By many measures Sony DCR-HC42 isn't the best camcorder in its class, but it strikes a good balance for many intended buyers. For instance, similarly priced Panasonic camcorder records more vibrant images. Canon's similarly priced camcorder performs better under lower lighting situation. But it has few nice features that separate DCR-HC42 from these camcorders, particularly if you like widescreen composition.Let's examine its pros and cons.
Pros:
Excellent form factor, among the smallest and lightest camcorders in its price range.
Excellent DV Widescreen support, including great widescreen LCD.
Long battery life (nearly 2 hours in continuous shooting with LCD backlight turned off, about an hour in demanding situations). Optional batteries offer longer battery life.
Included docking station makes it easier to connect to computer or TV.
Very good outdoor performance.
Automatic settings work well.
Built-in lens cover.
Cons:
Optical zoom is only 12X, which is inexcusable considering lower-end DCR-HC32 goes up to 20X.
Proprietary accessory shoes for attaching accessories such as microphones and light. These accessories aren't cheap.
No headphones jack for monitoring audio recording.
Sensitive microphone may pick up button clicks (best to turn off the button click "beep" sound).
Not so good low light performance.
Most functions require you to access touch screen LCD.
Touch screen menu system can be complicated to use.
So-so digital camera image stills quality.
Compared to lower-end DCR-HC32, DCR-HC42 adds many features in an attempt to justify higher cost, including DV Widescreen, widescreen LCD (LCD backlight can be turned off to conserve power), color viewfinder, noticeably superior CCD for better image quality, accessory shoe that powers external microphone and lighting attachments, and higher resolution megapixel still camera. If widescreen does not interest you, DCR-HC32 may be a better buy.
DCR-HC42's most obvious gimmick is widescreen. If you have HDTV set, this is the low-end camcorder for you. As of now, Sony is the only big name manufacturer that includes widescreen LCD, which while not necessary to capture DV Widescreen, helps the experience immensely. Many camcorders with conventional 4x3 LCD do in fact record DV Widescreen as well as standard DV but LCD will have either black bars on top and bottom or worse, squeezed to accommodate wider images onto narrower frame. It is worth noting that while DV Widescreen increases horizontal resolution, it does so at the expense of vertical resolution. DCR-HC42 has real-life DV resolution of about 400x300 and DV Widescreen resolution of about 450x250. But this is still better than "fake" widescreen DV camcorders such as DCR-HC32, which records widescreen composition onto 4x3 frames, which decreases vertical resolution without increasing horizontal resolution.
Taking DCR-HC42 out of the box, I was surprised how small and light the camcorder was. My previous camcorder was bulky Hi8 model, and while I have played with many MiniDV camcorders at the store, its size still surprised me a bit. Recording a long footage without the use of tripod, I appreciated every ounce that DCR-HC42 sheds from heavier models.
Recording indoor in lazy afternoon, I was disappointed by recorded footage at first. But tinkering with the camcorder taught me a trick that cleans up noisy low-light images immensely the back light feature. This feature is designed to brighten up the subject set against brightly lit background (e.g., a person standing before sunrise) but significantly cleans up noise under indoor situation as well. Some footage takes on much smoother appearance with this feature turned on (helped further by using other features).
One of my biggest pet peeves is touch screen menu system. While personalized menu feature helps immensely (in which you can assign up to 28 frequently accessed features available within few clicks), I much prefer using physical buttons. Features such as tweaking exposure, adjusting focus, selecting automatic exposure, and adjusting white balance require using touch screen menu system. Thankfully, very frequently used features, such as enabling fully automatic mode (called "EASY" mode), previously discussed back light feature, and zoom are physical controls.
The main reason to choose MiniDV over other formats (e.g., DVD, MicroMV), is because the format is computer friendly. Using light weight compression algorithm (similar to MJPEG), DV format offers minimal digital artifacts and is highly suitable for linear editing. Before connecting the camcorder to computer, invest in FireWire (also known as i.Link or IEEE 1394) cable. This cable, along with FireWire connector on your computer, is necessary to edit DV footage on your computer with zero loss in quality. Windows XP includes Windows Movie Maker 2 which is good video editing software and works well with DCR-HC42. Sony includes video editing software, too, but it is pretty limited with many usability issues. If you are using Windows XP, stick with Windows Movie Maker. Macintosh users have even better tool at their disposal, iMovie HD, part of iLife `05. iMovie HD supports DV Widescreen, which lets you work with widescreen footage directly. Using this software, I was able to cut fairly well edited home movie.
All in all, DCR-HC42 is a good camcorder for point and shoot crowd, and particularly appealing to those with widescreen TV set. Its touch screen menu system may detract some buyers, but the Easy mode works pretty well for "set and forget it" crowd. More advanced users will have to put up with touch screen menu, but it wasn't so bad once I got use to it. If you record lots of footage under low light situation, this isn't the best camcorder for you. DCR-HC42 shines under bright outdoor.
Things that I like most about this camcoreder are
1) Image stability
2) Image Quality (Both Video and Still)
3) widescreen mode (40' angle for widescreen capture)
you loose tiny bit of resolution in wide screen still images
4) handling and portability
all the manual conttols are well arranged
smaller size allows easy portability
5) Battery life (I got almost 1hr 30 mins each time)
6) Touch Screen Menu (I wonder why some found it difficult)
7) Ease of use
8) Docking station
9) Still Image modes
exposure bracketing (three photos taken at various exposure)
normal burst mode (three photos taken consecutively)
10) LCD/viewfinder (2.7" Widescreen LCD screen)
it doesn't solarize like others when viewed from an angle
both LCD screen and viewfinder in color and 123K resolution
Areas where this camcorder lags behind
1) Low light performance
2) Scan rate (it should be 24P)
3) Optical zoom (It offers only 12x optical zoom)
while DCR HC32/21 offers 20X optical zoom
Overall
This camcorder is good for
1) Point and shoot users
2) Techno freaks
3) Outdoor video
4) Indoor video with decent lights
5) If you own a SONY laptop (ease of capturing movies and image)
Recommended Accessories
1) Tripod (set it up and operate camera from far using remote)
2) External flash (Very useful, can be attached on top)
3) Additional battery
If you want to capture more than 1 hr video w/o recharging
If using external flash
Buy Sony DCR-HC42 1MP MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/12x Optical Now
This is one of the best camcorders in the market today and I would definitely recommend it to anyone planning to buy a Mini-DV camcorderPositive factors:
Very small and easy to hold with one hand. Can be easily attached even to a mini-tripod with ease.
Excellent widescreen video and hi-fi audio. Your videos finally get that "Hollywood" feel when you shoot movies in 16:9 ratio (widescreen format). Even if you don't have a widescreen TV currently, you will very soon have one as more and more people are buying them. So its better to buy this camcorder and shoot in 16:9 format to enjoy your movies later in widescreen format.
Includes widescreen rotatable LCD so what you see is what you get when you shoot in 16:9 ratio (widescreen format)
Good battery life. One extra battery is enough. You can easily manage a day's worth of shooting with two batteries before recharging them again
Includes docking station making it easier to connect to computer or TV. If you have a good computer with a firewire port, please buy a firewire cable to connect the camcorder to your computer. You can download your movie in excellent clarity in .avi format and edit it as required
Make sure to change the audio setting to 16 bit (instead of the default 12 bit) for very good hi-fi audio
Touchscreen menu system is great. You don't have to search for any buttons as they are all available in the touchscreen menu itself.
12X optical zoom is more than sufficient for ordinary home videos. Anything more produces more "shaking" and would necessiate the use of a tripod. When you shoot without a tripod, 12X is the best zoom you can achieve without worrying about shaky videos
1 MP widescreen still photo. You can use this feature if you forgot to bring your digital camera. The photo clarity is not good so please don't expect great shots. Since the photo is in 16:9 format, you can take panoramic photos and cover more people in group shots
Nightshot: Cool feature that records using infrared light. Useful for shooting at night as you can record a video even in 100% darkness
Color widescreen viewfinder Very useful when you are running down on batteries and need to use the viewfinder. The color widescreen viewfinder gives an excellent picture and is as good as the LCD in clarity
Negative factors:
Outdoor videos especially in bright sunlight are overexposed. So please adjust the white balance when shooting outdoors. Add the white-balance menu to your shortcuts so that you can easily access it and return to default once you start shooting indoors
Sensitive microphone may pick up button clicks (best to turn off the button click "beep" sound).
Notes:
Use a fresh cassette after recording 2 or 3 times on the same cassette. The head tends to get dirty if you re-record on the same cassette more than 3 times
You can edit movies in Windowx XP using Windows Movie Maker, but beware it does not support 16:9 ratio video. Hence your videos look ugly as you shot them in 16:9 but Movie Maker converted it to 4:3. Invest in Pinnacle Software version 9 or 10 for better movie editing capabilities. Pinnacle is the only software, I am aware of, that preserves teh 16:9 ratio. Even Roxio could not allow 16:9 format.
You can also invest in wide-angle lens as it gives excellent coverage
Read Best Reviews of Sony DCR-HC42 1MP MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/12x Optical Here
After much searching for the perfectly priced, and well performing mini DV camcorder, I came back to Sony's HC42 model. I've owned a LOT of sony products over the year, and have yet to be disappointed. This is a solid camera, packing a touch screen, an upgraded lens, 12x optical zoom, and a docking station which connects your camera to the computer (via a firewire cord that YOU MUST PURCHASE separetly, it only comes with a USB cable for tranferring pictures) and is also a charging stand. It comes with some video editing software, but I would suggest Pinnacle 9 Plus, or a 3rd party if you are really into video editing. The picture quality is awesome, ease of use is great (it even has an 'EASY' mode, where high tech options disappear from the screen!). You cant go wrong at this price point. I wouldnt go for lower models, and the higher runs over 1000 bucks..this is the sweet spot. EnjoyWant Sony DCR-HC42 1MP MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/12x Optical Discount?
I had recently bought one and returned after observing its poor low light performance. This camcorder gives exceptional quality video in outdoors. In indoors with minimum lighting, it produces below average quality video and grainy pictures even with night shot. Especially if you are planning to shoot lot of video indoors (involving kids, for family events), this is not the right camcorder to buy.
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