Oxford Reading Tree: Stage 4: More Storybooks: the Camcorder: Pack A (Oxford Reading Tree)
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Designed to hold and protect your digital camcorder, the Edit 100 is practical, sturdy and waterproof. It?s made of nylon and 840 denier microfibre.Internal size: 10.5 x?7 x?12.5 cm
List Price: ?18.00
Amazon Price: ?16.99
Customer Review: MAKO
Lowepro quality, Bought to fit my new Canon S3IS camera which fits into this verticle case snuggly front/back, but has 2cm gap down the side of the case where the camera strap can be stowed. The case has a shoulder strap and a padded hand strap on the both velcro and zip fastening top. Front external pocket for a spare set of batteries. Additional flapped pockets on both sides will take memory cards or use the internal zipped pocket inside the top. This case looks stylish and complements the camera whilst ensuring the camera is protected by the ample padding. Hard to imagine a better case then this.
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Customer Review: Great for the Price
As I wasnt sure how much I would use a camcorder I just wanted reasonable images without paying a fortune. After its first use I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Images outside are great although they do suffer from being a bit grainy in poor light. A small price to pay for paying such a small price! Transferring to PC is easy though you do need to buy a firewire cable but this costs about ?5. It comes with cables to play your images on a TV though. The cam comes with a 45 min battery so I purchased another one - reasonably priced direct from Panasonic although you can risk it and buy cheaper unbranded ones. The cam is very easy to hold steady as it is well designed to fit the palm. Sound quality is suprisingly good too. Its first use was at an international rugby match and the bands playing the national anthems is well recorded. Controls are also well placed and easy to use. It hasnt got the depth of functions though can be used in auto or manual mode. But we just want to press a button for it to record. So if you just really want a cam that is very good at point and shoot and you do not want to pay a fortune for it but want one that has a good name and is well designed you could do alot worse than go for this one!
Customer Review: Excellent value
Just bought this from my local Sainsbury’s who have these for ?118 - just a little cheaper than Amazon at the moment 1/03/08. The value is excellent - understand this is not a top of the line High definition camcorder it is a basic easy to use, easy to carry piece of kit. Certainly very easy to get both this and a small digicam in the same easy to carry bag. The picture quality is more than acceptable - though noticeably poorer than the previous Panasonic camcorder I had but that cost a lot more than a ?120!!. It is certainly better than indicated in a previous review claiming it is worse than a mobile phone - I’m afraid that is very wide of the mark. Works a treat with the video capture function included in Windows Vista though for some reason I get an irritating sound ‘click’ right at the end of the capture. It only happens there not on any stops or pauses in the video - it is not on the tape itself so I am working on the basis this is a PC/Vista issue and nothing at all to do with the camera. It is easy to edit out using Windows movie maker so its no big deal. Note as in common with many other camcorders you do not get a Fire-wire cable included - they don’t cost the earth, even when buying a good quality one so I don’t really count this as an issue. I had one anyway so not a problem for me. The controls are a breeze, particularly the thumb operated joystick from which you control all the main functions. The only neg I can find is the start up time when in recording mode - it does seem to take longer than my previous Panasonic model which served me well for nearly ten years. I am amazed at how small camcorders have become - even DV ones like this - my previous one was significantly bulkier than this dinky little thing. Any smaller and I would think it would be quite difficult to handle - the size is perfect for my largish hands. You also get a number of pre-set scene options which is handy or you can just point and shoot. All in all I am very happy so far - it is early days but I remain a big fan of Panasonic products which I general find to be durable and reliable - I’m hoping for the same with this.
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Treat yourself to a genuine hybrid appliance with the CG65 Xacti Digital Movie camcorder from Sanyo. The CG65 Xacti Digital Movie camcorder not only records images in MPEG4 format, it also records images in JPEG in 3680 x 2760 pixels on the SD memory card. Compatible with SDHC cards, the CG65 Xacti Digital Movie camcorder can store up to 2,030 images and 15 hours and 18 minutes of video.The CG65 Xacti Digital Movie camcorder features a 6-megapixel CCD sensor so you can take fantastic photos and home videos. Lightweight and extremely practical, this appliance is the ideal digitial companion for all your external pastimes, such as walks in the countryside or extreme sports. With a battery life of 70 minutes for filming, the CG65 Xacti Digital Movie camcorder has a sensitivity of 7 lux in automatic mode and 2 lux in photo mode. This device from Sanyo will enable you to take great shots, even in poor lighting conditions. In addition, you can use all the settings easily via the 2.5″ LCD screen.User-friendly and powerful, you’ll want to take the CG65 Xacti Digital Movie camcorder with you everywhere you go!
Amazon Price: ?169.51
Customer Review: Very good family video and still camera
This camera has done all that was expected of it. For the price it is unmatchable. Compared to my sony handy cam of approx 10 years old it is so easy and “Handy” to use. The picture quality is fantastic. The portability is great - being so small. The control of the buttons etc is easy and I have VVV large hands (span 10″). -This is all the better to hide the camera when filming. Battery life seems to have lasted at least 40mins of filming, 30 still images, Playing back, both on the camera and to a TV. Editing and saving the films is also easy with the supplied software. Not as technically complicated as some but more than useful for editing and making sense of the raw filming. OK, its not the top of the range broadcast quality but if you want a family camcorder to slip in the pocket, use on the beach and holiday, take video & pics at the drop of a hat then this is the one. The 5x zoom is fine and the 6 mega pixel is good. The drop down set-up menus are reasonably easy to follow. I fitted an 8 GB flash card which seems to hold more than enough holiday video. And an extra charged battery so I’m never without power, not that its been needed yet. Excellent family friendly camera.
Customer Review: don’t believe everything you read - this is a very good camera
there are some very very strange comments about this camera. I’ve owned a lot of cameras over the last 40 years and I can honestly say this is the only camera I have used literally every day- and I have to hand a Fuji F30 and a Nikon D50 SLR. like anything there is a compromise. For ?150~?200 you are getting a camera that takes pictures good enough to publish in colour print magazines is light (an advantage) small (but great ergonomics) - I’m a normal sized bloke and there is nothing unusable about this camera. Its small size = small battery so use the image stabilization and turn the flash off, better pictures and better battery life. Anyone who thinks they can cheat the laws of economics and logic and get a fag packet sized camera that will shoot HD quality video is missing the point. It takes MPEG4 video good enough for screen use. Want something better? Get a video camera- but it’ll be bigger, heavier and more expensive. For me the macro ability sets it apart from almost everything else- will focus down to objects against the lens distances. You’ll find this far more fun and useful than you can imagine. And the articulating screen. And the tiny charger. Recommended.
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Rediscover Sony?s digital video power with the DCR-SR290 camcorder! This camcorder employs the latest technical innovations from the Japanese giant, such as a CMOS sensor, recording to hard drive and a hybrid touch screen. The DCR-SR290 camcorder can save up to 28 hours of video on its 40 GB hard drive, and its recording mode warns you of any deletion risks so you won?t accidentally lose any data. This same mode also allows you to quickly and easily find the video sequence you are looking for. Thanks to its Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens and its 2.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, the DCR-SR290 can record images with unbelievable clarity and precision, which you can then enjoy on its 2.7? touch screen. You can also take photos of still images and highlight the details of your shot with this camcorder?s 10x optical zoom. What?s more, this camcorder from Sony comes with an optical stabiliser to make your images even more beautiful, while its numerous programmes and special effects enable you to take shots in even the most unfavourable conditions. Its NightShot mode is great for filming in the dark, and its Dolby Digital 5.1 sound over 3 channels allows for even more audiovisual enjoyment. Last but not least, this camcorder features a photo-to-memory card mode so you can capture fixed images in 6 megapixels, or 4.6-megapixel images in simultaneous photo/video mode. The DCR-SR290 is supplied with a Handycam docking station and is PictBridge compatible, so you can print photos directly. With the touch of a button on the Handycam station you can even save your videos to DVD - it’s so easy!
Customer Review: Great camcorder…Great picture & sound…Great software…!!!
Bought this sony camcorder 2 weeks ago now for an up and coming longhaul holiday to the sun…..and so far the footage ive shot both indoors and outdoors has been very impressive, cant wait to use it abroad!!! On playback, through the tv, the colours and picture quality(camcorder set on SP whilst recording) are very good, giving me some 875 mins of filming on the 40GB hard-disc-drive. But when you burn the same filming onto dvd (either by the easy 1-touch disc burn OR through your pc/laptop with the software provided), and play it back through your 5.1 surround sound system, the sound is truly exellent!, was very impressed with this feature and was one of the main reasons why i bought this particular model. Go for the 290e if you can as apposed to the 190e because the 290 has the optical super-steadyshot, than the 190’s digital. I tried both before i bought, and the 290 was a tad better plus you wont use the 80x digital zoom on the 190 really as things start to get quite blurred when zooming in. The zoom on the 290 is good, just 10x optical/20x digital which is ok. I do agree with the other reviewers comment on the auto-focusing, that when filming indoors, in not great light, the 290 does struggle a little to auto adjust quickly, which is a little annoying, but is not too bad! The other superb feature which is cool is the night shot facility, which, when used in the dark, gives the appearence of something you would see on tv’s programme “most-haunted”, that light-green tinge and the negative look from your subjects eyes is really very good, a must if you like filming in or around pitch-black places. The pic quality too on nighshot is impressive. Back to the software, just 1 cd-rom does the lot, i found it very easy to use. Just pop it in the discdrive, download the manual/ picture motion browser etc, in a few moments. I use window vista home premium, no probs at all. Its all in ready for you to download your filming onto the pc hardrive, and then you can get creative whilst making your personalised dvds!! Easy! The hybrid touch screen (2.7″), playback sound, battery life (comes supplied with np-fh60) and all the other picture setting features, 6.1 megapixel photo, cmos, camcorder station, all your leads, remote control etc, make this camcorder a good investment and a great bit of kit. The only letdown really is that it does not come with its own carrycase (recommend the lsc-vac), or small charger (recommend bc-trp), if like me, you want to take it away on hols with you. The only other way you can charge the battery is by placing the camera onto the camcorder station, and thats a precise bit of kit, not worthy of taking away with you. The camcorder sits snuggly on the station when you transfer film/photos or charge the battery up, just make sure it is connected properly and sitting flat! I paid ?470 for it, (see offeroftheday) as a guide, there are deals to be had so if you want this camcorder at the right price, a bit of haggling would’nt go a miss! There are plenty of spares available too for the 290, with lots of traders selling parts at competitive prices, which wont break the bank!! To sum up, you get a lot of kit for the price you pay, and , as this model is sony’s TOTR, it is great way to get started if your looking for a good selection of features. This is the 1st camcorder ive ever had, and its fab. I wish i had bought sooner!!! Hope this small review has helped!! Thanks for reading.
Customer Review: Excellent camera but only in daylight
When I read the review by Phil Latham below I couldn’t believe the coincidence, I am also replacing an old Sony TRV65 which has served me well for 10 years. I bought the Sony DCR-SR290 camcorder based on the specifications and the other reviews here but I am sorry to say that after owning it for less than 24 hours I have sent it back, due to absolutely dreadful performance in artificial light e.g. in the house with all the lights on, I am not referring just to low light. The only way to get a focussed picture is to leave the camcorder completely still pointing at something that isn’t moving. If you point at a moving target e.g. a person walking across the frame, or pan the camcorder horizontally or vertically at anything more than a snail’s pace there is just so much jitter and picture instability I could not believe my eyes. The problem isn’t noticeable on the LCD screen, it’s only when you plug the camcorder into a TV to monitor the shots live or to play-back a recording that it becomes obvious (my Grundig CRT TV is not at fault - I plugged-in my old Hi-8 TRV65 and the images from this in the same room and light levels are perfect - it’s no contest). Outside in natural light the SR290 is truly outstanding and the auto focus is very quick indeed. Thinking that there must be some sort of fault with it I got a demo of another identical unit in a Sony Centre shop, only to discover that this had the same problem. The salesman was also very surprised. In addition to the picture problem there is an issue with connecting to the PC via USB2. With the enclosed software installed, my PC will recognise the camcorder as a USB mass storage device, and I can browse the SR290’s internal drive and copy short video files across or use the Sony application software to do the same. But the camcorder does not recognise that it has successfully connected to the PC and will time-out and disconnect after a few minutes, meaning that it would not be possible to copy larger video files across which take more time. My PC is not at fault here, I experienced the same when trying it with my laptop. You must also not touch (or even breathe near) the camcorder when it is on the docking station as the gravity-reliant connection between the two items is very ’slight’. If you touch the camcorder even lightly this will interrupt the connection, this could possibly corrupt the drive if a file is transferring at the time. I am so disappointed as there is no other camcorder on the market with similar specifications at this price. If you only intend to use it in daylight then I would recommend it for it’s picture quality, image stabiliser, comfortable weight, handling and ease of use, though the docking station and USB issues could prove very frustrating. Try again Sony….
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List Price: ?99.99 
Customer Review: Outstanding performance (but with a few reservations)
So my final decision came between this one, the Panasonic Lumix FZ-18 or the Lumix TZ3. FZ18 was just that little bit tooooo big for convenience, and the Lumix TZ3 flash was a little too bright. The picture quality of the Sony H3 is grand! The zoom on screen seems a little underachieving, but when you download the pics to your pc, the zoom truly is excellent!! The flash can be set from -2 to +2 so you indoor portraits are not overexposed as with alot of compact cameras. There are various scene settings like snow, beach (which works great on the beach…funnily enough) landscape, fireworks etc. Then you have fully automatic…which is fully automatic (duh) and then you have M and P modes. which allow you more control, exposure settings, apeture priority, etc. My pictures are great, i will upload some soon so you can see! Every review should have a negative point, no matter how trivial, so here are mine. You cannot set the white balance by metering. There are presets, but you cannot meter it yourself. Not tragic but i do feel its a little bit of a let down. If i had the choice to choose another camera in retrospect, would i? most definitely not! Sony is fast becoming my favourite brand, almost against my will 
