Sony DCR-HC21 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom
List Price: $399.99
Details
- 1/6-inch CCD imager with 340K fixedness
- 2.5-inch stroke-panel SwivelScreen LCD
- Wonderful NightShot Plus Infrared System captures natural-looking video in low light
Description
CL) SONY DCR-HC21 MINI DV CAMCORDERCustomer Reviews
ahh sony :(my parents bought this when I was negligible and filmed everything with it. But it never would transfer anything onto ANY computer we have. The quality also is not very good but the zoom is excellent. I've never indeed used anything with a touch screen so I enjoyed the touch screen.
Worthwhile camera just dont try to put video on your computer
I was looking for a satisfyingly reasonably priced digital camera a few years back and this fit the bill pretty much. It has some polite features but the biggest draw back is it's not really compatible to transfer on to your computer. Which is something I wanted.
The USB video grandeur is absolutely horrible. The Firewire compatibility might work OK, but it doesn't prove to be c finish with the cable. You have to buy it seperate. I haven't tried that. So the only option left is the A/V pull (which most computers do not have). To put a video from this camera onto YouTube for instance, I had to copy the video from the A/V outputs to a recordable DVD. Then over that over to a WMV file. Then upload that to YouTube. Not to mention any editing you want to do.
Other than that, it's a courteous camera. 3 outta 5
fleet delivery, great product
upshot was delivered in less time than expected, and everything was exactly as it was advertised. I would definitely use this suite again.
Considerable!....while it worked
I bought this camcoder in Regal 2005 and it worked great for almost 4-years. Mind you, I only used it during the holidays and took noble care of it. Earlier this week, I turned it on, then opened the touch panel LCD but the LCD remained threatening as it the camcoder was off. I checked the viewfinder and it too was off but I can hear the internal components on rise-by - you know, that mild hummm. I then closed the LCD and now I could see through the viewfinder but it looks "staticky". I outstretched the LCD once more and the LCD was still black and the viewfinder went black again. The camcoder is definitely on. I checked the battery-operated charge and it was fine. The viewfinder shut off when I opened the LCD. I connected it to the insane outlet but the LCD still would not light up. I decided to check the internet for help and to my out of the blue, my camcoder is not the only one having this problem. There are several websites/bolgs expressing their disatisfaction with this piece. Some bloggers say that they've contacted Sony and that they gave them the run-around. I did not bother contacting Sony for help after I be familiar with some of those entries. I will never buy Sony again. This camcoder cost me $473 in August 2005 (new); a lot of rolling in it for barely four-years of service.
My First Camcorder... what a travesty.
The video eminence on this thing is HORRIBLE. Washed out colors, noise in low-light, out of date to focus, annoying touch-screen menu. Even when I first got this when I was 19 I deliberation it had bad video quality. I remember thinking my parents huge old creed VHS video camera took 100x better videos then this, and this was the new hot by-product when I bought it. Today's cell phone are capable of taking videos in fellow quality to this camera.
The only advantage is that this camera has 20x optical zoom, and trope stabilization. The mic on the camera seems to work quite well too. Another thing that bothers me is the slant of the lens. Maybe I'm spoiled by my wide-angle DLSR lenses, but the lens on this is like cropping into you conquer 3x from wherever you're standing. You have to back up very far to get all of your shot in, and sometimes in doors it's just not possible to go back any further.
After this camera I stopped na Sony's quality when it came to video/digital cameras. Also, my cousin owns a newer exemplar Sony digi-cam and it's horrible compared to my Canon SD1100. I love Sony, and I call to mind a consider everyone should own a PS3, it's the most awesome media center on the planet IMO, but for their optics... go with Canon, or Nikon.
Pros:
-Lightweight
-Has a viewfinder
-Textile zoom
-Good mic
Cons:
-Terrible video quality
-Luckless battery life (60mins)
-Uses mini-DV tapes when a camera of this blue blood/size should use flash memory to reduce size even further and make upload even easier to a computer. It's maddening that it takes 60mins to upload 60mins of bad quality video to my computer.
-Chamber phones take equal quality video in a smaller size.
-Can't upload videos over USB on Vista,
-Ceaselessly shot isn't a replacement for a good video light. It makes everything verdant.
-Annoying touch-screen menu with too many useless options to guide through.
Bottom line, don't pay more then $75 for this.
