( 73 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: 07-05-2009
I was very impressed with the quality and size of this cam. Though it lacks a lot of features of higher priced cameras, it makes up for it with size and ease of use. The biggest feature that is missing is the ability to manually control focusing and other features, but at the same time you can pull it out of a large pocket, open the cameras screen and start recording within just a few seconds. The 30 gig hard drive is enough to hold a ton of video. Since I received it, I have shot video all day at the SD zoo, Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Disneyland, and a couple of family gatherings, and still have a lot of space on the drive. I would suggest a couple of upgrades for this camera that can be purchased separately, one which is a necessity, which is an extra battery. You will only get a 1.5 hours of recording time at most. If you like checking what you just recorded it can be much less. These batteries can range from 30 - 75 on the net from my own research, some generic ones come with wall and car chargers, which tend come in handy. The other upgrade I would suggest would be lens filters and extra shooting lenses. I was able to get a 3 piece lens kit and a 2 shooting lens kit that fit this camera for around [...]. Most these lenses are just to broaden the scope of what and how good you can shoot something. The one lens I would make a priority wold be the uv lens it will protect the cameras lens and slow the degradation of the lens from uv light, and gives a little to the shooting quality. Another good purchase would be a lens hood, just to cut out more sun and glare. If you spend between an [...], you will go from having a decent fun camera to a pretty good and functional camera. Overall, for the couple hundred I spent on a refurbished model and the [...] I spent on upgrades, it well outperformed similar classes of cameras I researched, and most importantly I enjoy using it.
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Posted: 06-30-2009
I purchased this yesterday, and am returning it today. I needed a camcorder to record billiard and pool matches for practice and archiving. Now I wasn't looking for HD for broadcast, but it would have been nice to actually have some decent picture. On the viewscreen, the picture was fine, but I was dismayed when I got it home with 4 hours of footage on Ultra Fine. It uses MPEG2 in a .MOD format. Not very friendly to work with. I didn't even try the lower resolutions. The scene was a very well lit 10'x5' billiard table, with a dark background. The three balls had lots of artifacts as they moved around the table. This was not going to be acceptable at all. This may work well for other uses, as having a backup camera for random things you may find, but be aware, the picture quality is HORRIBLE. I have no idea how someone on these reviews actually said they couldn't tell the difference between this and HD! The features of the camera were very nice, including really cool touch "laser" navigation, and remote control, but the video quality was unacceptable. Worse than even the old VHS camcorders of the 80's/90's.
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Posted: 06-21-2009
Pros: 1. Very excellent recorded files 2. Compact good design. 3. 30 GB is enough for more than 7 hours of ultra high quality recorded files. Cons: 1. Doesn't have night recording 2. You can't capture good still images at all because it is VERY sensitive to hands vibrations. 3. You may need to purchase an additional battery with extended power because it runs out of juice in no time ( This is what i have so far, if i noticed something later i will update this review.
