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"Next to Useless" on by am01
Pros: A nice easy to use, small media-less recorder
Cons: Has almost no editing capabilities, low res photos
Summary: I must first of all say I am disappointed with the editors review, which I largely based my decision on purchasing this camera on.
I only need a camera for home movies, sending home movies to grandparents, etc, so wasn't put off by the fact that the picture quality was only average.
What nobody mentioned was that this camera has almost no editing capabilities, due to the fact that it records in MPEG2 format. The computer software that is bundled with it, gives basic, and I mean BASIC editing capability. There is no provision for transitions, title pages, picture quality tweaking, or even stringing all your recordings into one movie. You can only create a menu with separate chapters for each recording, and within those chapters you can delete what you don't want. There is text editing in the menu only.
SO, unless you are happy to watch your raw, unedited dvds for ever and a day, this camera is useless. Wish I'd been warned. -
"All good except the image quality" on by felixlee
Pros: Hard Drive disk, small, easy to use
Cons: Really poor video and still pic quality, touch screen control is hard to use
Summary: The reason I pick this camcorder is because it is hard disk drive and it is way cheaper than its upper level product DCR-SR60. The camcorder is small, cool looking, easy to use but poor image qualiy. Before I bought it, I did some research. Lots of online reviews for this camcorder mentioned the image quality is poor, I just didn't think it would be that poor. I can tell this, my Canon digital camera takes better videos than this camcorder. I also found out this camcorder does take still picture, but in a very poor quality. My Logitach Quickcam takes better still picture than it. I was actually disappointed of Sony, I cannot believe they can even produce poor video quality camcorder like this and sell for $500+.
For me to choose a camcorder, video quality matter the most. Others may not. Hence, If you can accept poor quality video but pay more attentions to other features, this camcorder maybe your choice. However for me, I returned the next day. I may buy DCR-SR100 which sells $300 more, I think there is a reason. -
"This is a fanstastic Camcorder for the average user." on by snowserpent
Pros: Lightweight, Decent low light filming. Very easy to learn.
Cons: No onboard light, and supar still pictures. But hey it's a Camcorder not a digital camera.
Summary: I got the DCR-SR40 for Xmas and I have been extremely pleased with it. Contrary to other reviews it does take decent low light video. We filmed several family get together's with it and they've all turned out great. The included Sony software isn't very powerful but it will burn your videos to DVD with the touch of one button. How much easier could it possibly be!!! Once we stuck the DVD in and watched it, I was amazed that the pictures came out so well. I hope to use this camera for years to come.
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"works great... but not Mac compatible out of the box" on by nanorye
Pros: basic and easy to use, pretty intuitive UI, no need to buy tapes or discs
Cons: no firewire cable included, not Mac compatible, manual focus controlled digitally, many features controlled digitally with touchscreen, cannot do complicated things; for beginers only
Summary: This was a really simple camera to pick up and use intuitively. It's a more improved UI and GUI for Sony. Still not as good as Canon, but getting better. The touchscreen can be nice, but also annoying while trying to do more sophisticated things while shooting on the fly. there aren't too many buttons on the outside since there is the touchscreen, because this the camera looks nice and easy to use. The buttons are located ok. For my hand, the record button could have been a little lower and if you have the larger battery like I got, then you might find it harder to use the Mode dial switch. All in all, it's very nice for my first camera, but I was surprised and a bit upset to find it's not Mac compatible out of the box. You need to go to some 3rd party site to purchase a program for $69 dollars and I'm not sure if I want to run some other program on my computer... I am contemplating returning it for this very fact. For all beginner camcorder users who use windows machines, this could be a good camera for you.
-Ryan -
"poor quality, upgrade to DCR-SR60!" on by rnbbarn
Pros: Small, light, hard disk is great, I like the touch screen, burns DVD easily if you don't care to edit, 20x optical zoom, 800x digital zoom, NO TAPES
Cons: Video quality is poorer than I expected, still images are very poor, no hot shoe, no input feature, no remote, no wide screen LCD
Summary: I was very excited to buy this camera. However, after recording my first video, I could see jagged lines on peoples faces and just plain poor video due to the .68 resolution. I tried the still image and it's only good if your desperate for a picture. I was disappointed that there is no light and no hot shoe for a light. Some of my video was dark. This camera does not allow you to input to it. I took this camera back and purchased the DCR-SR60 which as 1.07 resolution. It solves all of the problems I had with the 40 and I only paid $50 more with it being on sale. The hard disk on these cameras is very nice. I am copying my 8mm tapes right to this camera and then to my computer. 30Gigs will give 7 hours of video which is plenty for me. If I record 7 hours on vacation, I won't be having any fun! In summary, I was very unhappy with the 40 and love the 60.
Updated
I meant to give it a 4! I was very excited to buy this camera. However, after recording my first video, I could see jagged lines on peoples faces and just plain poor video due to the .68 resolution. I tried the still image and it's only good if your desperate for a picture. I was disappointed that there is no light and no hot shoe for a light. Some of my video was dark. This camera does not allow you to input to it. I took this camera back and purchased the DCR-SR60 which as 1.07 resolution. It solves all of the problems I had with the 40 and I only paid $50 more with it being on sale. The hard disk on these cameras is very nice. I am copying my 8mm tapes right to this camera and then to my computer. 30Gigs will give 7 hours of video which is plenty for me. If I record 7 hours on vacation, I won't be having any fun! In summary, I was very unhappy with the 40 and love the 60.
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