 Small package but delivers big |
| Review Date: January 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: ice grizzly, Dream Land |
A terrific package, stuffed with lot of functionality. Small camcorder that you can keep in your handbag or glove box all time. You are not stuck with the crappy cellphone videos any more. It works like a charm. If you have used a point shoot camera before, the optical quality is very similar. CMOS sensor is small and the lens f/stops are not wide enough. I stress again on optical quality. In built battery gives long life, with memory stick you transfer video from camera to PC easily. This a wonderful package. Quality of video is in between flip and full fledged HDV camcorders. It is not full true HD. For this price worth every penny. Pictures come crisp and clear. I also love the quite noise free operation of flash camcorders. Especially when you are recording a sleeping child or other really calm situations. Even if you have one of the big camcorders, I strongly suggest getting this as a second one.
Very worthy contender in this new flash camcorder space. It has both optical and digital zoom. There is no image stabilizer, so you need steady hands at full optical zoom. And it is not a simple extended digital camera. It sports full stereo audio recording. Video is stored as H.264 format, same as blu-ray. It provides the best compression known to man that can be played any where. H.264 videos can be downsampled for internet viewing without a lot of effort. Trans coding takes time, just down sampling can be done faster. Flash media is much easier to work with than tapes. Most of the new Macs doesnt have firewire port, even in older computers it takes for ever to transfer from tape. With memory stick duo, you can drag and drop the necessary movies edit them instantaneously. All the blu-ray players support AVCHD DVDs. You can easily fit 45 min of high definition video in a dual layer DVD.
For night time video capture it includes a LED light. With LED you get best of both worlds, bright light with longer battery life. If you have used other point and shoot cameras you will be home right away with auto modes like landscape, night shot etc.
Manage your expectations, it is not meant to be a full fledged HD camcoder. It is a step above cameras that shoot videos and below HDV camcorders. Understand the laws of physics. Larger lens, larger CMOS sensors will provide better exposure, saturation, bokeh and crisp low light pictures. Sony has done the best that physics will allow to be done with this size optics. If you want a small pocket size camcorder look no where else. A nice touch as with other Sony products, it comes with every thing you need. Every kind of cables, lens covers etc. etc.
Now one important warning. Memory Stick Duo is one of the most pirated card in black market. Pay up and buy from trusted vendors. Cheap cards sold in ebay and other 3rd party vendors are slow and less reliable. When you put the card in any device like PSP check for magic-gate info. If it says magic-gate: unknown, return it back. |
Best Value!
|
| Review Date: February 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. Cox, St. George, UT USA |
Some people are completely off their rocker. The complaints on a $200 digital camcorder reflects unreal expectations. Sony has not designed this camera to be a replacement to your existing camcorder for things like weddings or school plays. This is designed for great portability and to capture video for your computer and internet sharing. Complaints about the footage looking grainy on a 50' plasma are crazy, this camcorder is designed for smaller screens, DUH THE WEBBIE.
My experience with this product is great. The video looks reasonably good on my 40' Bravia played through my PS3, but since I store and view my video on my computer the video on it is what matters and it is amazing. Low light does cause some grainy video but no more than more expensive camcorders, one would have to pay 3 times the cost of the Webbie to get better low-light video that is worth the cost. I recommend this camcorder, it definitely gives the most bang for the buck. One would have to pay at least $500-$600 to get a better camera, the buttons are somewhat difficult to use but I can put up with that to save some green. Again you are not getting a $700 HD camcorder for $200, but a $400 camcorder for $200, so realize what you are getting before you buy it. The people who wrote the bad reviews seem like the people who go into restaurants and try to get extra food for less money and then don't tip their server. |
Small package but delivers big
|
| Review Date: January 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: ice grizzly, Dream Land |
A terrific package, stuffed with lot of functionality. Small camcorder that you can keep in your handbag or glove box all time. You are not stuck with the crappy cellphone videos any more. It works like a charm. If you have used a point shoot camera before, the optical quality is very similar. CMOS sensor is small and the lens f/stops are not wide enough. I stress again on optical quality. In built battery gives long life, with memory stick you transfer video from camera to PC easily. This a wonderful package. Quality of video is in between flip and full fledged HDV camcorders. It is not full true HD. For this price worth every penny. Pictures come crisp and clear. I also love the quite noise free operation of flash camcorders. Especially when you are recording a sleeping child or other really calm situations. Even if you have one of the big camcorders, I strongly suggest getting this as a second one.
Very worthy contender in this new flash camcorder space. It has both optical and digital zoom. There is no image stabilizer, so you need steady hands at full optical zoom. And it is not a simple extended digital camera. It sports full stereo audio recording. Video is stored as H.264 format, same as blu-ray. It provides the best compression known to man that can be played any where. H.264 videos can be downsampled for internet viewing without a lot of effort. Trans coding takes time, just down sampling can be done faster. Flash media is much easier to work with than tapes. Most of the new Macs doesnt have firewire port, even in older computers it takes for ever to transfer from tape. With memory stick duo, you can drag and drop the necessary movies edit them instantaneously. All the blu-ray players support AVCHD DVDs. You can easily fit 45 min of high definition video in a dual layer DVD.
For night time video capture it includes a LED light. With LED you get best of both worlds, bright light with longer battery life. If you have used other point and shoot cameras you will be home right away with auto modes like landscape, night shot etc.
Manage your expectations, it is not meant to be a full fledged HD camcoder. It is a step above cameras that shoot videos and below HDV camcorders. Understand the laws of physics. Larger lens, larger CMOS sensors will provide better exposure, saturation, bokeh and crisp low light pictures. Sony has done the best that physics will allow to be done with this size optics. If you want a small pocket size camcorder look no where else. A nice touch as with other Sony products, it comes with every thing you need. Every kind of cables, lens covers etc. etc.
Now one important warning. Memory Stick Duo is one of the most pirated card in black market. Pay up and buy from trusted vendors. Cheap cards sold in ebay and other 3rd party vendors are slow and less reliable. When you put the card in any device like PSP check for magic-gate info. If it says magic-gate: unknown, return it back. |
Finally, a solid HD camera for the Masses
|
| Review Date: January 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Benny, Football HOF, OH |
I was just about jaded with all these new HD cameras, when I ran into this by accident, scanning through Google.
I had purchased an Kodak Easyshare M1033, then a Zi6, they both failed miserably at even coming close to Standard definition, let alone high definition. They had alot of motion artifact, alot of graininess at any light exposure, and were useless in the dark. They went to new owners.
I had about given up until I saw this when perusing products at 2009 CES. I have had it one day, but it surpasses the products that I have used and that are out there.
First off, images are clear, for real, not grainy. It actually has 4 different light settings - sports, landscape, backlight, and lowlight. None of the other 'pocket cameras' have this. This is extremely important, or you can forget recording video in your home.
Secondly, it has an led light that can be utilized to record in the dark...what a great idea!!! It maximizes battery life, and extends your video range. Amazing difference.
Next, it has a real optical zoom, not some fake digital zoom. At whats more, when you zoom, it doesnt blurr, like the Nikon and Kodak video footage I have seen and made. Another gigantic leap.
It has all necessary connectivity, component cables, usb, and it is very intuitive to use. After about 30 minutes with it, you can film your own documentary. But even in simple terms, once the clock is set you can start filming immediately. Just change from sports setting to another light setting before you start, or you will see a black screen indoors. Oh, and, take the lens cap off.
Ok, memory, it has 12mb onboard, which will get you a few pics, and 15 seconds of HD video. Yeah, eh...But it does have a pro duo slot. I was certainly not excited about this, I have alot of SD cards lying around. But I looked for a good deal, and dealt with it. Video compression is nice, and you get about 1 sec per MB, or about 140 min with an 8gb card. This is actually better than the kodak compression, as far as storage.
Also, videos are simple to use. Simple to play on a computer, just plug in the usb, you dont need a pro duo slot on your pc. I uploaded easily to Youtube, and also played them nicely on my 42" big screen. Another plus, it runs through all the videos with one click. Some folks may not like this, but I dont like to click on all 40 videos I recorded, just play em all, and skip if you want. Otherwise, you would be sitting by the tv changing them the whole time, while everyone else enjoys. Nice idea, Sony.
Sony thought of other nice things as well, including wrist strap, concise packaging, lens cap strap, and nice charging setup. Leave those AAs at home Kodak Zi6. It even takes pictures!
Take it from me, the Webbie does much more than anything else out there in the $150-$400. If you are going to spend $200 anyway, why not get a serious camera that blows away the competition. You wont be disappointed. This will be the camera everyone has within 3 months. |
Small package but delivers big
|
| Review Date: January 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: ice grizzly, Dream Land |
A terrific package, stuffed with lot of functionality. Small camcorder that you can keep in your handbag or glove box all time. You are not stuck with the crappy cellphone videos any more. It works like a charm. If you have used a point shoot camera before, the optical quality is very similar. CMOS sensor is small and the lens f/stops are not wide enough. I stress again on optical quality. In built battery gives long life, with memory stick you transfer video from camera to PC easily. This a wonderful package. Quality of video is in between flip and full fledged HDV camcorders. It is not full true HD. For this price worth every penny. Pictures come crisp and clear. I also love the quite noise free operation of flash camcorders. Especially when you are recording a sleeping child or other really calm situations. Even if you have one of the big camcorders, I strongly suggest getting this as a second one.
Very worthy contender in this new flash camcorder space. It has both optical and digital zoom. There is no image stabilizer, so you need steady hands at full optical zoom. And it is not a simple extended digital camera. It sports full stereo audio recording. Video is stored as H.264 format, same as blu-ray. It provides the best compression known to man that can be played any where. H.264 videos can be downsampled for internet viewing without a lot of effort. Trans coding takes time, just down sampling can be done faster. Flash media is much easier to work with than tapes. Most of the new Macs doesnt have firewire port, even in older computers it takes for ever to transfer from tape. With memory stick duo, you can drag and drop the necessary movies edit them instantaneously. All the blu-ray players support AVCHD DVDs. You can easily fit 45 min of high definition video in a dual layer DVD.
For night time video capture it includes a LED light. With LED you get best of both worlds, bright light with longer battery life. If you have used other point and shoot cameras you will be home right away with auto modes like landscape, night shot etc.
Manage your expectations, it is not meant to be a full fledged HD camcoder. It is a step above cameras that shoot videos and below HDV camcorders. Understand the laws of physics. Larger lens, larger CMOS sensors will provide better exposure, saturation, bokeh and crisp low light pictures. Sony has done the best that physics will allow to be done with this size optics. If you want a small pocket size camcorder look no where else. A nice touch as with other Sony products, it comes with every thing you need. Every kind of cables, lens covers etc. etc.
Now one important warning. Memory Stick Duo is one of the most pirated card in black market. Pay up and buy from trusted vendors. Cheap cards sold in ebay and other 3rd party vendors are slow and less reliable. When you put the card in any device like PSP check for magic-gate info. If it says magic-gate: unknown, return it back. |
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