The Sony Handycam HDR-XR550V priced at $1000, can be a real pain for some of the users, especially considering the accouterments of the camera. The Handycam HDR-XR550V has a huge a 3.5-inch LCD, G series lens, a 240GB hard disk, EVF, iris and shutter controls and mic and headphone jacks. Basically the HDR-XR550V and its almost identical sibling CX550V are the high-end models belonging to the high-end Prosumer line of Sony. The CX550V has somewhat different design than its siblings and also the recording media ability of the camera is a bit different. The design difference between the two cameras can easily be credited to camera’s storage type. This is because of the fact that the CX550V comes with 64GB of fitted flash memory and XR550V comes with a hard drive. The frontage of the camera contains a huge-barreled lens with an electronic lens and flash positioned on top of it. The trademark Sony’s stale a manual control dial is again present in  [...]

The DCR-SR85 is a Sony’s Hybrid standard-definition camcorder, which records the videos at hard-disk drive and on Memory Stick Pro Duo cards. It has 60GB hard drive that provides 14 hours to 41 hours of video recording time. It depends on the quality settings. The overall video quality is better than its sibling, the DCR-SR45. Sony Handycam DCR-SR85 is not the best deal, so we recommend you to go for any other HD camcorder like Canon HG10, which costs only a couple of bucks more but you get good quality. Sony Handycam DCR-SR85 has a dial that works for still capture, video recording and power on/off. A record button is located in the center that allows recording fast. Activity and power lights sit above the record button. You will also find Quick On button to take the camcorder in/out of standby mode. The camera shutter and rocker switch for lens are located on the top of the SR85. Rocker switch and zoom rocker are easy to operate and allows for  [...]

HDR-CX100 is Sony’s first attempt at a HD camcorder and the manufacturer has tried to keep the price low. In the end you get a cheap camcorder but it doesn’t give great quality videos. Get this camcorder if you are looking for something cheap and are willing to compromise on quality. The HDR-CX100 is pretty but doesn’t have good ergonomics when you are shooting. We couldn’t hold the camcorder properly because of the awkward design. We also had to struggle to keep the device still in our hands. For shooting stills, you need both the hands, one to hold the camcorder and other one to press the shutter button. The camcorder has a 2.7 inch touch screen display. It is very small in size and pressing the tiny onscreen buttons is miserable experience. We had lots of mis hits in our labs. The LCD also performs poorly in bright sunlight, it accumulates a lot of fingerprints which makes the display worse. The functions like display info, power, playback,  [...]

This camcorder from Sony is hard disk based; it is an 80 GB model. The presence of hard disk makes the device heavy but the protrusion makes it easy to handle. We thought that Sony has got this device a bit over priced, there are other camcorders offering the same set of features and for a smaller price. The device has a touch screen interface; the screen is a bit small and if you have thick fingers, be wary of mishits because the buttons are tiny. The camcorder doesn’t have headphone or microphone jacks, accessory shoe, video light or flash. What you do get on the HDR-XR100 is USB connectors, proprietary AV and mini-HDMI. There is a lens cover which protects the lens of the device. There is a 5.1 channel microphone which we thought was more of a gimmick than a necessity and it could have been sacrificed to bring the price down. Behind the hard drive is the photo button and zoom switch. The latter is a difficult to control because it is a bit wobbly.  [...]