Sony DCR-SR62 30GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Handycam Station Included) by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony DCR-SR62 30GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Handycam Station Included)
Digital camera Review: it's good but if you can opt up to the dcr-sr82
Summary: 4 Stars
this one is okay and does it all fine but i did and would encourage you to up just once more to the dcr-sr82 level. but it is still okay. but do the 82 if you can afford it. but this one is fine if you don't care about little details and just want to record your kids and have fun. the 82 isn't way better but just higher quality lens, and picture takeing, and hard drive space, and someother option, but don't remember what it was.Digital camera Review: worth spending
Summary: 4 Stars
Overall very good. Hard disk option is much better. Very good zoom. Easy to use in all sense.Softwares and handycam station nice feature. Battery life poor. Night pics not satisfactory. Digital camera Review: Not good enough - poor picture quality
Summary: 3 Stars
I am disappointed. And I thought that I read all the reviews here and made an intelligent choice. Hah! Shame on me. First off, the video quality rates a B-minus; I have 2 other Sony camcorders, a Digital-8 (bought late '99 or early 2000, can't remember exactly) and an even older mini DVD. However, both have video quality far superior to this one.
I am about to leave for Europe and don't have time left to return this and buy/try) another one. Also, it was a chore to get this unit to sit snugly on the supplied power station.
Granted, I just began working with it this morning, and I am rather insecure when it comes to electronics.
One good point: the DCR-SR62 is charmingly light!
However, I am sorry I did not pay attention to what another reviewer here pointed out: the LCD screen is almost useless in bright daylight, and of course there is no viewfinder to overcome the glare. I bought it knowing there is no viewfinder, and had to actually shoot with it to realize how necessary it is.
I've tried its Super NightShot feature, and it's nothing to write home about. By the way, it does take photos on the hard drive, so you don't really need to buy the MemoryStick Pro right away, just switch the capture mode from video to photo; but bear in mind that the resolution is low. I had hoped that with this one camcorder I'd have a video and photo combo, therefore less gadgets to schlepp around. Especially air travel being as cumbersome as it is these days. Well, yes, you have a movie camera and a photo camera all in one, just not very good quality. If good digital photos is what you want, you will need a good digital camera.
If high quality DVD movies is what you want to record, prepare to spend a few hundred dollars more and get something worthwhile. I am sorry I did not.
Follow up on September 15: Returned it to amazon yesterday. Don't know how long it will take for the refund to be processed, so am left without a camera for now. But it just didn't cut it for me. I dusted off my old cameras, checked again the video quality, and could not justify the cost of keeping this one. Mind you, if you're in the market for your first camera, you might want to buy it anyway, for I see amazon com has just lowered the price from what I had paid. Video quality is poor only because I am comparing it to a Digital-8, and a very old (DCRPC1)mini-DVD camcorder. So, perhaps I am spoiled. At this point I want to save up and up the ante, so to speak.
Digital camera Review: Not good! Buy the DCR-DVD405 or 408 instead!
Summary: 1 Stars
I personally thinks this is a POOR CHOICE. I will explain below:
1.NO VIEWFINDER/HARD TO SEE LCD - We took this to the Bahamas. In the bright sun, at times I could not even see what I was recording because the small LCD was totally washed out. Sometimes I was having to guess at what I was recording (can't see the touchscreen controls either).
2.ZOOM IS ONLY ON LCD SCREEN - Ridiculous! There is no control for zoom on the camera itself like most all others. You must push on the LCD screen to zoom! Very cumbersome to zoom and hold camera steady.
3.VIDEO QUALITY - While not real bad, not real good either. The DVD405 is much better. My fault, i read this on some reviews and bought it anyway.
4.POOR SOFTWARE - I personally did not like spending a bunch of computer time trying to create a dvd. It is cumbersome.
5.TOO SMALL - The small size is nice but hard to keep from shaking (image stabilizer only so-so).
6.SLOW AUTOFOCUS- When you pan around, it goes way out of focus.
I sent it back (no problem with Amazon!) and bought the Handycam DCR-DVD405 and it is GREAT! Has a VIEWFINDER, ZOOM BUTTON ON CAMERA, MUCH BETTER VIDEO QUALITY, it is the RIGHT SIZE and it is EASY TO USE and make dvds. It is a snap without having to fool with a computer and crumby software.
Digital camera Review: No more tapes!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been a long time video camera user, and this is my first time moving away from using tapes. I could not be happier. No more worring about what tape is in the camera, if it at the right spot. Just pick it up and go.
The 7 hours on the best quality it plenty of time and the download to the computer is easy.
I love the touch screen controls as well.
So far no problems.
I did think that the download to the computer would be faster... could just be my computer because I don't have a USB 2.0 connection, just regular USB. Still, way faster than having to play it in real time, and you don't lose quality.