Tag : handycam camcorder, hc28 minidv, sony dcr, optical zoom, with 20x

Company : Sony List Price : $249.99 Amazon Price : Too low to display Used Price : $198.00 Average customer review :

Features

• Carl Zeiss Vario- Tessar lens; 20x optical/800x digital zoom
• 1/6-inch Advanced HAD CCD imager
• 2.5-inch touch-panel SwivelScreen LCD monitor
• Super SteadyShot image stabilization and NightShot Plus technology
• Easy Handycam button for ease of use

Product Description

The Sony DCR-HC28 MiniDV HandyCam Camcorder delivers the right mix of versatility and quality. Its compact and stylish design makes filming movies easy and convenient. The a/6-inch CCD Imager provides stunning detail and clarity, and the 20x optical and 800x digital zoom brings the action up close, with less distortion. Super SteadyShot(R) compensates for camera-shake, while teh NightShot(R) system captures natural video in the lowest light. The large 2.5-inch LCD screen lets you review your pictures and video to make sure it’s the best. 20x optical, 800x digital zoom USB Streaming SteadyShot Image Stabilization NightShot Plus for low-light filming - minimum of 0 lux Auto Exposure Modes - Beach & Ski, Landscape, Portrait, Sports Lesson, Spotlight, Sunset & Moon Picture Effect Modes - Monotone, Negative Art, Sepia, Polarize Fader Effects - Black, Mosaic, Monotone, White White Balance Modes - Auto, Indoor, One-push, Outdoor Aperture - f1.8-3.1 Focal Distance - 2.3-46mm Full Range Auto and Manual Focus Built-in microphone USB and i.LINK(R) ports S-Video connection Shutter Speeds - Auto, 1/60-1/4000 sec. (1/4000 in AE mode) Supplied Software - Picture Package 1.5 Operating Systems - Windows Me, 2000 Pro, XP Home and Pro Battery Type - InfoLithium(R) with AccuPower(TM) Meter system (NP-NF30) Battery Life - Up to 9 hours (viewfinder) or up to 8 hours (LCD) Dimensions - 2-5/8 x 3-1/8 x 4-1/2 inch (65 x 79 x 113 mm) Weight - 14 ounces (420 grams) with tape & battery

Customer reviews

One Big Warning
This camcorder has very nice features and it is easy to use. One big warning, though. If you use disks that are not Sony brand, you may find that the camera will freak out with error messages, therby destroying anything you may have started recording. Once I changed to using only Sony disks (which happens to be more expensive, too, surprise!!), I have stopped having problems with this. With that exception i can recommend this.

Happy
It’s not perfect quality or anything, but for the price I’m happy. Just search “Sony DCR-HC28″ on youtube to find some climbing videos i made. The quality’s better than that — i had to shrink the files to put it on youtube — but it’ll give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

good value, easy to use and very portable
i bought this handycam while on holiday in the usa, mainly to video my little cousin who is 18 months. the exchange rate meant that i saved £100 ($200).

its extremely easy to use. the minidv tapes are very cheap and if you have a dvd burner you can get very good quality video’s directly. the battery life is sufficient but one of the best things is the sound quality and microphone pic up. i was 10 metres away on a wind swept beach but the camera picked up my voice perfectly. did nt give it 5 stars because it does nt come with a firewire cable and irritatingly i have to buy to different cables to use it on a sony laptop and a apple mac

Nice little camcorder
I purchased this camera as a replacement for Canon Optura 20 which was dropped and when estimate for repair exceeded price of this camera, I decided to move on. After using DCR-HC28 for several weeks, I believe this is a very neat package. Overall, I am very satisfied with this camera. One of the first things that I noticed is that color representation in low light conditions is much more accurate than that of Canon. I grew accustomed to adjusting Optura’s white balance indoor in order to get accurate color tones. Now I am finding, that automatic settings work just fine and, in fact, I didn’t have a reason to play with presets as of yet. This camera is more of a “point and shoot” type than Canon. It provides you with manual controls, but they are not easily accessible. Still, I have not found a reason to mess with these. Besides, for those, who would claim that manual settings are necessary for advanced/professional type of filming, I would point to the price tag and ask where and when did they last see an advanced/professional camera for under $300?

This camera is also about half the size of Canon and combined with low price and weight, produces a package that I can drag with me while going to the beach, bicycling, hiking, etc and not having to worry about ruining expensive piece of electronic gear, as was the case with my Optura which, at the time when I bought it, cost me about 2.5 times of what I paid for Sony.

So far, I’ve used this camera in about all of the lighting conditions that I would expect to ever having to consider. I have NO COMPLAINTS about its performance. Picture seems to be sharply focused and color tones are correct. Focus is fast enough to keep up with little kids or to shoot some sports/action. Sound quality of the microphone is quiet acceptable. There seems to be very little noise from drive motor and it is not picked up by the mic so it is not transferred to your recording. All of the essential controls and menus are within easy reach.

There are few negative points that prevent me from giving this camera 5-star rating. Lack of any kind of accessory shoe or external microphone input is a drawback. It would be nice to have these, as it would increase range of conditions under which one can use it. Still, among my friends, who actually have a camcorder, about 90% don’t own an accessory light or external microphone, so if it was possible to lower camera cost by omitting these features, it is not a criminal move on part of Sony. The LCD display could have been a bit larger and it would not hurt if Sony would provide it with more freedom of motion - it only swings out to 90 degree angle and in certain situations it is a limiting factor.

Doh!
I read a lot of good reviews about the DCR HC26 and only saw 2 reviews about the HC28. (Mind u I know nothing about camcorders.)Thinking that the higher the number on the camcorder (newer version), the better the quality would be. So I bought one today and tested it out. Like what the majority of people had said, the video quality of the camcorder is awesome. It has great auto focus, the touch screen is easy to use(the lcd screen does work when u turn it to face the person/object your shotting), the nightshot plus blew me away as well as the fact that the camcorder weigh practically nothing. I love the camera, however, there were 2 cons that out weighted the pros for me.

My first complaint about the HC28 is that according to the manuel and other post you can link the cam to your computer using a IEEE 1394-firewire. From my experience, that’s not true. I bought the IEEE 1394 when I got bought the camcorder and it doesn’t fit the “DV in” slot. I ended up buying a second firewire thinking there might have been wrong with the first one I bought but it still doesn’t fit. The second problem was the a/v jacks that was including with the HC28 so you can view it on your tv. There is no a/v out on the camcorder to insert the jack into. What’s the point of including the jacks if we can’t use them? I found that funny.

The main reason why I chose to buy a mini dv was because I read a lot of good thing about the video quality. I was hoping to be able to transfer the videos I shot onto my computer to make dvd home movies but it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to do that with this cam. I’ll be returning it tomorrow.