Sony DCR-SR42 Camcorder Review

I’ve owned my Sony DCR-SR42 for eight months now and love it. Little background on me… I’ve never owned a video camera, used very few camcorders and never owned anything Sony but a PS2. I wanted something easy, fast, with great quality but little/no bulky or expensive media (tapes, CDs, MiniDVs, etc.) to purchase. After talking with a friend who I consider to be a gadget guru I decided to look at hard drive camcorders. Although they were a bit out of my price range at the time I called my loving parents who split the cost with me as an early graduation present, good thing I graduated! Besides, we were providing their first grandchild it was quite advantageous for them too.

Skip past all the boring price checks and model comparisons, although it was a close call with the Panasonic SDR-H18. Everyone is looking for different specs and features so it’s hard for me to impose my preferences. If you really want me to go into more detail comment or send me an email.

Likes:

• 30GB Hard Drive is Lots of space. You will literally have to charge your camera dozens of times to use all the space available to you, even at the highest quality
• Feels great in my hand, light and easy to hold.
• Awesome looking video. The quality really looks top notch, it’s not HD, but it’s still great.
• Low light and Night shots even look pretty good! I’m impressed with the night mode. Even in no light situations the red LED/infrared light on the camera will light up the picture, although in B/W.
• 2.3″ Touchscreen. I’ve really enjoyed the touchscreen. It even cleans fairly easily.

Dislikes:

• I wish there were software that came with this to convert the MP2 files into something a little more usable for those w/o expensive video software.
• Battery life is not too bad…it used to be about 120 minutes per charge. It seems though after six months I’m topping out at just over 100 minutes (which actually may depend more on the backlit screen than I though…hmmm).
• Still pictures are somewhat grainy, still printable on a 4×6 print…but a little grainy/blurry.
• Widescreen mode, not a true widescreen. Not a big deal to me, I can deal with black bars on my camcorder screen.
• MP2? I don’t know what to do with that. I have Finally found a program to use the files but it’s still kind of a pain. I’m open to any software recommendations anyone may have.

Final wrap-up: Good (not great) battery life, oodles of space, nice touchscreen and nightmode but not fantastic for still pictures. Oh, and let’s see if we can find an easy way to convert the MP2′s, shall we?