decent 25X optical zoom-very good outside images -average indoor images-easy to use-moderate battery life and very good built.GOOD BUY FOR THE PRICE.