Review: Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder

After years of messing around with cheap, useless video cameras I decided it was time to go high tech. I have been around long enough to have used Super 8 film, and some of the first video tape cameras, and now it was time to move into the future.

I found the Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder at Circuit City for $1299.99. Yeah I know it isn't cheap! Cheap was not what I wanted though.

The Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder is an expensive camcorder, but I am of the old mindset, you get what you pay for. If you want cheap, get cheap. You will also get garbage.

The Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder has a huge 240GB hard drive to shoot on, so you can get a lot of video. Actually 96 hours of video. I can shoot for quite awhile, without the need to stop to reload a new tape. That is one great thing about shooting with a digital camcorder like the Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder .Since I am an aspiring filmmaker, this gives me plenty of space to shoot multiple takes.

The face detection feature of the Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder is spot on, and very useful to me. The camcorder will focus on the most prominent faces in the shot, and give me an autofocus. This way I don't spend as much time focusing on the people in the shot, and can get on with it. It's a great time saver.

I also like the Optical Steadyshot feature. I don't have a steadycam (an expensive harness set up used to get stable handheld shots in motion pictures) so this is the next best thing. I can get reliable image stabilization using the Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder.

The Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder also has 12x optical zoom, and 150x Digital zoom. This is great when I want to get a long shot, and then zoom in to the action.

For the most part the Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder is the best video recording system I have used. That is not to say there are not some downsides to the camcorder.

The Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder does not do well with low light levels. Of course this has long been a complaint when shooting video over film.

The Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder has a menu system that would take a technogeek to decipher. Fortunately I am a technogeek, but for anyone not familiar with the nuances of the icons that the Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder uses in the menu system, you would have a real problem figuring it out.

For the semipro the Sony Handycam High Definition Camcorder is easy to figure out. You do get what you pay for.