I needed a cam to make some movies of my new daughter. I wanted something compact so that I would never hesitate to carry it around. I also wanted to make sure it was easy to use and took great video indoors. This narrowed my choices down to the Sony PC-105, TRV22 and the Canon Optura 300 / Elura 50. Except for the TRV22, all were the vertical style which while small, were awkward to use (the Sony being the worst with its horrible zoom control). The Canon's also do not have the IR-illuminated night shot capability. So, I was all set to buy the TRV22 especially since it has outstanding low-light capability when I tried out the HC40. The HC's form factor is just so great, I couldn't pass it up. It to me seems as small as the PC105 but is the much more hold-able horizontal style everyone prefers.So I bought both the TRV22 and HC40 and compared them at home. Yes, the TRV22 does shoot noticably better in low light conditions, but practically speaking the HC40 is good enough for me, and the form factor more than makes up for it. I'd give it 5 stars if 1) its low light ability was as good as the TRV22 and 2) if its auto focus responded a bit quicker.
This camera is very easy to operate and the quality of footage taken with it is phenomenal. There aren't a lot of buttons on this camera, as most of the configuration settings are accessed through the screen-based menu system. I've read a lot of people find the menu system annoying, however I find that it's laid out quite nicely. Once you pick a setting, the camera will shut down other options that aren't applicable given the settings you've selected.
I'm very happy with the nightshot mode. If you've ever watched Survivor, the night shots shots taken with this camera look like.
The zoom control on the camera took some getting used to and I've found that using your right hand middle finger to control it works quite well. You'll also want to adjust the hand strap to firmly hold your hand to the camera.
I have not used the software that comes with this camera and that seems to be where a lot of the whining comes from on CNet. If you're going to get a DV camera and you plan to edit the footage, invest in some decent video editing software (or buy an iMac).
Buy Sony DCRHC40 MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom Now
After looking at/researching cameras for a few months, I decided on this one. Here is what I was looking for (and what I got) in this camera.1. Small. I wanted to be able to carry it in my pocket for easy access. This is not much bigger than my digital camera. It's freakishly small.
2. MiniDV. This appears to be the dominant home camera format, and I didn't want to be stuck w/ a format that would be out of date in a year.
3. Easily transferrable to my laptop and/or DVD recorder. No problems here. Very, very simple to transfer video.
4. Video quality. I wasn't comfortable paying a bit less for lower video quality. I'm glad I chose to pay a bit more. I'm very pleased w/ the quality. No washed out colors in my experience (as indicated in some other reviews). Very crisp and clear.
5. Low Light Capability. A number of cameras in the under-a-thousand price range have trouble w/ low light. This one does a very solid job.
A Couple of Caveats:
1. I've had a bit of trouble with wind noise. Granted, I live in Oklahoma where there are perpetual 459 mph winds, but I am surprised at this. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's mildly annoying.
2. Buying this through online services offering ridiculously cheap prices is annoying at best and dangerous at worst. I tried, no kidding, 6 different stores trying to 'get a good deal.' They all had something wrong--either it was a gray market product, or it didn't come with a battery, or it was going to take a month to get it. My strong suggestion is that you pay a bit more and buy this from someone you can trust.
3. You may want to consider buying a spare battery. You're looking at somewhere in the hour and a half range for the battery, but if you're filming your daughter's 83 hour long dance recital, or if you don't have electrical access to recharge it, the extra battery is a good investment.
BOTTOM LINE: If you're looking for a solid videotape-the-kids-at-the-beach-or-playing-t-ball camera that you can use indoors and outdoors, this is a wonderfully small, convenient, and fairly reasonably priced option.
Read Best Reviews of Sony DCRHC40 MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom Here
I bought this camera at a retail store the day before a trip to New Orleans. My original intent was to purchase a camera but I noticed that the DV recorder was only a little more and felt adventurous. Of course, I paid a hefty price but I wasn't able to go through amazon because it was the day before my trip. That being said, I was afraid that I had been suckered into buying something of lesser quality. Being a photographer and used to high definiton cameras I thought that the DV camcorder would be a great step down.. I hadn't really even investigated camcorders for at least 5 years. Now that I'm back from the trip having shot both indoor and outdoor scenes, and watched the results on my widescreen tv I can say that I was very pleased. The camera is very very easy to use (as are most SONY products) and the quality is superb. I'm not sure what the other reviewer is complaining about. Color and contrast are great. Low light scenes will be difficult regardless of the tool you use.. the camera can't make light where there is none.. the nightvision mode helps but takes away some color.. but overall a great camera.Want Sony DCRHC40 MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom Discount?
If you're looking for a tiny miniDV camcorder, especially if you want to do widescreen 16:9 recording now or in the future, this is the model.The HC40 is about 32 cubic inches, and very lightweight.
It can fit in a small-medium size camera bag, or in a large pocket. Much easier to take with you than larger camcorders.
If you don't care about size, there are some discontinued models you might find for much less, like Panasonic DV-53, or the Sony TRV22 or 19.
Unlike the HC20 or HC30, this model provides a high quality widescreen mode, with little or no loss of data when using widescreen. Instead of just putting black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, you actually record a wider area when in widescreen mode, and the image is stretched to fit normally on the tape, filling the screen with a distorted stretched image. You can then use your TV setting to compress the image to widescreen 16:9.
I've tried it, and don't notice any loss in quality compared to 4:3 mode. (To evaluate, I also looked at the stretched image compared to 4:3, to make a more fair comparison. It's hard to make a true comparison.)
Doing direct A/B comparisons on an HDTV, the image seems a little better than the Sony TRV19 (19 is similar model to the 22) in medium indoor light, but much worse in low light.
However, the motor noise is much quieter than on the TRV19.
If you want to do low light recording, less than 100 watts incandescent in small area, you might want to get a camcorder with a larger sensor. This sensor is only 1/5 inch.
The menus are customizable, which is very convenient. You can make your own menus for each camera mode.
The lens cover switch is a nice touch--no lens cap.
The battery is small, but still has about the same capacity as last year's larger one.
The LCD display has a new feature which makes use of external light. It is much more visible in bright sunlight, and you can turn the backlight off, saving the battery.
An s-video/composite/audio cable is included. One end is a small plug similar in size to iLink, and the other end of the cable has audio&video plugs.
Unfortunately the viewfinder does not tilt upwards like other models. And, you can't slide it out halfway to make extreme diopter adjustments; you can only turn a dial to make the normal adjustment. I can't use the viewfinder without my eyeglasses, because I have a strong prescription.
The photos are terrible; I wish camcorders would eliminate this feature, and focus on better video.
The strap is nice, but cannot be removed. Makes fitting in a small bag more difficult.
Sony camcorders are reputed to have great automatic point-and-shoot capability, including this model. When steadyshot is on indoors, the camera tries to set shutter speed at 1/100 to reduce blur. But if there isn't enough light, it will step down to 1/60. Gain is only applied after the aperture has opened completely and the shutter has reached 1/60. When using a tripod, you can shut off steadyshot, and the camera will automatically use 1/60 shutter, to allow a smaller aperture for better focus, or in low light, less gain for a better picture. These adjustments are made very quickly, and very intelligently. You can display the settings the camera chooses on screen while recording or in playback.
Wonderful camcorder, glad I got it!
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