Sony DCR-HC19E Handycam: Reviewed by Harish Vekaria

Small in size, but big in personality.

The first thing that strikes you about this camcorder is it’s obvious size, it feels so tiny and light you’d think that the overall quality of the camcorder may not be too great, but within a few minutes you will be proved very wrong!

What can I say? for my first camcorder this was a perfect introduction to home movie making, even if you are not a newcomer, there is still plenty to impress. The Sony brand has a reputation for quality, and this camcorder even at an entry level is no exception.

It comes with a Carl Zeiss® lens which captures every loving detail whether it is outdoors or indoors. When in use the camcorder is quick to compensate for the change in lighting conditions, but certain common sense is required such as not shooting directly against bright light! The size and weight of the camcorder enables you to very happily use it in the palm of your hand, and the thoughtfully placed buttons allow easy access to its numerous functions.

The term idiot proof can be used to describe this camcorder, but as I have already mentioned before, there are more than enough comprehensive features to keep a more experienced user happy.

A quick look at the manual and within a few minutes you’ll be happily recording treasured memories onto DV tape. The Easy mode will automatically adjust everything for you, enabling you to dive straight in without bothering with the other functions.

Feature wise, the image stabiliser (Super Steady Shot), works remarkably well to allow you to record whilst moving, and not turn your mini masterpiece into a jerky mess. The 2.5” touch screen LCD is a nice feature, as is the NightShot Plus, which uses infrared beams to capture footage in low night (night time), conditions. The camcorder also has a 20x Optical Zoom / 800x Digital Zoom, and 6 picture effects (Mosaic, Solarization, Monotone, Sepia, Neg.Art, Pastel), for some added creativity. A number of extra tweaking can also be done for the more adventurous users, which allow you to change the white balance, focus settings and AE. Battery life is also very good with the camera lasting several hours usage on a full charge.

A number of extensive accessories can be brought such as extra lens/filters for it’s 25mm lens, higher capacity batteries and tripods.

The supplied manuals are adequate enough, but the software is the usual Sony quality (not very good), also dump the USB cable! If you really want to transfer your footage with any great detail to your PC/Laptop, buy yourself a Firewire (i.Link™) cable (and card if necessary), since this makes the world of difference. An AV out cable is also supplied to connect the camcorder directly to a TV or video/DVD recorder to watch or to record directly to tape/DVD.

If you already have a Windows XP setup, XP Movie Maker will provide a nice introduction to movie creation & editing. With a quick search on the Internet I’m sure you’ll find some more advanced and feature rich packages, FYI I am using Serif Movie Plus 4.0, plenty of hard disc space is also recommended!

It’s a highly recommended product that is selling for an attractive price that is too good to pass up on. The features and size alone make this great value for money.