By many measures Sony DCR-HC42 isn’t the best camcorder in its class, but it strikes a good balance for many intended buyers. For instance, similarly priced Panasonic camcorder records more vibrant images. Canon’s similarly priced camcorder performs better under lower lighting situation. But it has few nice features that separate DCR-HC42 from these camcorders, particularly if you like widescreen composition.
Let’s examine its pros and cons.
Pros:
-Excellent form factor, among the smallest and lightest camcorders in its price range.
-Excellent DV Widescreen support, including great widescreen LCD.
-Long battery life (nearly 2 hours in continuous shooting with LCD backlight turned off, about an hour in demanding situations). Optional batteries offer longer battery life.
-Included docking station makes it easier to connect to computer or TV.
-Very good outdoor performance.
-Automatic settings work well.
-Built-in lens cover.
Cons:
-Optical zoom is only 12X, which is inexcusable considering lower-end DCR-HC32 goes up to 20X.
-Proprietary accessory shoes for attaching accessories such as microphones and light. These accessories aren’t cheap.
-No headphones jack for monitoring audio recording.
-Sensitive microphone may pick up button clicks (best to turn off the button click “beep” sound).
-Not so good low light performance.
-Most functions require you to access touch screen LCD.
-Touch screen menu system can be complicated to use.
-So-so digital camera image stills quality.
Compared to lower-end DCR-HC32, DCR-HC42 adds many features in an attempt to justify higher cost, including DV Widescreen, widescreen LCD (LCD backlight can be turned off to conserve power), color viewfinder, noticeably superior CCD for better image quality, accessory shoe that powers external microphone and lighting attachments, and higher resolution megapixel still camera. If widescreen does not interest you, DCR-HC32 may be a better buy.
DCR-HC42?s most obvious gimmick is widescreen. If you have HDTV set, this is the low-end camcorder for you. As of now, Sony is the only big name manufacturer that includes widescreen LCD, which while not necessary to capture DV Widescreen, helps the experience immensely. Many camcorders with conventional 4×3 LCD do in fact record DV Widescreen as well as standard DV but LCD will have either black bars on top and bottom or worse, squeezed to accommodate wider images onto narrower frame. It is worth noting that while DV Widescreen increases horizontal resolution, it does so at the expense of vertical resolution. DCR-HC42 has real-life DV resolution of about 400×300 and DV Widescreen resolution of about 450×250. But this is still better than “fake” widescreen DV camcorders such as DCR-HC32, which records widescreen composition onto 4×3 frames, which decreases vertical resolution without increasing horizontal resolution.
Taking DCR-HC42 out of the box, I was surprised how small and light the camcorder was. My previous camcorder was bulky Hi8 model, and while I have played with many MiniDV camcorders at the store, its size still surprised me a bit. Recording a long footage without the use of tripod, I appreciated every ounce that DCR-HC42 sheds from heavier models.
Recording indoor in lazy afternoon, I was disappointed by recorded footage at first. But tinkering with the camcorder taught me a trick that cleans up noisy low-light images immensely – the back light feature. This feature is designed to brighten up the subject set against brightly lit background (e.g., a person standing before sunrise) but significantly cleans up noise under indoor situation as well. Some footage takes on much smoother appearance with this feature turned on (helped further by using other features).
One of my biggest pet peeves is touch screen menu system. While personalized menu feature helps immensely (in which you can assign up to 28 frequently accessed features available within few clicks), I much prefer using physical buttons. Features such as tweaking exposure, adjusting focus, selecting automatic exposure, and adjusting white balance require using touch screen menu system. Thankfully, very frequently used features, such as enabling fully automatic mode (called “EASY” mode), previously discussed back light feature, and zoom are physical controls.
The main reason to choose MiniDV over other formats (e.g., DVD, MicroMV), is because the format is computer friendly. Using light weight compression algorithm (similar to MJPEG), DV format offers minimal digital artifacts and is highly suitable for linear editing. Before connecting the camcorder to computer, invest in FireWire (also known as i.Link or IEEE 1394) cable. This cable, along with FireWire connector on your computer, is necessary to edit DV footage on your computer with zero loss in quality. Windows XP includes Windows Movie Maker 2 which is good video editing software and works well with DCR-HC42. Sony includes video editing software, too, but it is pretty limited with many usability issues. If you are using Windows XP, stick with Windows Movie Maker. Macintosh users have even better tool at their disposal, iMovie HD, part of iLife `05. iMovie HD supports DV Widescreen, which lets you work with widescreen footage directly. Using this software, I was able to cut fairly well edited home movie.
All in all, DCR-HC42 is a good camcorder for point and shoot crowd, and particularly appealing to those with widescreen TV set. Its touch screen menu system may detract some buyers, but the Easy mode works pretty well for “set and forget it” crowd. More advanced users will have to put up with touch screen menu, but it wasn’t so bad once I got use to it. If you record lots of footage under low light situation, this isn’t the best camcorder for you. DCR-HC42 shines under bright outdoor.
Rating: 4 / 5
By many measures Sony DCR-HC42 isn’t the best camcorder in its class, but it strikes a good balance for many intended buyers. For instance, similarly priced Panasonic camcorder records more vibrant images. Canon’s similarly priced camcorder performs better under lower lighting situation. But it has few nice features that separate DCR-HC42 from these camcorders, particularly if you like widescreen composition.
Let’s examine its pros and cons.
Pros:
-Excellent form factor, among the smallest and lightest camcorders in its price range.
-Excellent DV Widescreen support, including great widescreen LCD.
-Long battery life (nearly 2 hours in continuous shooting with LCD backlight turned off, about an hour in demanding situations). Optional batteries offer longer battery life.
-Included docking station makes it easier to connect to computer or TV.
-Very good outdoor performance.
-Automatic settings work well.
-Built-in lens cover.
Cons:
-Optical zoom is only 12X, which is inexcusable considering lower-end DCR-HC32 goes up to 20X.
-Proprietary accessory shoes for attaching accessories such as microphones and light. These accessories aren’t cheap.
-No headphones jack for monitoring audio recording.
-Sensitive microphone may pick up button clicks (best to turn off the button click “beep” sound).
-Not so good low light performance.
-Most functions require you to access touch screen LCD.
-Touch screen menu system can be complicated to use.
-So-so digital camera image stills quality.
Compared to lower-end DCR-HC32, DCR-HC42 adds many features in an attempt to justify higher cost, including DV Widescreen, widescreen LCD (LCD backlight can be turned off to conserve power), color viewfinder, noticeably superior CCD for better image quality, accessory shoe that powers external microphone and lighting attachments, and higher resolution megapixel still camera. If widescreen does not interest you, DCR-HC32 may be a better buy.
DCR-HC42?s most obvious gimmick is widescreen. If you have HDTV set, this is the low-end camcorder for you. As of now, Sony is the only big name manufacturer that includes widescreen LCD, which while not necessary to capture DV Widescreen, helps the experience immensely. Many camcorders with conventional 4×3 LCD do in fact record DV Widescreen as well as standard DV but LCD will have either black bars on top and bottom or worse, squeezed to accommodate wider images onto narrower frame. It is worth noting that while DV Widescreen increases horizontal resolution, it does so at the expense of vertical resolution. DCR-HC42 has real-life DV resolution of about 400×300 and DV Widescreen resolution of about 450×250. But this is still better than “fake” widescreen DV camcorders such as DCR-HC32, which records widescreen composition onto 4×3 frames, which decreases vertical resolution without increasing horizontal resolution.
Taking DCR-HC42 out of the box, I was surprised how small and light the camcorder was. My previous camcorder was bulky Hi8 model, and while I have played with many MiniDV camcorders at the store, its size still surprised me a bit. Recording a long footage without the use of tripod, I appreciated every ounce that DCR-HC42 sheds from heavier models.
Recording indoor in lazy afternoon, I was disappointed by recorded footage at first. But tinkering with the camcorder taught me a trick that cleans up noisy low-light images immensely – the back light feature. This feature is designed to brighten up the subject set against brightly lit background (e.g., a person standing before sunrise) but significantly cleans up noise under indoor situation as well. Some footage takes on much smoother appearance with this feature turned on (helped further by using other features).
One of my biggest pet peeves is touch screen menu system. While personalized menu feature helps immensely (in which you can assign up to 28 frequently accessed features available within few clicks), I much prefer using physical buttons. Features such as tweaking exposure, adjusting focus, selecting automatic exposure, and adjusting white balance require using touch screen menu system. Thankfully, very frequently used features, such as enabling fully automatic mode (called “EASY” mode), previously discussed back light feature, and zoom are physical controls.
The main reason to choose MiniDV over other formats (e.g., DVD, MicroMV), is because the format is computer friendly. Using light weight compression algorithm (similar to MJPEG), DV format offers minimal digital artifacts and is highly suitable for linear editing. Before connecting the camcorder to computer, invest in FireWire (also known as i.Link or IEEE 1394) cable. This cable, along with FireWire connector on your computer, is necessary to edit DV footage on your computer with zero loss in quality. Windows XP includes Windows Movie Maker 2 which is good video editing software and works well with DCR-HC42. Sony includes video editing software, too, but it is pretty limited with many usability issues. If you are using Windows XP, stick with Windows Movie Maker. Macintosh users have even better tool at their disposal, iMovie HD, part of iLife `05. iMovie HD supports DV Widescreen, which lets you work with widescreen footage directly. Using this software, I was able to cut fairly well edited home movie.
All in all, DCR-HC42 is a good camcorder for point and shoot crowd, and particularly appealing to those with widescreen TV set. Its touch screen menu system may detract some buyers, but the Easy mode works pretty well for “set and forget it” crowd. More advanced users will have to put up with touch screen menu, but it wasn’t so bad once I got use to it. If you record lots of footage under low light situation, this isn’t the best camcorder for you. DCR-HC42 shines under bright outdoor.
Rating: 4 / 5