Sony DCR-SR80 60GB 1MP Hard Disk Drive Handycam with 12x Optical Zoom

Just bought this camera from Circuit City about two weeks ago. The first camera I had to return the next day because the image on the LCD was stuck upside down. The camera powers up pretty fast and you can begin recording in just a couple seconds. I love the fact that you can browse through the video and play anything on the fly. I would have thought at this price point it would take better still shots (only 1mp)but that wasnt really the reason I bought it anyway. Low light is ok.. it's no better or worse then my JVC Mini DV. I like the Sony 'night shot' feature. It allows you to take video in total darkness with a built in infrared mode. Do yourself a favor though and purchase an extended battery. The one that comes with it is pretty worthless at only a 1 hour rated life. I purchased the extended 9 hour battery and can realistically get about 4-5 hours without having to charge. The touchscreen is a little different but you get used to it quick. Kinda wish it had a viewfinder but that's on the next model up.

Mainly I purchased this because I was sick of dealing with tapes... I have a whole box of VHS and Mini DV tapes that I now have to take the time and convert to usable formats on my PC. The beauty of this camera is that all that goes away and the video is going to be in it's purest form for this level of camera. It doesnt take hollywood level video but at least you are removing one step out of the equation when having to re-render it. The software that comes with it is pretty worthless. about the only thing I liked was it has the ability to archive any changes from the camera whether video or photo and auto back it up with one click.

Don't buy the SR-40 or SR-60 you will be disapointed with the features vs. price. If you are looking to upgrade from tape go with this one the SR-80 becasue it is the best value over the two lower models. If you can afford it (i couldnt) Get the SR-100 becasue it has the better camera (3mp) and a viewfinder.

Compare the reviews of Sony vs JVC before you buy a HD Camera!!

This camcorder does capture good video. But the main drawback is that it records in MPEG2 format (DVD quality). Initially its nice and easy to capture video and watch it on your computer by downloading the files using the USB 2.0 connection. It gives you instant gratification. But after capturing 4 or 5 hours of video, you will notice that your videos aren't so great as you expect it to be. Its not the fault with your camcorder. Its because all of us shoot extra footage, unwanted scenes, shakes, etc which we want to edit. You may want to add a title or two, add transitions, add backgroud music, combine your photos with the video, etc. Basically you may want to edit your footage. Its here when you find the major drawback of this camcorder. The MPEG2 quality video is not good for editing. The video quality is so compressed that you won't have sufficient bandwidth to edit the video.

MPEG2 is a LOSSY compression technique used to compress large video files into smaller files that can be fit into a 4 GB or 8 GB DVD. Since the camcorder compresses the video and then writes to the hard disk, the source file that you download to your computer is already compressed and has lost much of its data during the compression. If you edit this already compressed file, you lose more data during the process thus resulting in poorer video quality.

When you edit these videos, add some transitions or special effects, increase/decrease brigthness or noise, etc, the newly edited video loses further clarity and thus makes your video look ugly and pixelated.

In summary please don't buy this camcorder if you are serious about your videos and would like to edit them. But if you are not bothered about editing and want to watch your unedited footage forever, then go for it.

That said, if you still think you want to go for this camcorder, please read the review on its other features:

1. Super NightShot Infrared System: Not a useful feature. Its amazining to initially see how this camcorder is able to "see" using infrared light. But the moment you shoot your subject using infrared light, you never want to shoot again as they will appear like devils when shot using this infrared light. Remember infrared footage appears almost black-and-white and not color. And the subject's eyes really look like devil.

2. 2.5-inch wide SwivelScreen LCD display with touch panel capabilities: Sony convenietly "forgot" to mention that this screen is NOT widescreen. Most of the camcorders now-a-days come with widescreen LCD. Its a good feature if you always want to shoot in widescreen. In fact I would suggest you to shoot in widescreen only as all future TVs and current LCD/Plasma TVs are widescreen. You can future proof your video by shooting widescreen. This camcorder DOES support widescreen video but the LCD is NOT widescreen. So when you shoot widescreen, you see black bands on the top and bottom.

3. Digital still photos: Please don't rely on this feature. The best photos from this camcorder as as good as the worst photos from any popular digital camera. Technology has still not matured to the point where a camcorder can shoot as good as a digital camera and vice versa.

4. 20x optical/120x digital zoom: Optical zoom is very good. You can handle upto 10X optical zoom without a tripod. Any more zoom requires the use of a tripod. I was able to zoom in and read a car tag from the top of Sears tower, Chicago. I love the zoom feature in this camcorder. Don't use the digital zoom feature. Turn it off. As mentioned above, MPEG2 compression already makes the video bad in quality. The digital zoom further makes it worst.

5. Professional-quality Carl Zeiss lens: Yes its good. The image quality is truly great. No doubt about it.

6. Super SteadyShot picture stabilization system: Good enough to avoid small vibrations caused when going on a ship for example. But not good enough for the shakes encountered when walking with the camcorder. Don't expect to get great footage in such conditions. For great footage, you must still rely on a steady hand or a tripod.

7. On-screen zoom and record buttons: Not an useful feature. The camcorder tends to shake more when you use these zoom buttons on the LCD because the LCD is always projecting outside when shooting video. Hence you shake the camcorder more when you touch the LCD than when you touch the camcorder's body.

8. USB 2.0 interface: Good interface. Fast enough to download 30 GB in 1.5 hours. Firewire interface would have been great. But USB 2.0 is also good enough

9. Image Mixer Software: Very useless software. The free Picasa software from Google is far better in organizning your videos and pictures than the software that comes with this camera. Forget about this software.

10. InfoLithium battery with AccuPower meter system: Great battery life. I could shoot for upto 1 hour 20 minutes with one battery. Remember we always don't shoot continously in everyday life. We turn the camcorder on and off repeatedly when shooting. This battery last for 1 hour 20 minutes during normal shooting as explained above. If you shoot continously you may get longer battery life.

11. NOTE: This camcorder does NOT have an Active Interface shoe. Other Sony camcorders do have this feature. This allows you to add other Sony accessories, for example, extra flood light. If you are not planning to add any accessory, then don't worry about the absence of this feature.

12. DVDDirect compatibility: This feature allows you to directly burn your video and photos to DVD. I don't think this is a very useful feature. Its always better to download to computer, and burn only the good files and photos to DVD instead of burning all of them.

Overall summary. Buy this camcorder only if you are not serious about editing the videos. Its a good buy for point-and-shoot-and-view pleasure only. In my opinion, a mini-DV camcorder (DCRHC42 for example) is still a better bet than a DVD or hard drive based model. The only inconvenience in a mini-DV model is that you have to be a bit techy to download video to computer. If you are ok with that, the mini-DV still provides good value for money as its far cheaper than DVD or hard-drive models.

Buy Sony DCR-SR80 60GB 1MP Hard Disk Drive Handycam with 12x Optical Zoom Now

I agree with the previous reviewer. The low light performance of this camera is pretty bad. Deeps reds are more like deep pinks...but other colors are quite natural, though a bit flat.

It is a nice camera otherwise: very compact, HDD makes a world of differenc in ease of use. Handgrip takes some getty used to.

Stills are useless. No built-in flash makes situation even worse.

Would have liked to have component video out so that we can get widescreen output diretly from the camcorder to TV.

I may end up trading this for the big-brother DCR-SR100....

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This camera is working out great for me. I love that I can play back movies instantly. The microphone works very well. Better then I expected in fact. I would agree that shooting in low light is not great, but it is adequate. It is also annoying that the image is shot in 16:9, but the LCD is 4:3. When I playback on my 16:9 TV I find that there are things in the shot I didn't see on the viewfinder. That's good actually, because the image on the TV is better than what I thought I was going to get.

Overall I am very happy with this camcorder and would certainly recomend it.

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This Handycam is Great for only one reason the 60gb hard disk. It means never having to worry about tapes or DVD etc. It's small and light.

I returned a Sony DVD handycam which malfunctioned within the first 30 days of receiving it and bought the SR80 instead.

I'll focus on the negatives:

a) VERY POOR low light performance. Shooting indoors is a pain. For example you try to shoot a dance floor in a night club forget this camera can't deliver. I am about to purchase the light attachment hoping to alleviate this problem. The only way to get halfway decent low light shots it to shoot in a party mode where the image loses all sharpness.

b) The original lens that comes with this camera ahs a very narrow focus it's like you have tunnel vision. I bought this in time for my daughter's 6th birthday party and the results were terrible. It was impossible to get a decent shot unless I was at least 10 ft away from the subject and I am talking about trying to get more than one person in the frame. I bought the wide angle lens for about $40 and this has made a lot of difference. The lens however is not sharp when you have zoomed out to the max. I also found that I cannot use the camera in most conditions without the wide angle lens. Why Sony would sell a camera with such a poor lens is beyond me.

c) Sound is OK. It's supposed to be Dolby Surround. It provides only mono sound with the Bluetooth remote sound attachment.

d) Super night shot is useless beyond a few feet. Trying to shoot our Christmas tree was a nightmare. The wide angle lens also blocks the infrared light that is supposed to light up what ever.

e) 1 mp Digital stills: Why do they even have the option? Results are terrible. There a cell phones which shoot better pictures?

Pros:

1) Image stabilization is excellent.

2) I already mentioned the benefit of having the large hard disk.

3) Good battery life.

4) Nice wide LCD makes it easy to operate even for people with big hands.

5) Easy to navigate interface.

6) Hot shoe for external attachments like additional light and Bluetooth microphone device is necessary.

7) Day light shots are great.