 A few years ago, this camcorder would easily have cost over a grand. Now for less than half that price, the Sony HC32 camcorder provides the same features and DV functionality as the more expensive camcorders of the past. While the camcorder is a relatively good value, its cheap price does come at the cost of additional features and quality found in older, more expensive camcorders.
First and foremost, the HC32 is a DV camcorder. This means you can easily transfer video to and from the camera using a basic Firewire (IEEE 1394) cable. You can also control the camera's playback functions from the computer, if your software allows you to. In order to connect the camera to your computer, you need to have a Firewire port, which is included on just about every Macintosh made after 2001 and many multimedia PCs. If your computer does not have any Firewire connections, you can buy an expansion card for either your desktop or laptop computer that will add Firewire ports to your machine.
Operating the Sony HC32 could not be easier. Simply flip the on/off dial to ON, wait a few seconds for the camera to start up, and press the record button. When you want to stop recording, press the record button again and the recording stops. The camcorder includes a 20x zoom, which is pretty impressive for such an inexpensive camera. The zoom control is conveniently located on the top-right of the camcorder and allows precise control over the speed of the zoom. While the camera includes digital image stabilization (turned on by default), if you zoom in more than 5x or so, it becomes very difficult to keep the image from jumping around. Still, the zoom is a useful feature as I found it possible to see detail on objects several hundred feet away.
The interface of the HC32 is very simplistic, which is great for the average user, but a bit lacking for those who like a little more manual control. Most of the camera's options are controlled via the swivel 2.5" touch screen, which doubles as the LCD viewfinder. The screen is bright and accurate and the menu options are easy to view and navigate. However, many of the advanced settings are hidden deep in the hierarchy of menus. This can be frustrating if you like customizing settings like exposure, white balance, image stabilization, and auto-focus. Fortunately, the camera has a menu customization feature that allows you to move your most commonly adjusted settings to the main menu.
Some of the advanced settings include wide-select, for makeshift 16:9 filming, image stabilization on or off, and auto-exposure for scenes such as sports, spotlight, and sunset. There is also spot meter, which allows to choose a particular object to focus on even if it is not in the center of the screen. You simply touch the area on the LCD viewfinder that you want to focus on and it focuses on that point, which is pretty cool. Perhaps my favorite feature, which is often overlooked, is the white balance setting. You can adjust the white balance for indoor or outdoor shooting, or choose automatic or custom. The custom white balance lets you focus on a white object, such as a white wall or white piece of paper and use the "One Push" option to let the camera calibrate the white balance. This completely gets rid of yellow, reddish, or bluish hues on objects that should appear white.
On the other end of the spectrum, the HC32 includes an "Easy Mode," which eliminates all advanced options and performs all adjustments automatically. This was designed for those who like to use point and shoot cameras and don't like to mess around with manual settings. The good news is that it makes the camera simple to operate for anyone. The bad news is that it takes away all control of exposure and white balance settings, which can be adjusted to really improve the film quality. At least you can still zoom in Easy Mode. You can enter this mode by simply pressing the "Easy" button on the left side of the camera (kind of like that Staples commercial). When you are in Easy Mode, the text on the viewfinder becomes extra big, which is the only reason I found myself using it.
The HC32 also includes a bunch of digital effects, such as trail, slow shutter, and the obligatory old movie effect. You can also set the camcorder to fade in or out when recording starts and stops, though this feature is hidden under too many menus to be practical. While some of the included digital effects are cool and fun to play with, I found myself forgoing them whenever I was actually recording, since the effects are permanent and I would rather be able to add the effects later via software on my computer. If you are recording at night or in an extremely dark room, the NightShot Plus does an exceptional job of capturing video where there is hardly any light. My only complaint is that it mainly captures a circular area in the center of the screen instead of the entire filming area.
The quality of the video is exceptional in bright sunlight. Granted, it is far from HD (high-definition) quality, but it produces a solid, vibrant SD (standard definition) picture. This is a great camcorder for outdoor shooting, such as summer sporting events or family outings. Unfortunately, the quality of video that is shot indoors drops significantly. This is mainly due to the small 1/6 CCD that the camcorder uses to capture light, which is typical of inexpensive camcorders. The picture quality of indoor video is more grainy than I would have liked, but what really disappointed me was the lack of color when there is low light. The picture is muted and a bit yellowish (though that can be improved by changing the white balance setting). The indoor quality is not horrible, but it is low enough that I would recommend paying another $100-$200 for a 1/5 CCD camcorder if you are going to be filming mostly indoors.
Fortunately, the camera's small built-in microphone really impressed me in both indoor and outdoor situations. The audio recorded by the camera is very clear and includes a surprisingly wide frequency range, with more bass than I expected from such a small camcorder. Windy conditions do cause the microphone to pick up a lot of static, but it does well as long as the wind is only moderate. It does a fantastic job of picking up the voice from both the person filming and the subject being filmed.
The Sony HC32 camcorder is a small, easy-to-use camera with good audio and video quality. It is comfortable to use and simple to operate. The advanced options are helpful, though they can sometimes be a bit of a hassle to access. The photo option allows you to take pictures with it as well, though you need to use Sony's proprietary Memory Stick media to capture the pictures. If you are looking for an inexpensive, easy-to-use camcorder and will mainly be shooting outside, the HC32 is a solid choice. |
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