This camcorder does capture good shots. But the main drawback is that it records to DVD. Initially its nice and easy to capture video and watch it on DVD instantly. It gives you instant gratification. But after capturing 4 or 5 hours of video, you will notice that your videos aren't so great as you expect it to be. Its not the fault with your camcorder. Its because all of us shoot extra footage, unwanted scenes, shakes, etc which we want to edit. You may want to add a title or two, add transitions, add backgroud music, combine your photos with the video, etc. Basically you may want to edit your footage. Its here when you find the major drawback of this camcorder. The DVD that you used to capture is non-editable. Therefore you need to download it to your computer and use a program like Pinnacle 9.0 to edit it. But the original picture quality is so bad that you won't have sufficient bandwidth to edit the video. As you know, DVD videos are compressed in MPEG2 format. This is a lossy compression that is good enough to watch the video on TV but not good enough to edit. When you edit these videos, add some transitions or special effects, increase/decrease brigthness or noise, etc, the newly edited video loses further clarity and thus makes your video look ugly and pixelated.In summary please don't buy this camcorder if you are serious about your videos and would like to edit them. But if you are not bothered about editing and want to watch your "RAW" unedited footage forever, then go for it.
That said, if you still think you want to go for this camcorder, please read the review on its other features:
1. Super NightShot Infrared System: Not a useful feature. Its amazining to initially see how this camcorder is able to "see" using infrared light. But the moment you shoot your wife or kid using infrared light, you never want to shoot again as they will appear like devils when shot using this infrared light. Remember infrared footage appears in black-and-white and not color. And the subject's eyes really look like devil.
2. 2.7-inch wide SwivelScreen LCD display with touch panel capabilities: Good feature if you always want to shoot in widescreen. In fact I would suggest you to shoot in widescreen only as all future TVs and current LCD/Plasma TVs are widescreen. You can future proof your video by shooting widescreen
3. Digital still photos: Please don't rely on this feature. The best photos from this camcorder as as good as the worst photos from any popular digital camera. Technology has still not matured to the point where a camcorder can shoot as good as a digital camera and vice versa.
4. 20x optical/120x digital zoom: Optical zoom is very good. You can handle upto 10X optical zoom without a tripod. Any more zoom requires the use of a tripod. I was able to zoom in and read a car tag from the top of Sears tower, Chicago. I love the zoom feature in this camcorder. Don't use the digital zoom feature. Turn it off. As mentioned above, MPEG2 compression already makes the video bad in quality. The digital zoom further makes it worst.
5. Progressive shutter system: Sony tries to mislead you into thinking that the camcorder is progressive. Not its not. Video is still interlaced only. Only digital photos are progressive which obviously they must be. Its no big deal. Forget about this feature.
6. Professional-quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens: Yes its good. The image quality is truly great till it gets compressed into MPEG2 format for storing onto DVD.
7. Super SteadyShot picture stabilization system: Good enough to avoid small vibrations caused when going on a ship for example. But not good enough for the shakes encountered when walking with the camcorder. Don't expect to get great footage in such conditions. For great footage, you must still rely on a steady hand or a tripod.
8. Dolby Digital 5.1-channel recording: Not a big deal. If you have a 5.1 home theatre, you may get some good results. But if you are watching your video on ordinary TV, you will actually lose some audio as your DVD player downsizes the 5.1 audio into 2 channel audio. All professional Hollywood DVDs actually have at least two seperate audio information. One for 5.1 systems and one for ordinary stereo. The DVD produced by this camcorder has only one track for 5.1. So if you watch on an ordinary Tv, you may lose some audio information. I would suggest not to rely on this feature and instead shoot in stereo only as its more than enough for everyday regular home videos.
9. On-screen zoom and record buttons: Not an useful feature. The camcorder tends to shake more when you use these zoom buttons on the LCD because the LCD is always projecting outside when shooting video. Hence you shake the camcorder more when you touch the LCD than when you touch the camcorder's body.
10. USB 2.0 interface: NOt a useful feature. Its easier to remove the DVD and place it on your DVD ROM drive on your computer, than to connect the camcorder using USB cables. The USB interface is useful if you want to burn DVDs using the camcorder's DVD burning feature. But remember, this camcorder can burn only miniature sized DVDs and not the regular DVDs. Moreover its cheaper and more convenient to use the computer's internal DVD writer or external DVD writer than to use this camcorder as a DVD burner. You don't want to decrease the life of the camcorder's DVD writer as the camcorder is far expensive than an ordinary DVD burner.
11. One-touch wide-angle shooting: Useless feature. You tend to always shoot in wideangle or letterbox. Who would want to switch constantly between these modes? Also as suggested earlier, better to shoot in wideangle only and future proof your videos.
12. Picture Package software: Very useless software. The free Picasa software from Google is far better in organizning your videos and pictures than the software that comes with this camera. Forget about this software.
13. DVD-R/RW and +RW Compatible: The camcorder is somewhat slow and non-responsive when you use DVDRW. This may be because DVDRW always have slower burn speeds compared to DVDR. So this is not a very useful feature unless you are planning to shoot still photos only. The slow speed problem occurs when shooting video only.
14. Active interface shoe: You can use this to connect external flash or mic. Not a very useful feature as any external device spoils the compactness of this camera.
15. InfoLithium battery with AccuPower meter system: Great battery life. I could shoot for upto 1 hour 20 minutes with one battery. Remember we always don't shoot continously in everyday life. We turn the camcorder on and off repeatedly when shooting. This battery last for 1 hour 20 minutes during normal shooting as explained above. If you shoot continously you may get longer battery life.
Overall summary. Buy this camcorder only if you are not serious about editing the videos. Its a good buy for point-and-shoot-and-view viewing pleasure.
Then, after hours of toying around with this camera I became extremely disappointed. Editing with this camera is virtually impossible. The software that it comes with (nero 6) only allows you to burn the small dvd onto a regular dvd. In order to attempt to edit I had to burn the small dvd onto a cd as data, then I had to open the cd folder and drag the contents to the desktop, then I had to download a converter to change the formats from vob to mpeg and then the converted file wouldn't even drag onto the desktop. After hours of all the complicated nonsense I have decided to return this camera and purchase the Sony DCR-HC46 mini dv camcorder. This one has the same if not better quality as the dvd105, but will be better for editing, then if I ever want the film on dvd i can just burn it onto a regular sized dvd since i'll actually be able to get the videos on the computer with this one.
But of course if you are a point > shoot > play sort of person this camera will be great for you.
Buy Sony DCR-DVD105 DVD Handycam Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom Now
I have to say that I've been tremendously impressed with the reviews of (especially) this product after owning it for a brief period just to check the Sony DCR-DVD105 Handycam myself: it's a great "first" camcorder for the novices -especially if you're not looking for crystal clear high quality images -but that's saying about all you can. The features -the 20x Optical Zoom, onscreen programming, etc. -are all terrific, and, at a glance with a reasonably informed sales associate -you might think you're getting a camera that'll make you the next Steven Spielberg, but, truth be told, you won't even end up as a Russ Myer (sp?). The images are less than one megapixel, and they're strained and grainy. While the photos burned to the MiniDVD are Windows compatible, the video isn't, and I had tremendous difficult getting the Nero software to keep my Windows XP from crashing (according to Nero, this was due to other software I had installed but not running on Windows). The camcorder has no ability to interface with a computer, so viewing your video footage is only possible through one burned movie OR hooking a DVD player up to your TV card via computer in order to capture the video a second time, at which point you can do some modest editing.Don't get me wrong: the 105 is a great camera for beginnings OR for folks who are looking to get their feet wet through experimenting and planning to upgrade at some point in the near future. Sony makes some great products, and, after a week of trial use, I immediately went out and exchanged the 105 on the vastly superior DCR-DVD405, which is a truly awesome camera. I just felt it highly relevant to post a quick review here stating that most of the folks who've contributed to these Amazon reviews TRULY are helpful and know what they're talking about, especially from a consumer perspective. Had I spent more time researching my initial decision here, I probably would've went for the Sony 405 right away, but, dollars to doughnuts, the 105 is a nice first camera.
Read Best Reviews of Sony DCR-DVD105 DVD Handycam Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom Here
We purchased Sony DCR DVD105 in preparation for our first born. The camcorder had all the features that we wanted and was very affordable. Overall this camcorder offered great value, and we have great videos of our new born. However, if you want your video files to be transferred to a computer for editing or to post it on the Internet, forget about it! This camcorder does not come with USB port to connect directly to your computer. Plus Sony does not provide any software to transfer your video files from the finalized DVD. If you are looking to do some video editing, you might want to consider higher model. Otherwise you will be spending sometime searching for software that will convert the file for you.Want Sony DCR-DVD105 DVD Handycam Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom Discount?
I don't normally write reviews, but this camcorder is exceptional. I admit to being a novice, and I don't like to read directions, and my first result (an evening football game--high school) was amazing. My old (not that old) was a Canon Elura that used the small mini dv tapes, and I paid more than twice the cost of this one, and it was poor at best. This was easy, touch screen, and you can record in WIDESCREEN!! We finalized disc and popped it into the DVD player in Toyota Sienna Van and it looked great--and even better on the big screen at home. My only complaint is battery time, but I bought an extra, and that should suffice for my use. Overall, this was a great decision, and about $50-80 bucks less than Circuit City or Best Buy--and NO SALES TAX.
No comments:
Post a Comment