| I bought this unit for Christmas 2003. After one year, the device is still flawless. The features are more than enough to satisfy the recreational videographer. I usually use the automatic settings (auto focus, auto brightness, etc.) whenever I can, but I'm glad the device has so many options, if I find myself in a situation where I need them. The 9-point auto focus is spectacular. While most camcorders use a single point to focus, this unit has a group of 9 points or boxes it uses to determine the optimum focus for the shot. It's really amazing, and almost instantaneous. I love the small size, and the 3.5" LCD screen is much better than the 2.5". When taking video of people, especially kids, they love it when I flip the screen toward them, so they can see themselves. To them, it's like they are on TV. They tend to be more expressive. When I do this, I just look throught the viwfinder to keep the subject in frame. It's rugged. My wife dropped it at Disney World 9 months ago. It scratched the case a bit, but otherwise the unit wasn't phased. I've made a few CD-ROM-based videos on my computer. The Sony TRV27 easily transfers video to the computer through the Firewire connection. The USB connection also works, but the compressed image quality is far worse the the pure Firewire transfer. It's nice to have the capabilities to shoot digital stils. However, the 640x480 1 megapixel image is too low-res for printing phoro-lab quality prints on a photo inkjet printer. I think of the digital camera feature as a quite a bit above most cell phone cameras, and quite a bit below most 3+ megapixel cameras. Battery life is great. I have not yet bought a spare, and haven't needed it. If I shot more video, I would probably get one of the larger batteries, which would, however, make the unit a little heavier. All in all, this is an excellent product. I'm sure the newest models are even better. Sony costs a bit more than some of the other brands, but when it comes to camcorders, you can't beat 'em. |
