 A good camera for the price! |
| Review Date: January 7, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. Shenberger, |
| This camera is easy to use, easy to handle. I have small hands and it is lightweight, fits snugly in the palm of my hand and takes great videos. The instructions are simple and, although the camera is capable of alot more complicated uses, for a grandmother taking videos of grandchildren just for the fun of it, it works extemely well. I would recommend this highly to anyone who, like me, is a novice. I can't imagine I will ever outgrow it! |
Great camera, bright videos.
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| Review Date: August 20, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. Perez, |
i own this camera after upgrading from my first sony: a HC21. I like it a lot. It takes clear outdoor videos, Indoors i have to turn on the "back light" features to get a clear pictures. Besides, i edit the video on pc. I love the firewire port for best video quality. I make my home video look like a profesional just with this non-profesional camera.
i have 2 extra batteries and an extra wall charger, for a serious amateur like me it is worthy ti get what i need. I dont want to run out-of power in the middle of an event.
So far i am satisfied. I can also do color correction if need it. digital efects and titles, then i burn in DVD.
I preffer Mini DV than HDD. In HDD every pause you do while recording, makes a thumbnail, when you transfer the video you may get about 200 thumbnails in a 2 hour video. It takes a headache to drop every thumbnail in the storyboard for video editing.
But using firewire you get just one thumbnail. altought it takes longer to transfer the video, you have to play it to transfer it, and it takes that long. |
Great quality and compact size
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| Review Date: March 24, 2008 |
| Reviewer: metzmatt, Scottsdale, AZ |
This is my second Sony MiniDV camera (my dad dropped and broke my first one). It works great and provides good quality.
There are lots of great comments and reviews out there, and I won't repeat all that stuff. Here are a few quick comments:
- It's small enough to fit in a belly-pack or fanny-pack. That means it's easy to bring along. Cameras left at home don't deliver very good results!
- I thought having the 40x optical zoom would be awesome. It is, but here's my caveat - it's virtually impossible to hand-hold the camera at full zoom and get a decent picture - even with the great image stabilization feature turned on. When you get past about 25x, you'll need a tripod or to brace the camera on a ledge or something.
- Night vision (using an infra-red emitter to illuminate in total darkness) is a great feature, which most people overlook.
Great stuff, as expected, from Sony!
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Good Value For Money
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| Review Date: March 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Ian May, North Charleston, South Carolina United States |
I have had a sony Hi-8 Camcorder for ten years now, and was genereally pleased with it. However, I wanted to go digital. I didn't want to spend too much money, certainly not on my first digital venture. I did a lot of online reading, and got the impression that HDD cameras didn't perform too well, and mini DVD limits your time, so went for miniDV.
I have had the camera just over a week at the time of writing.
Pros: Good clear image. Audio Quality. Nightshot Plus. Ilink. Small size. Ease of Use. 40x Optical zoom.
Cons: Sony Accessories, particularly batteries are far too expensive. I shall be looking for 3rd party sources. No headphone jack. No accessory shoe. Cannot control playback except via touch screen LCD. No firewire cable supplied. Cannot charge batteries off camera without purchasing a seperate charger.
Comments.
It comes with some basic editing software on CD, but I cannot comment on this, as I have Adobe Premiere 1.5, and I am using this with no problem at all. If you want to transfer your video into your computer, you need a firewire cable. Usually for a PC you need a 4 pin to 6 pin one. You can buy them on Amazon MUCH cheaper than the local stores, so I recommend ordering one if you decide to buy the camcorder.
All in all, I am pleased with it so far in terms of video and audio quality. One annoyance. If you buy another battery, you also need to buy a charger, as the power supply you get with the camera will only charge the batteries whilst they are in the camera. This isn't much use if, for example, you want to charge a battery at home, while you use a fresh one outdoors. The extra chargers are around $40, as well as the cost of another battery of course. By the time you buy an extra battery, that off-cam charger, a case, a couple of filters, and a firewire cable, you can almost double the cost of the cam itself!
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More on HC-38
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| Review Date: April 14, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Art Vandelay, MSP |
| I agree with the first review posted here for the most part. I will add that I have tried the software and was not impressed. First, upon installation I received an error message that said the software was not Windows certified, and that the installation could cause my system to become unstable. Well, it did. After installation, my system crashed on a daily basis. I have sensed uninstalled and contacted Sony. They basically said it doesn't matter that it is not Windows certified because it is Sony certified. Alrighty then. Once I uninstalled, the crashes stopped. Will be looking for 3rd party SW to use. It also worth noting that the camera is equipped with a USB port, which I was told at Best Buy could be used for downloading video to your PC. The cable is not included of course. When I did have the software installed, it did not recognize the camera when hooked up to USB port. In the PDF and hardcopy manuals included, the USB interface is poorly documented. In the chapters where it mentiods the IEEE interface, it says this must be used to download the video. Does not mention USB as an alternative. When I took it back to Best Buy for answers, it even stumped the Geek Squad. According to Sony, you have to select the USB Stream function on the on the cameras integrated menu. I still cannot get it to work after following Sony instructions. Usually, USB ports on a camcorder are reserved for downloading still shots on cameras that have a slot a for flash memory. The HC38 has no such slot. They should have left off the USB port and put in a mic/earphone jack. Plan on installing a firewire capable expansion card if you don't have one and forget any ideas of downloading via USB. |
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