Sony DCR-HC52 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom Camcorder Reviews

Sony DCR-HC52 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom

Great Camera 2008-07-17

This camera is very easy to operate, light weight, compact and the features for a small camera a nice. I had an earlier version of this camera and a new feature is the lens cap it slides into a comopartment and does not hang off the camera. Great zoom easy to reach controls. Great camera for the average user to record family vacations.

Nice Camera 2008-07-11

We have had the camera for a month now, and have been extremely happy with it so far.

a) the quality of the images are excellent
b) the ease of use is excellent
c) the compactness of the camera is excellent
d) the battery life is excellent.
e) the auto focus and auto exposure has been very good
e) The LCD panel is excellent, and is still quite satisfactory in bright light.

The only negative is that the optical view finder is very poor, and too small to use. However, this really has not been an issue at all, since the LCD panel does not seem to be a drain on the battery, and has been usefully visible under all light conditions.

EXCELLENT quality for the $ 2008-06-07

I tried to buy this camera from Amazon but their server was trashing on 6/6/08 so I dashed over to the local WalMart and picked up one. After spending the last 7 hours going over every feature and nuance, I wish I'd had this camera last week for videoing a great rock band in Illinois... the spot metering feature would have provided me vastly better results than the old Sharp miniDV it replaced! One review of this camera is extremely biased by the buyer's ignorance of technology... firewire is the only way to go for transferring DV to computer, and this feature works flawlessly on this camera. I'm very pleased to have one, and not even sorry to have paid more at WalMart than Amazon's great price! Image quality is excellent!

5 stars 2008-05-31

The camera works great.

Night shot plus and steady shot IS make difference. Also 40x zoom.

Enjoy it!

DOA 2008-04-07

Had to send it back. Arrived but camera would not focus at all. Send it back and bought a Canon Z900, which works fine.

Great camera at an awsome price 2008-03-30

I have been renting a Sony DCR-HC21 from my college for a month or so now. I'm a photographer by trade but I really became interested with editing digital video so I looked around for a camcorder that was a bit above mid range. This is it, it has enough professional functions to make it just right for me. Ability to recored in 16:9 widescreen, touch screen LCD, ability to control exposure, manual and auto focus, 40x optical zoom, and at $234.99 it's an awesome buy.

The one Con I can think of is that the battery provided with the camera is very poor. Only lasts for 115 minutes, which seems nice but in comparison to the NPFH50 that lasts for 3 hours it's poor. Do yourself a favor and buy the NPFH50 Battery for $26 here on amazon.

The other thing that I can't fathom is that none of these minidv camcorders come with the firewire data cable. It seems like including an 8 dollar cable wouldn't be that difficult, Sony afterall bundles the software needed to transfer the video to your PC.

All in all this is the best camcorder for the money, I chose this over the Canon ZR900 and I'm glad that I did. It's well build and has all the features that an amateur or professional would want.

Entry Level Handycam 2008-03-25

First let's correct the Amazon description, this is a 40X optical zoom camera, not 25X as seen on the product itself.

This is a great camera to start out with, the simplicity of Mini DV tapes makes this a good value choice. DVD camcorders in this price range suffer from bad battery life, and disk errors that can render your disks useless. The Mini DV tapes are tried and true.

I use an Apple computer at home and the camera connects to iMovie with no problems using the iLink port on the camera. All you need in most cases is a Firewire 6pin to 4pin cable, and you are good to go.

The video and audio quality are good, and the night vision is fun too. This is not a upper level camera so don't expect several bells and whistles, but it performs great, and has the basic features most people will ever need. The battery life is fair, but that is expected, all camcorder companies want you to buy an extra battery, but at least Sony gives you several options.

With a full charge and a new tape, expect about an hour of record time.

Sony DCR-HC52 MiniDV 2008-03-12

Item was straw purchase; I purchased it for someone else, a friend who has never chosen to use any form of credit card. But anyway, the camera works flawlessly in it's chosen use, filming skydiving students/customers while mounted on a helmet.

Only a little lack of info on Amazon site, but easily obtainable on Sony site was the lens size/thread pitch so a wide angle lens could be purchased. Overall, no complaints, camera and Amazon worked as expected.

Nice camera NO USB 2008-03-01

I bought this camera, comes with Windows Computer edit software, but guess what? I does not have an USB port, I learn that the manual I checked was also for the DCR-HC54 which has USB, but this cam has not. Now I should pay expensive hardware in order to get to see my videos on computer.

I will not recommend this stuf, I whish I could change it!!

:(