Sony DCR-DVD301

1.5 stars

"I spent $1000 and no one said it wouldn't work without a flash." on April 4, 2005 by amom2seven

Pros: lightweight

Cons: Must have a filter to use outdoors and a flash to use indoors. Camera is useless if you do not buy these additional items.

4.0 stars

"Great camcorder" on March 8, 2005 by mingstersol

Pros: Compact size, Large hybrid LCD screen, Zeise lens, Still photo function, night shot

Cons: Costly media when using RW, low light picture is not very sharp and color leans towards a blue hue, short recording time on dvd

Summary: Great camera for a beginner and fun to use. I replaced my Panasonic GS120 for this becuase of the convenience of the DVD media instead of MiniDv. The MiniDV camecorders does produce a better picture but this camera is a lot more fun to use. If you are not looking to do a lot of editing of the video the DVD is the way to go. This sony camcorder has a great image stabilizer and the Night shot function is a lot of fun when just fun stuff at night. The DVD301 is also very easy to use and also has a few manual functions if you like to tinker with the image a little. If you are looking for the best picture you can get and more manual functions from a camcorder I recommend any Panasonic 3ccd camcorder but if you are just looking for a fun camcorder that takes decent video and ready to go right when you're done this will be the camcorder to use. Right when you are done filming you can pop the disc in the your dvd player and enjoy or you can do some simple editing with the program provided in the package.

2.5 stars

"Bleeding Edge Technology Not Ready for Prime Time" on December 24, 2004

Pros: Compact size, interesting use of Mini-DVD technology, battery compatibility with my DCR-TRV8 Handycam (both use M batteries), superb LCD viewfinder.

Cons: Mini-DVD technology is not ready for prime time. Changing disks is cumbersome and slow, even after pre-formatting. No USB 2.0 software support from Sony on my Mac G4 DP500 running Quicktime 6.2 in OS 10.2.8 environment running a USB 2.0 card (disk not re

3.0 stars

"Very nice, be careful when using other media brands" on December 23, 2004

Pros: Great camcorder overall, but I had a tremendous disappointment on it's first use. We welcomed the arrival of our newborn son and used a MEMOREX dvd-r (which is supposed to be compatible) to record many special moments of his first three days at home. Incl