Customer Reviews

Sony DCR-HC28 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this camera as a replacement for Canon Optura 20 which was dropped and when estimate for repair exceeded price of this camera, I decided to move on. After using DCR-HC28 for several weeks, I believe this is a very neat package. Overall, I am very satisfied with this camera. One of the first things that I noticed is that color representation in low light conditions is much more accurate than that of Canon. I grew accustomed to adjusting Optura's white balance indoor in order to get accurate color tones. Now I am finding, that automatic settings work just fine and, in fact, I didn't have a reason to play with presets as of yet. This camera is more of a "point and shoot" type than Canon. It provides you with manual controls, but they are not easily accessible. Still, I have not found a reason to mess with these. Besides, for those, who would claim that manual settings are necessary for advanced/professional type of filming, I would point to the price tag and ask where and when did they last see an advanced/professional camera for under $300?
This camera is also about half the size of Canon and combined with low price and weight, produces a package that I can drag with me while going to the beach, bicycling, hiking, etc and not having to worry about ruining expensive piece of electronic gear, as was the case with my Optura which, at the time when I bought it, cost me about 2.5 times of what I paid for Sony.
So far, I've used this camera in about all of the lighting conditions that I would expect to ever having to consider. I have NO COMPLAINTS about its performance. Picture seems to be sharply focused and color tones are correct. Focus is fast enough to keep up with little kids or to shoot some sports/action. Sound quality of the microphone is quiet acceptable. There seems to be very little noise from drive motor and it is not picked up by the mic so it is not transferred to your recording. All of the essential controls and menus are within easy reach.
There are few negative points that prevent me from giving this camera 5-star rating. Lack of any kind of accessory shoe or external microphone input is a drawback. It would be nice to have these, as it would increase range of conditions under which one can use it. Still, among my friends, who actually have a camcorder, about 90% don't own an accessory light or external microphone, so if it was possible to lower camera cost by omitting these features, it is not a criminal move on part of Sony. The LCD display could have been a bit larger and it would not hurt if Sony would provide it with more freedom of motion - it only swings out to 90 degree angle and in certain situations it is a limiting factor.

Thought I should chime in because I am always looking for info on a product's interface with my various computers. I love to play around with iMovie (for fun, not pro) and this camera made it easy as pie. I bought a four-pin to six-pin firewire cable for $15.00, recorded video, plugged the camcorder into my computer, opened iMovie, opened a "new project"...and it asked me if I wanted to import the video. I clicked "yes" and it began importing it all perfectly in real-time. Awesome. I hated my old way of having to convert files in order to play in iMovie. With this, it imported in mpeg4 and I needed no conversion or fancy software. I'm psyched.

i bought this handycam while on holiday in the usa, mainly to video my little cousin who is 18 months. the exchange rate meant that i saved £100 ($200).
its extremely easy to use. the minidv tapes are very cheap and if you have a dvd burner you can get very good quality video's directly. the battery life is sufficient but one of the best things is the sound quality and microphone pic up. i was 10 metres away on a wind swept beach but the camera picked up my voice perfectly. did nt give it 5 stars because it does nt come with a firewire cable and irritatingly i have to buy to different cables to use it on a sony laptop and a apple mac

We needed a camera for video commercials we are making for our websites, and looked long and hard and tried a handful of manufacturers. Ultimately, this little jewel has been an awesome camera for us. It is so easy to use, the picture quality is awesome, and best of all the price is SO right. I just can't imagine having / getting a better picture from any other camera. Sure, maybe you can zoom a bit further with more expensive cameras, but for as inexpensive and solid of a solution as this is, we 100% believe it to be today's sweet spot for mini cassette camcorders. We are however having to now buy a new Sony HC96 Camera, as we need to use a wireless microphone, and sadly :( this one does not have a port for an external microphone. Some additional cool items that we got with our HC28 that we highly recommend are a Wide Angle Lens, the cost is minimal but the value is huge (you won't be disappointed), then you'll want a long-life battery (currently they sell for around $80), and a larger than normal camera bag (as when you install the lens you'll need a bag to accommodate). If you have plans on using Video Editing software to capture and take control of your camera via Firewire, this is the camcorder to get. This is the whole reason why we bought this camera. Finding a camera that worked well with our Ulead/Corel video editing software was difficult, but after plenty of trial and error, we found this unit to be the charm. If you are looking for a personal use family camera, to shoot video and subsequently share with your friends and family, you may want to consider a DVD Recorder camera. With a DVD camera you record 30minutes to one DVD, then you hit a button to 'finalize' it, then you can take the DVD out of the camera and play it on any home DVD player. It's very simple. However for us, we needed to import our video into editing software via our computer, which was a whole different ball-game. Hope this helped, we sure wished we saw a review like this written before we went down the LONG road of LENGTHY reviews and research :)

Small compact and good quality picture and features. I like the touch screen LCD and the video guide that shows you how to take great videos. I have had the camera for a week and am blown away that they can deliver this much value for $200. FYI The camera does have AV output under the front right plastic corner panel there is a firewire output. It is a bit difficult to open and you think you are breaking the camera because it is made of the same material as the other portions of the camera housing. I was able to output video from this camera to my computer using firewire with both Roxio video editing software and Pinnacle Studio 8 software. Overall the camera is very good quality and provides a nice picture. If you plan on doing night or low light shots I would consider this camera before other makes.

Very impressed with the picture and the colour, even in low light with much less granularity than other cameras we looked at. There aren't too many bells and whistles, but for a basic camcorder, you can't beat the quality.

Love it got it a week ago and have great fun with it .
I love that you can record in widescreen and full screen.
Pros:
Size
Sound
Battery Life
Playback Clearness
Easy to use
Nightshot Plus
Touch screen
And being able to flip the screen so that you can see your self while taping

Cons:
I only have one. it doesn't come with a firewire cable though.

I love this little booger! Seriously, for the price I paid, I'm very pleased. I did my homework. I would have liked a microphone jack, an accessory shoe and AV Input but didn't want to spend over $300. Perhaps after a few months, I may upgrade to the DCR-HC96 but for now, I'm happy as a clam. I have a Toshiba laptop with a built-in 4-pin firewire port and I purchased a generic firewire cord for all of $5 including shipping. I took some short videos of my boyfriend eating breakfast and within minutes I had them uploaded to Windows Movie Maker and had a ball editing them. Fun!

I was looking for a low-cost but still usable camcorder and I picked this up at a local retailer. It wasn't my first choice, but needed to pick one up in a rush I didn't feel like waiting for an order to come in.

I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with it. Vid quality in lower light conditions is a little more on the grainy side (hence the 4 stars instead of 5), but as long as I remember that this is a "budget" model, then it works just fine. Downloading to my PC is a piece of cake using a 4 to 6 pin firewire cable, and the nightshot works a lot better than I would have expected.

If you're expecting professional cinema quality and features - spend the extra money... It's an entry level unit and you get what you pay for.

Overall - if you're looking for something that you can use easily from time to time when the situation arises then this is among the best choices in it's class.

We bought this camera and just after the warranty expired (a year later) the tape mechanism wouldn't pop the tape out. After THREE trips to the repair shop and damaged tapes, we thought we finally got it fixed. For about a month (and we use it about 30 min a week) it was great, now we are getting an error as we are taping that we need to re-insert tape!!! We've had enough and are looking to buy a replacement. For the first year, before the trouble, it was a good camera but certainly not worth all of the latest trouble. We buy Sony electronics all the time and this is our first dud.

UPDATE: After testing several camcorders in this range, we ended up reluctantly buying another one of these. SAME THING!!! It worked GREAT for a little over a year and now the tape just pops right back out!!!! We have been RIDICULUOUSLY careful about the mechanism and NEVER push, force or do anything but treat this camera with a soft touch.

We can't believe we are the only ones this happens to!