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Product summary
The good: Compact; inexpensive; top-loading tape for easy tripod use; convenient control layout.
The bad: Mediocre image quality; low-res stills; monochrome viewfinder.
The bottom line: Low price and compact size can't compensate for mediocre image quality.
Specifications: Video input type: Camcorder ; Optical sensor type: CCD ; Optical zoom: 10 x ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 06/18/2004
The SC-D33's silver plastic casing has a thick, solid feel and should stand up well to everyday handling. Its control layout puts the basics in position for one-handed shooting, while playback and advanced shooting controls are located behind the LCD screen. Commonly used options such as the Nite Pix, Backlight, and Easy Q modes have dedicated buttons; most users won't have to delve into the menus until they want to access special effects or advanced functions. In fact, you can tap the menu jog dial while in record mode and quickly adjust exposure, shutter speed, image stabilization, and other functions without accessing the full menu system.
For casual and beginning users, the SC-D33's Easy Q mode enables image stabilization and adjusts exposure, white balance, and other settings automatically; in fact, it disables advanced features such as backlight compensation and manual focus. Those looking for more control will find a 30-step adjustable exposure as well as Sports, Portrait, Spotlight, Sand/Snow, and High-Speed modes. An infrared Nite Pix mode is available for nighttime recording. This can be combined with a slow-shutter mode to increase recording sensitivity at the cost of frame rate.
The SC-D33 has an accessory shoe for mounting third-party lights and mics, and it has a Memory Stick slot for saving 640x480 photos and MPEG-4 video clips. It also supports analog input and output, allowing you to transfer older analog tapes to DV format.
The SC-D33's sensitive zoom control requires a light touch; once you learn to baby it a bit, you can smoothly zoom the 10X lens at a variety of speeds. The automatic focus and exposure functions are fairly quick and decisive, but manual focusing using the jog dial is a slow process. While the 2.5-inch LCD offers a crisp view even in bright sunlight, the viewfinder is a disappointment. It is black and white, and it extends only backwards, not upwards, complicating tripod use.
Typical for a low-cost camcorder, when operating outdoors or in bright indoor lighting, the SC-D33 provides reasonably sharp, colorful, and well-exposed images. But shots taken in average to low indoor light are noticeably noisy and lacking in color saturation. The biggest disappointment is the perceptibly less detailed image quality when using image stabilization. Unless you don't use the zoom--which is unlikely--or you typically shoot with a tripod, you'll have to choose between a jumpy picture and a fuzzy one.
The SC-D33's photo quality is about as bad as it gets. The VGA-resolution stills lack detail and are noisy under all but the brightest conditions.
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