Sony Handycam DCR HC27E

OVERVIEW
I bought my Sony DCR-HC27E a few months ago from Curry's for about £200 (but I see Amazon.co.uk are currently selling for £179.99), I also picked up a case for it for about £15 - not essential but I have found it extremely useful. The first thing that attracted to me was it's size - it's quite small and easy to carry. It also had a nice touch screen which I think is a pretty cool feature - again in no way was this essential, but nice ...
...Sony brand name also in a small part attracted me as I didn't know much about camcorders and wanted a name I could trust and rely on. It also has a Carl Zeiss Lens that I have been hearing so much about.

When I got the camera home the first thing I realised was it's ease of use - I expected to be sitting around for awhile with the instruction manual trying to find how the thing works - the instruction manual stayed in the box. I had ... more

OVERVIEW
I bought my Sony DCR-HC27E a few months ago from Curry's for about £200 (but I see Amazon.co.uk are currently selling for £179.99), I also picked up a case for it for about £15 - not essential but I have found it extremely useful. The first thing that attracted to me was it's size - it's quite small and easy to carry. It also had a nice touch screen which I think is a pretty cool feature - again in no way was this essential, but nice touches like this really add to the cameras feel. The Sony brand name also in a small part attracted me as I didn't know much about camcorders and wanted a name I could trust and rely on. It also has a Carl Zeiss Lens that I have been hearing so much about.

When I got the camera home the first thing I realised was it's ease of use - I expected to be sitting around for awhile with the instruction manual trying to find how the thing works - the instruction manual stayed in the box. I had it up and going in no time. The camera uses Mini DV tapes - which were my medium of choice as I have used them before. In no time I had recorded a small clip of my living room and connected the camcorder to the computer. It was easy taking the footage off the camcorder and putting it on the computer - Windows XP basically did it all for me. While it was easy to get the footage on the computer I did notice that the quality wasn't brilliant - and a few minutes later I realised the battery life wasn't either.

DESIGN
The camcorder is well designed - small, compact and stylish. It doesn't exactly look at all professional so nobody's gonna take you really serious with the camcorder but it is fine for home movies. Here is its weight and dimensions:
Weight: 360g
Depth (mm): 113.0
Height (mm): 79.0
Width (mm): 65.0

EASE OF USE
The camcorder is very easy to use. As I have said above the instruction manual stayed in the box. I'm sure anyone from a luddite to a young child could work this camcorder fine. And connecting it to the computer or VCR is a breeze as well. The touch panel screen also makes filming easy. It also comes with a remote control - which admittedly i don't use often but is handy all the same.

QUALITY OF IMAGE
This is one of the few defects of the camera. Its image quality isn't great. Believe me when I say it's not bad - fine for home movie - but I would stick to home movies. The image is a little grainy and at times pixelated - no film made with this camcorder will ever win an Oscar.

SOUND
Not much to say about the sound except that i was pleasantly surprised by it.
FEATURES
This camcorder came packed with an array of features. Here are some listed:

800,000 pixels Advanced HAD CCD
20x Optical Zoom / 800x Digital Zoom
Super SteadyShot
NightShot Plus
Battery Info
6 Program AE
Easy Handycam function for simple operation
Spot Metre Spot Focus

I am very pleased with the features of this camcorder - I love playing around with all the different effects and stuff - I waste a lot of time doing this.

CONNECTIONS
Here are the connections the camcorder has:

i.LINK (DV output)
Analogue video and S Video output

They are the basic connections - nothing to complain about they all work fine - easy to connect to computer/TV. One thing I really would have liked though is an SD or Compact Flash card slot - then I could have also used this camcorder as a camera - but this does not overly upset me.

BATTERY LIFE
This is one of the other few defects I have found with this camcorder. The battery doesn't last very long - I get at most an hour or two out it at a time. It doesn't take overly long to recharge and spare batteries don't cost all that much. With the side panel open the battery runs out VERY quick, but I try to use it as little as possible and I can get a good few hours without using the side panel.

COST
The camcorder cost me £200 (but Amazon.co.uk are currently selling for £179.99). I feel this is a good price for the piece of equipment, good value for money.

VERDICT
I am very pleased with this camcorder and have no regrets buying it - it does everything I want and more. While it does have two downfalls - image quality and battery life - they maybe aren't as bad as I'm making it seem (they are at least average).

If you purchase this item I would definitely recommend buying a good case to protect it and also investing in lots of Mini DV tapes and spare batteries is also something I strongly advise. And also enjoy making your home movies.  

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