The DC-HC48 is a great camera very nicely sized and easy to use. I chose this version instead of the HC38 due to the support for stills and the improved CCD.The picture quality in good light is great. I actually displayed it on my 60 inch TV and the picture was as good as normal television. I was very impressed with the picture. It was also nice how easy it was to switch aspect rations to either 16:9 (wide-screen) to 4:3 (standard). However as it got darker outside and the light got lower inside I notice much of the "color" from the picture began to fade and the picture became somewhat mono-tone. This seems to be a common complaint for cameras in this price range with low-light.
I took the camera into a dark room (I couldn't see a thing) I turned on the night mode and was very impressed. People and things showed up great in the pitch black. The IR light emitted by the camera was picked up nicely and acted like an flashlight that only the camera would pick up. The subject had to be 5-10 feet away and of course the image was best in the center. The effect was very much like Survivor's night shots, or the Blair Witch Project.
The camera has two modes of operation. Normal node , which allows you to custom set settings like set Focus, Exposure, White Balance, or Effects like Old Film etc or set the settings to Auto. And Easy mode, which lets you basically turn beeping on and off and leaves all settings set to Auto.
The issue I found is in Easy mode the Still Pictures did not work. Also you have to stop recording to switch between Easy and Normal mode. The still photos are a fine quality for considering its a 1 Mega-Pixel camera. I wouldn't recommend using this as your primary still photo camera though its nice to have the option.
The touch screen I found to be somewhat cumbersome since you have to scroll through looking for the choices that you want. So if you want to make a setting change quickly and if you are unfamiliar with the camera it might take a while to find. I also tend to shake the camera some when I use the touchscreen. A nice feature is that you can create your own custom activity list so settings you set frequently are more accessible then those you don't use.
Where I was most disappointed was with the accessories. The standard battery it ships with lasts 1.5 hours, which seems like a reasonable time considering a MiniDV tape only holds 60-90 minutes depending on your setting. But like all batteries the 1.5 is ideal conditions and not real world turning the camera on and off and playing with the features and zooming in and out etc. Additionally the Battery takes an 1 hour and 40 minutes to charge which is surprising. Unfortunately the battery is not the newer ActiForce batteries which charge in approximately 20 minutes (with the actiForce charger).
Also to take still photos you'll need to buy a separate Memory Stick Duo card. (Not a Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo has a smaller form factor). The USB cable that ships with the camera lets you get the Still photos from the camera (attached to the dock) onto your computer. However it does NOT let you get the video. Instead you need a fire-wire cable which is not included. Sony sells this cable for around $40. Belkin makes that cable for around $12. The fire-wire (i.Link) cable only allows you to download video onto your computer (not the still photos). Again you must be attached to the docking station. If your traveling and wish to download to a computer you'll need to bring the docking station with you (it is pretty small but my be a hassle to bring with you). The docking station is one way to charge the camera or you can connect it to the wall with the supplied cables. Unfortunately there is only one power cable for the dock and the camera so if you plan to just bring the power cable you'll have to disconnect it from the docking station.
In short the camera is great just be aware you might be buying some more cables, batteries, chargers, memory sticks or other accessories that will end up affecting your total price of ownership. And that the Sony brand name versions of these accessories can be surprisingly pricey.
I picked up the latest Canon ZR800 from a local store and tried some shooting with it, since there were no reviews of that latest model but i was totally disappointed with the quality video had granulation & the worst part was it has a motor noise which gets dubbed on the tape :(
so i ordered this Sony HC48 & i am really really impressed with the performace, great video quality (no granulation) & sound too. As some of you are curious, it has infrared light which is great plus point for shooting in night time. Infact, when i tried shooting in dark with the NightShot Plus turned on and i tried to put my hand in front of the infrared light, I could see a patch of light on my hand, i was really thrilled by that, seeing its actually a light coming out of the camera. Ofcourse you probably need to use a tripod to shoot in night light for better stability.
Also, it has various other features/modes that i didnt notice in canon. for instance, it has a color mode to bring out colors more effectively in low light, a shooting mode to capture minute objects like insects etc..
I am glad i returned the Canon ZR800 and bought this oneI picked up the Sony DCR-HC48 Handycam just three days before heading out for a southern California vacation (had to replace my Panasonic from 2002 because it just wasn't cutting it anymore).
I was expecting about the same picture quality I was used to with my old Panasonic DV-103, boy was I wrong. After returning home from a week in the sun and editing the footage with Premiere Elements 3.0 and burning the finished product to DVD I was astonished. I have never seen such detail in a home movie in my life. The colors were so vibrant I thought maybe I had hit a time warp and ended up back in Hollywood. Truly an amazing camera. Even the paltry sized battery that was included with the unit lasted a fairly reasonable amount of time.
As a general warning to those in the market for a new camcorder I'll include the follwing side note:
My friend, who was with me in Cali, was also shooting with a Sony camcorder. However the unit he was using was the Sony DCR-SR62 HDD Handycam. After attempting to edit the footage on his PC and burning a DVD, the scenes were of poor quality...very shakey with tracers trailing every movement in the frame.
This is (from what I understand) because of the MPEG 2 files HDD (and DVD) camcorders use. Apparantly these files are useless to edit with because of the degradation involved in encoding and transfering MPEG 2s on a PC.
Too bad...wish someone had told my friend that before the trip.
For now anyone who is intresting in editing their video footage on a PC should stick with MiniDV camcorders. I highly recommend the Sony DCR-HC48 Handycam as a quality consumer level camcorder with a decent price tag (especially online).
Neccasary Accessories:
bigger battery (I recommend the Sony NPFH70 H Series)
carrying case
The Sony VF-30CPKXS 30mm Polarizing Filter Kit with protective lens cover (this may seem like an excessive accessory for some but when shooting at Santa Monica Beach I got a tremendous amount of sea breeze on the lens, which had me stopping at the local Office Depot for a lens cleaning kit. A bit frustrating considering I'd owned the camera for less than a week).I hope to give a more in depth review later, but wanted to be sure to make it clear to everyone that a Firewire cable (the so-called iLink) is not included with this product.
The camera itself is intuitive and easy to use out of the box but also highly customizable. The video and sound quality are excellent, and the LCD screen is gorgeous and uses touch screen buttons in addition to the button bar beneath it. But Sony has a way of making fantastic products and then alienating the purchasers of those products (a la the PS3). So understand that in order to do the very basic and essential task of transferring your DV images to your computer requires you to shell out $35-70 more to buy a Firewire cable. The provided USB cable is for transferring stills from the Memory Stick only. Thus, this camera can only receive 4 stars due to Sony's cheap skate approach. Caveat emptor...Purchased this for my husband we are both happy with the Camcorder. We originally bought a Panasonic upon a friend's recommendation NOT HAPPY WITH PANASONIC! Compared to the Panasonic, the Sony is far more superior: easier to use, lighter, and most importantly MUCH BETTER PICTURE QUALITY AND IMAGE STABILIZATION FEATURE.
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