What'll U do with the $ you save on tapes?

Author's Rating:

Pros: firewire/ieee link capable, accepts hi8/8mm tapes, zoom, flip out screen

Cons: bit heavy, small flip out screen

The Bottom Line: 
Big bang for your buck right here.

Author's Review
Hehe, i'm so silly. Anyway, this is the first camcorder i bought for myself back in November last year. I've had a lot of fun with it.

A major advantage of this camera is that it can play/record on hi8 tapes, thus it's "digital 8". I am so happy with this feature. Now all my old hi8/8mm movies can still be played and won't go to waste. AND I save money too! I'd be depressed to shell out $12 for a tiny lil DV tape when i can get 2 hi8's for $5.99 (when they're on sale at Walgreen's). Ok fine i'm cheap. Haha. But I got to treat myself to lunch at Subway with the extra cash! Alright!! My old 8mm camcorder just SUCKED. I wasn't happy with the picture quality at all so I knew i had to go digital.

Went to Sears and this camera caught my attention right away because of the fact that it's Digital 8. I tried it out at the store and was impressed with the bright flip out screen (though a tad small) and the zoom. It looked sturdy and looked of very good quality. Those people at Sony really pay attention to making great camcorders. That was enough for me to buy it and give it a try.

I shot some footage and was so excited to hook it up to my iBook (my then powerbook G3 which i traded up for in May-read my review). I had to spend for a cable first which set me back another $25 but i didn't care since I was so excited anyway. I ran home & hooked up to my iBook and started imovie2. Downloaded clips and was psyched at how simple it was. And i was able to compress them and send the clips out via e-mail. Wow! Once I've edited the video to my liking, i could transfer it back to the camera. So I find the Firewire (IEEE 1394 for the PC users out there..hehe) connection to be very valuable. It feels good to go digital.

And so what if it didn't come with a memory stick! I already have my digital elph (read my review on that too!). The digital stills this camera takes (which are recorded on tape) aren't that great. Figures. Get your 2.1 Megapixels somewhere else. I love the digital and picture effects that i can use on footage though, i.e. strobe, slow shutter, fade, etc. Exposure control is another plus. Very cool. I can even make aunt aida look "skinny" with the slim filter. She's gonna love me for that.

The image quality of this camera's very good, video wise. Well, i'm no expert but i sure can tell the difference from my old 8mm. I get bright & crisp footage with this camera. I love the extra lines of resolution that i get.

Optical zoom is good at 25x. It's capable of 400x digital zoom but i tend to stay away from that because images get very blurred and shaky. Gosh, so much for spying on my hot neighbor across the street. Maybe I'll invest in a good tripod...

Nightshot is a cool setting, although sometimes I forget to turn it off so my whole video is green & white. Darn! I think it's impressive that you can shoot in total darkness. Blair witch 3 anyone?

The standard battery that comes with the camera lasts pretty well. I try to stay away from flipping the LCD out too long because that'll drain the battery faster. But what fun is shooting video without a screen? Hmph. Am I forced to buy another accessory here? Haha.

Overall, I think this camera is a good value. It's not dirt cheap but it's not going to rob me blind either. And with the features it comes with, I think it's a keeper. If I could only fit it in my purse now...