Sony DCR-DVD110 DVD Handycam with X40 Zoom

I purchased this camera for my Mother to capture her grand-daughter, who is always on the go and never in the same place long enough for a still photo. I was very surprised as to how small and light this camera is, even with the battery. It's surprisingly easy to set up and use and the touch-screen on the flip-out viewfinder was a surprising bonus!

I've always been a fan of Sony products and this is no different. It's small, lightweight and easy to use. Perfect for anyone, of any age, to use. Although if you have large fingers, you may find the touch-screen capability is limited as the buttons are very small.

Overall, this camera is excellent value for money and I am confident that it will withstand the test of time.

Great Little Camera

I bought this camcorder for my birthday and, for the price found it very easy to use. Downloading the images is simple using the Sony software included. The VGA camera provides basic low res pictures, but its a camcorder not a camera. Light weigh and very easy to use. Turn on, point and record.

Superb and easy to use product

This is amazing value and the picture equals that from cameras twice the price. The lack of a motor of any sort completely eliminates motor noise and it is small enough to fit in one hand. The picture quality for both still and HDTV is excellent and colour rendering is better than other cameras I have bought. The ability to take still photos while taking video is a bonus but isn't so good in dim light.Also, the flash is rather too bright for anything less than 2 metres away and cannot be controlled, so don't take flash photos of people just a metre away.

Two things are less than perfect for me: The joy-stick is a bit on the small size for my hands but other people find it easy to use. The need to connect the machine to the battery adaptor in order to download is baffling and makes it impossible to do where there is no mains supply. I also find the fade control awkward to set up, but this is common with other cameras I have used.

I don't know why they don't put the larger capacity battery in with this, although you get a couple of hours of general use from the one that is supplied. It is worth getting a spare battery (and a spare SD card).

I liked this camera so much I bought another 2.

Excellent product. One can't go far wrong with Sony.

An excellent camera at an excellent price. For the semi-casual user such as myself this is a great product. Dead simple to use when you want to just get something down on film, but you can also use the provided software to get a little more clever. Not only that, but it's compact. Really very compact. I couldn't quite believe it when I opened the box and it came out. Things have moved on so much even in the last couple of years. For the money, this is a great little video camera, and well worth it.

Great camcorder

I've had this camcorder for the best part of a week and it's very good.

Pros:
relatively small, (will fit into a small bag not a pocket)
light weight
controls are easy to use
one of the best features is the mpeg recording so there is no conversion needed for the movie files to play e.g. on a standard pc with windows media player.
Once plugged in via usb the camcorder is shown as an external drive, so you can just drag and drop the files.
Video quality is great for home movies.
It copes with low light very well.
You can put a memory card in it and record directly to that.
It has a hot shoe for accessories.
Comes with a remote

Cons:
It uses a hard disk, so I wouldn't like to drop it (although it does have some type of impact sensor)
Doesn't come with a case
Can't switch it on from the remote
Wouldn't really use it as a stills camera because of the low resolution

Conclusion
Good all round take anywhere family movie camcorder.

Stunning.

This camera has been such a great purchase. I was unsure about the file format and whether it would work on my macbook but it seems like this was created for mac as well as windows. Imovie 08 easily imports the video and i cant say how pleased i am. The video quality is visually stunning. I still find myself with my mouth open just gawping as the quality of the video.

Great for children

I bought a load of these for use at my school. They are perfect for children to use(or teachers who are not confident with more expensive cameras); they're simple to operate and results can be shown immediately in MS Media Player via a USB connection. The only drawback is that they record in motion Jpeg which means that they need converting if you want to use the clips in MS Movie maker - however free software can be downloaded from the internet which can convert the files quickly and easily; then children's creative side can be truly explored. I would recommend rechargeable batteries because they get through a couple of AA batteries each hour of use.


The latest moviemaker now supports mjpegs so no conversion necessary

magicgate memory stck

I purchased a brilliant Sony HDR SR12 a few weeks ago ,and a Sony 4GB memory stick, which is on the adjacent site, only to find out that "MagicGate" is not compatible with the Sr12. You will only find this out on the downloaded manual ,and that is on Page 105 of the Maintenance and Precautions section...

Brilliant Camera Just Be Careful if You Are a Mac User

I am mildly disappointed as the camera is great, easy to use with a great picture. But it doesn't work well with either iMovie or Final Cut Express, I can't comment on its PC capabilities. I am hoping that Panasonic and Apple get together and resolve the issues, neither seem to be interested at the moment.

Impressed

I bought this as a cheap way into HD for use on a 55" full HD tv after using a great TRV20 Sony DV model for several years.

The picture quality, particularly on cine mode, is stunning. The detail even on a giant screen is outstanding. This size screen shows up the slightest picture problem on blu ray let alone Sky HD.

1st impressions not brilliant as it feels slightly flimsy and lightweight compared to the Sony but that wears off quickly. The control positioning obviously suits my hands. The memory card I bought separately but at £9 for 2 gig is hardly a problem and the picture quality of stills, especially in widescreen is very good.

I use ordinary dv tapes, which at £1 each for 25, is very cheap bulk storage for work. This is important because you can't load edited HDV back to the camera tape.

This turned out not to be the budget buy I was half expecting but a top quality purchase. Well done Canon & Amazon.

excellent

I am very pleased with this camera its so simple to use and the video comes out great as does the pictures. Easy to hold and small enough to fit in the pocket.It starts up quick and being able to fit 60min of hd video on a 2gb sd card is fantastic.Converting the MOV format in Windows Vista is no problem with the software provided. The only drawback i had is taking photos in bad lighting using the flash, the flash takes time to reload, but all in all its a very good camera

Pretty good- get what you pay for really

Very small camcorder, would fit in near any pocket, which suits as il be taking it on holiday (it was bought due to the inexpensive nature, so il not be too annoyed if its lost/ stolen!). Quality seems decent for my needs, just waiting on delivery now of my 2GB SD cards, which i ordered off a different site, because of the extortionate delivery charges by some of the suppliers selling on amazon. All in all, a worthy buy- just don't recommend it for would-be film makers, etc.

Marvel camera

I had the good fortune to buy this camera yesterday and am absolutely amazed with it, the video quality is incredible, the zoom is fantastic, and the different modes are likewise. The one problem I have with it is it doesn't have a PC cable.

What a great piece of kit

My old camcorder stopped working and I wanted to replace it with one that was easier to transfer to PC. Hard disc camcorders were too expensive so I did a bit of research and came up with the Sanyo. What a great buy. For family memories, movies and pictures it does a great job. OK so the pictures taken inside are not that great since the flash does not work that well and there can be a bit of shake on movies when zoomed in. Having said this its size price and ease of use are fantastic. Unless you are a budding Stephen Spielberg get one.

Superb waterproof camcorder

I had a look out for a waterproof camcorder for ages. I do a lot of river kayaking and sea kayaking and need a compact waterproof camcorder/camera for that. This one is just the deal, I can film and take photos and the quality is pretty good. I use Adobe Premium Pro to edit the movies and even when I increase the size to 720x576 it still holds up nice. Watching the clips on the telly looks fine too.

NOT MAC COMPATIBLE!

I'm sure this camcorder is as fantastic as it sounds, but a word of warning - IT IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH APPLE MACS. There is no suggestion of this anywhere on the Amazon site, and in 2008 it's amazing that this could still be an issue. Sure you can transfer still photos from the TG3, but not video, which kind of defeats the object. Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK use Macs, and a lot of home users prefer them because of the ease with which you can store music and photo/video, yet this Sony doesn't work. Ridiculous.

good quality video & stills

i purchased this camera for my daughter several weeks ago, having originally purchased a JVC GZ-MG175EK hard disk camera from comet at £249, which was taken back as the video quality was very grainy with low resolution.I am quite impressed with this camera, as the quality of video footage is very good & stills seem comparable to a dedicated sony 2.3mp camera we own. The sound recording quality is also excellent. Given the asking price on amazon(includes free tripod & bag which are good quality) i would say this is a very good buy for those who want a quality camera at a budget price. this camera seems to retail at over £400(argos £439).
for more reviews i would look on amazon.com as this camera seems to have been in the US for a while. This is a dvd camera & you may have read about problems with transferring dvd files to pc for editing. This has been no problem for me with this camera. here's how: all you do is plug the camera into your usb port.The camera now appears as a seperate drive. now just open the files within this drive till you see the vro file( this contains the mpeg2 movie).Now copy & paste the vro file to a folder of your choice on your pc. Next open windows media player & open the vro file. media player will state the file type is not recognised but select to play anyway. once the box is checked you will not be asked again.once the video plays, stop it & save the video with a name of your choice and the file ext name .mpeg. This can subsequently be recognized in most video editing software inc windows movie maker. as for down sides, the camera is a little heavier & more bulky than hard disc cams, but i find the weight better to keep the camera steady. there is no dedicated night vision facility but the camera video quality is good at even low light levels.