Sony DCR-HC1000 3-CCD MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom

I bought this camcorder last December (2004) and it is absolutely the best picture I have seen out of a Mini DV camcorder. I originally bought the Panasonic 3CCD and returned it due to no ability to adjust shutter speed below 60 for low light conditions. This goes down to 4 fps which you better have it on a tripod or serious ghosting will appear. The perfect setting I have found for low light, for instance inside your home is 30 frames per second. This camera will also take MPEG4 movies to the memory stick for emailing. Overall, I must say this is the best camera on the market currently for the price. Buy one and you will not be sorry!!! Have fun shooting!

This is the best quality you can get in a semi-pro camcorder from Sony prior to the 1080i release, which has not been released prior to this writing. You just can't bet the 3 ccd quality. Just recently I shot a lunar eclipse with this little cam and as I was getting the cam out, I remarked that it probably wouldn't show-up, I was very wrong. At just the 12x optical zoom, the detail even on the 3.5 inch monitor was better then the naked eye. Amazing!

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This camcorder rules!!! It has superb low light video quality. Remember those grainy, yellowish pictures that you typically get when recording indoors at the normal bulb light? You can forget about them now: the camera records outstanding, grain free, rich color video in any environment you'll take it. The touch menu is a superb ergonomic achievement, albeit I thought initially that I'll hate it, upon use I came to love it. Taking about ergonomics: do you remember those hand joint pains when recording for an extended duration? You can forget about that too, since this cam is the only one in the market that has a swivel handle, so that you can choose you own natural angle for holding the camera.

Did I mention video quality? or the native 16:9 wide format? The optical stabilizer also rocks. Most of the other cameras have electronic ones.

Minuses? The picture (non video) quality is no worst, nor better than that of other video cams. Get a digital SLR for real picture taking.

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It is an excellent camera, probably the BEST on market for the price you pay, excellent video quality, and good pictures too.

But need to improve 3 points:

1You Cannot wath it on a PAL System TV, Thats important to me because have to travel a lot to Europe, but cannot show what i have recorded to my family there. All my olds cameras have that option.

2The Microfone is not as good as the cameras with the Mic on Front. This camera havi it on top, ¿why? i don't know

3Most of the funtions are on the touch panel, i want the white balance out, and maybe some others funtions.

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This is the greatest little camcorder in the world with lots of bells and whistles that would have been way more expensive a while ago. I do wish that it had actual fstops rather than a slider on the touch screen for more accurate adjustments, ditto shutter speed and the manual focus is a bit fussy. More easily accessible manual controls would make it close to perfect. the touch screen takes a little getting used to and is not the very best idea. Other than that image quality is terrific under all sorts of different conditions, a camera mounted mike has decent sound and it is really a pleasure to use.