At $ 400 , the Sony DCR - HC36 MiniDV Handycam is one of the most low-priced camcorder around . But unfortunately , it produced less than leading video quality . Although our test video looked acceptable when viewed by itself , it see substandard when compared with the telecasting produced by contend camcorders , with pale colour and a clearly blurry , grainy look .
These problems show up even in good lighting precondition , and are much more exaggerated in lowly light . In low - light tests , the caryopsis in the persona was highly distracting and much more obvious than the metric grain in the video bring about by the other camcorders .
The DCR - HC36 handles well and is easy to use . It fit well in the palm of the hand , with the zoom mastery falling under the indicator finger when the hand strap is right adjusted . The Record button is a small mellow , though ; you may have to stimulate the camcorder with your left hand to give up and press it . This camcorder is a bit bulkier than the Canon Elura 100 ( ) , but it ’s fairly sluttish , at 15 ounces .
Most of the DCR - HC36 ’s controls are situate in an on - screen menu , which you’re able to get at through the touch covert . Although this does keep camcorder operation as round-eyed as possible , you end up with fingerprints on the screen , and many option are forget deep within menus , requiring a number of silver screen presses to access . But to be mediocre , this is a camcorder that ’s designed for point - and - shoot users , many of whom will never desire to go anywhere approximate options such as the white - balance setting .
And Sony offers another pick that these substance abuser will find attractive : the Easy style ( accessed through a button on the camcorder body ) puts most preferences at Automatic , which is bang-up for inexperienced or spooky shooters .
The 2.5 - inch LCD silver screen is unclouded and bright , but it does n’t accommodate broad - screen door viewing : if you pip with the camcorder in 16:9 mode , it adds two ignominious bars – one at the top and one at the bottom ; this earn the telecasting more unmanageable to see . The DCR - HC36 ’s 20X zoom crystalline lens also include electronic simulacrum stabilization , which does a reasonable job of controlling the effects of photographic camera shake . It ’s not as effective as the optical image stabilization of Panasonic ’s PV - GS300 ( ) and PV - GS500 ( ) , though . The battery life history of about 100 arcminute was acceptable but not outstanding .
The DCR - HC36 can capture still image to a Memory Stick Duo carte , but only at a resolution of 640 by 480 . And the results are less than appealing : there were grainy images and wan , wash - out colours . The image quality is so poor that it ’s not worth bother with : unless you have a electrocution need to commemorate low - resolution images to Memory Stick , go with the DCR - HC26 ( the next model down in the Sony line , it decamp the Memory Stick slot entirely ) and put the money you ’ll save toward buying a seemly spot - and - shoot still camera . Even a low - end digital camera will take substantially still images than this camcorder .
performance
exfoliation = Superior , Very unspoilt , Good , Fair , Poor
How We Tested : Each camcorder was try at its high - lineament audio recording , video , and still - effigy configurations in day and small - light condition , with digital zoom disabled . A gore of expert evaluated the recorded scenes side - by - side on four very TV sets to assign video and audio lots . The panel appraise print photos to attribute still - prototype wads . Each photographic camera was give a valuation of Superior , Very Good , Good , Fair , or Poor . The slews for both video and stills are an norm of all wads given ; video and still scores were averaged separately.–Tested in conjunction with the PC World Test Center
specifications
Macworld’s buying advice
The Sony DCR - HC36 MiniDV Handycam is a budget camcorder that take adequate picture in daylight , but its poor performance in low light will be a problem if you want to shoot videos indoors — at a political party , for instance .
[ Richard Baguley is a independent writer whose work has appeared inPC World , Wired , and other publication . ]
