Good quality video, easy to use, hard drive is handy !
Disadvantages:
Still images not so good, struggles a bit in low lighting
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
The arrival of camcorders with hard drives has really been a godsend for many. While MiniDV has its advantages, it really is so much handier having your videos recorded to a hard drive, which can then be simply copied over to your computer. The Sony SR80E Handycam was one of the first to include a hard drive, which was the reason that I bought it, well, coupled with the fact that I needed a camcorder anyway. So, lets have a look at how this camcorder stacks up:
Main Specs
Optical Sensor: Advanced HAD CCD Optical Zoom: up to 12 x Digital Zoom: up to 800 x Max Shutter Speed: 1/3500 sec Min Shutter Speed: 1/3 sec Digital Video Format: MPEG-2 Still Image Format: JPEG Connectivity: Composite video/audio (both input and output) USB (USB 2.0) Microphone Remote control S-Video output
The Handycam also has an accessories "hot shoe" on top, on which you can add accessories such as a flash, video light or larger microphone so there's plenty of scope for upgrading the camcorder here.
Look and Feel
While the SR80 isn't going to win any style awards, it doesn't look exactly ugly either. It just looks like a normal camcorder, with nothing striking about it really. The metal style color is also perfectly acceptable and gives the camcorder a nice expensive feel. It has to be said though that considering the camera has a built-in hard drive, they've done a good job keeping it compact, and it doesn't feel too heavy either so its not going to be uncomfortable if you are using it at any great length, and it feels quite nice to hold really. The touch screen is a neat feature in my opinion and helps to keep the amount of buttons and various widgets around the camera to a minimum, making the camera very easy to pick up and use from the get go. I have read though that many others really hate the touch screen interface, saying that they find it uncomfortable to use as the selection buttons are crammed into the 2.5inch display, which of course is also a finger print magnet, but I never had any problems, and finger prints are easily cleaned with a bit of care. I also felt that the actual user interface itself was nicely laid out and designed and was basically very user friendly. I think the touch screen certainly makes this camera more accessible for those who are buying camcorders for the first time, people who may not have a great deal of experience with them. so this is a good thing to bear in mind if you are buying this as a gift.
Performance
The SR80E comes with a 60GB hard drive, which equates to 880 Minutes of the highest quality video, or you can also squeeze out 2,510 minutes at the lowest quality and the camcorder will also take up to the nice figure of 9,999 still images. In my opinion, 60GB is more than enough for anyone, especially since you can copy the videos across to your PC via USB in a very quick and painless drag and drop process with the included dock. The dock also provides you with a handy option of burning the videos straight to disc, if you have a burner installed on your computer of course, so that's a handy feature for backing up your movies without taking up space on your PC.
So, when starting the camera, I noticed that the start up procedure was complete in a few seconds, which is much faster than comparable camcorders and I found the video quality to be very good on the highest settings, and when using the camera the Auto Focus and Auto Exposure were also very fast reacting and they kept up well with all my zooming in and out and pointing the camera in various directions, but were a little slower when shooting in low light. However the camcorder also has a handy night-mode for shooting videos at night, so you can create some nice Blair Witch Project style videos, if you want. Sony's image stabilization system also did a good job of keeping the camera shake to a minimum, which is handy for me as I don't fancy carrying a tripod around with me everywhere! :)
I haven't really used this camcorder for still images as I usually have a digital camera with me also, but should you want to, you can take pictures which are at 1 mega pixel, so they are a great quality really, but the feature is there should you want to use it.
I have found the battery life of the standard battery to be around the 50mins-60mins mark, which is a bit of a pain when you are looking to shoot continuously, say, when you are on holiday for example. As a result of this I actually bought an extra battery and will recommend this definitely for anyone who will be using the camera a lot. I have read that there are higher capacity batteries for this camcorder now which should bring the life to over 3 times longer, of course, you will have to pay more for the luxury.
Conclusion
So overall this camcorder is a nice choice for anyone looking to step into the world of making videos. Experts might baulk at the simple touch screen interface and the camcorder's problems in low light conditions, but most people will be more than happy with this camera. If you think the touch screen might bother you then it is worth trying out first! I have found this camera to be very handy, and I really love the fact that I can simply drag and drop my videos onto my PC, rather than having to capture MiniDV footage. You might even see some video reviews from MisterB in the near future using this camera, so stay tuned folks!Thanks for taking the time to read this review, all comments and ratings are very much appreciated.
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