Sony DCR-DVD308 1MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom

Average customer rating: 4.5

Easy to Use, Sweet Picture
A pretty handy Handycam
Great Camera!!
Better than my mini DV
I enjoy it

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Sony DCR-DVD308 1MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom

Manufacturer: Sony
Product Group: Photography
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B000M3H1JS

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Product Description

The Sony DCR-DVD308 DVD Handycam(R) Camcorder captures the powerful sound and sharp images you expect from digital photography and video. Instantly capture all your moments and record them directly to DVD-R/-RW/+RW/+R Dual Layer discs. The Professional Quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lenses have an advanced optical multi-layer coating that offers less glare and flare with increased contrast. Built for serious recording, the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens delivers superior image quality -- and its 12x optical and 800x digital zoom make sure you never miss a detail. Its DVD recording lets you share your video more quickly than ever -- once your stills or movie has been recorded, simply pop the disc into any DVD player and watch it instantly. Preview your images on the large 2.7-inch SwivelScreen(TM) LCD display, and add multiple effects directly from the camcorder -- or transfer your images and video to a PC through the USB 2.0 port. Creating great video and sharing it quickly has never been this easy. Professional Quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens Aperture - f1.8 - f2.5 Touch Panel Full Range Auto & Manual Exposure Focal Distance - 3.0 - 36mm Shutter Speeds - Auto, 1/4-1/4000 sec. (AE Mode) Progressive Shutter System Program AE (Auto Exposure) Modes - Beach and Ski, Landscape, Portrait, Spotlight, Sports Lesson, and Sunset and Moon Compatible with DVD-R, -RW and +RW White Balance Modes - Auto, Indoor, One-push, Outdoor Picture Effects - Monotone, Mosaic, Pastel, and Sepia Fader Effects - Black, Overlap, White and Wipe Onboard battery information (displayed on LCD) Easy Handycam(R) Button USB 2.0 Port Optional S-Video out Dolby Digital 5.1 Channel Recording InfoLithium Battery with AccuPower(TM) Meter System Battery Life - Continuous recording for up to 8 hours on a single full charge Dimensions - 2-1/4 x 3-5/8 x 5-1/4 inch (54.5 x 89 x 130.5 mm) Weight - 16 ounces (4

Customer Reviews:

Easy to Use, Sweet Picture.......2007-06-06

This camera is really slick. The one thing that I don't like is that it does not accept SD cards (and no on-board system memory... you need a duo chip to take still pictures). However, the picture is amazing and saving to the DVD is a snap. The camera is comfortable to hold, and has a touch screen which makes viewing the videos easy, too. All in all, 5/5 stars. Excellent.

A pretty handy Handycam.......2007-06-06

Tickets to Disneyland are expensive, sufficiently so that when my wife decided that I should record the memories in moving pictures rather than stills, the price of the camcorder was almost certain to be unimportant. If recording the Disney experience would cost me less than the Disney experience itself, then the camera could be relegated to the "acceptable collateral damage" column of my planned budget.

The price of this camcorder isn't bad, but I've decided that camcorder pricing in general is a dishonest racket. The battery that comes with this camcorder is good for less than an hour of recording. When you're going to Disneyland, 45 minutes just isn't enough. You need to buy a bigger battery (I went with the biggest, 10 hours), and for that you'll pay almost a third of the price of this camcorder (less on Amazon, but I didn't have the luxury of waiting the several weeks they said it would take to get the battery). You need to buy a camera case. You need to buy a battery charger. You need to buy at least six DVDs (that gives you a bit under three hours of standard recording time). By the time I bought the stuff I needed to go with the camcorder, I'd spent about half the price of the camcorder itself. Plan to spend at least $200 more than the price of the camcorder on accessories if you want to take it on vacation with you. The collateral damage to your budget will always be greater than the price of the camera.

That said, this camcorder performed very well. It's very easy to use, and with a little practice I learned to record events one-handed while watching said events unfold in front of my eyes, not just on the screen. That is, once I got the camera going I could occasionally start watching my kids and stop watching the camcorder screen. Score a big one for the stabilization feature. The menus on the screen are easy to navigate, and the screen responds nicely to touch. I didn't have to push too hard, and it didn't respond to the passing of my finger over one button on its way to another.

The image quality is very nice. The zoom feature works very smoothly, and 25X optical zoom is more than enough to catch your kids' expressions of horror and delight when they're on a ride and your feet are planted on blessedly solid ground. And if you have to ride with them, well, I've nauseated friends and family with my clip of scenery zooming by while my kids made our tea-cup spin as fast as the mechanism would allow. I filmed at standard quality, and it shows nicely on a 32" HD TV. It looks grainy on a 42" screen.

The autofocus works pretty well when the lens isn't zoomed. I used it at full zoom in a large auditorium when my son's kindergarten class sang last month. I was seated about 150 feet back and the auditorium was dark. He kept going in and out of focus. I pulled back the zoom and the focus settled down. The sound was good, but I was bothered to hear my own whispers to my wife when I played back the video. I'd prefer that the microphone give more prominence to sound in front of the camera and less to sound that's in back.

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably buy a hard-drive camcorder rather than a mini-DVD camcorder. The DVDs are just more stuff you have to carry around in your bag, and the odds are you'll have to change the DVD at an inopportune time (e.g., right when your daugther is discovering just how long and wet a giraffe's tongue is). If, like me, you're a Mac owner, you'll find that Sony camcorders work pretty well with iDVD and iMovie. But my four-year old iMac doesn't support this camcorder. Newer ones do (we're upgrading, so no big deal for us). The video software that comes with the camcorder is only for Windows; it will only support still photos on Mac.

On balance I like this camcorder. I'd like it more if it came with a bigger battery, a battery charger (you can charge a battery in the camera, but it takes a lot longer), and Mac compatible software. And if that touch-screen had a finish that weren't so easy to smudge.

Great Camera!!.......2007-06-02

This is a great Camera!!! We love it and take it with us everywhere. Great quality and the memory slot comes very handy too!!

Better than my mini DV.......2007-05-30

And more versatile. I edit my video 90% (or more) of the time, so mini DVD is perfect. I know and therefore shoot only the scenes that I want to see later. So, +/- 15 minutes of recording in one DVD disc is not a problem for me, btw, you can get more recording time if you use SP or even LP settings. For me, I use the highest quality setting, which is HQ (6 MB/sec).
I always use miniDVD-RW or miniDVD+RW, I have 3 discs of each type. The last time we went outing, I ended up only use 2 discs, and I got plenty of shots that I keep, in fact all 25 minutes of everything that I wanted to record and will see it over and over again.
I use MAC, and Sony and all other DVD camcorder out there don't supply you with any MAC compatible software. But my MacBook easily recognize the Sony! But since I use DVD-RW, I can (first) finalize the discs, and use "Popcorn" or "Toast" to copy the video to my MAC, it's faster this way.
And... I can Re-Use the disc later by "Un-Finalizing" it! .. Perfect.
DVD+RW is even better, you don't need to finalize the disc, you can just pop in to compatible (any player that accept 8" disc) player to see your recorded video.
Other important spec: DCR-DVD308 uses 1.0 Megapixel Advanced HAD(tm) CCD Imager, just perfect in term of quality and my budget. the 408 uses 2.1 MP and 108 uses 1/6".
Low light and indoor performance are good, better than Canon and Panasonic and waaayyy better than JVC (all in the same price range and similar specs)
I can go on with the specs, but just go to sonystyle and compare the 108, 308 and 408 yourself.
Canon's LCD I thought is sharper and brighter than Sony, but you actually can change the setting in the menu, to me, I prefer the default setting since I use it outdoors most of the time, and I can see better with the default setting.
Panasonic has a smoother zoom, in Sony, you can have the same smooth zoom by using the one in the LCD.
I don't use the photo features (still image), I have a Nikon D40 for that purpose.
My only wish list: ability to record to Memory Stick.
Anyway, this is a perfect camcorder for me.
My other choices (and worthy competitor to the Sony) beside this model are:
Canon DC230 and Panasonic VDR-D230

I enjoy it.......2007-05-24

Pros
Have used Canon MiniDV and didn't like it.
Now this piece is perfect.

Cons
Battery is suck. Have to buy Sony NPFH 70.

Additional Thoughts
For 3" or 8 cm disk, buy Memorex Mini DVD+RW. Note +RW is perfect. It works perfect with the 308 even camcorder recommends Sony. Who cares! I have paid for that expensive Sony battery already.

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