Sony DCR-SR47 Hard Disk Drive Handycam® Camcorder (Silver) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

Im a student film maker and was looking for a cheap camera just to get me going. If you want an amazing camera you cant really expect to pay less than 600 bucks, but i took the risk and im proud I did. This camera is a standard class of video, but it excels beyond the class and could even be compared to cameras of 100 to 200 dollars more.-Out of the box the camera lacks some color to it, however if you adjust the settings things look great. Its NOT HD, but the quality is still fantastic for some reason. It does lack some saturation to some colors (greens and somewhat blues) but its all adjustable to an extent. I kinda wish it had that "film" effect that some Cannon cameras offer so i dont have to add it in via Sony Vegas, but im happy with the resolution it has now.-The zoom is absolutely out of this world. I was just screwing around with it and decided ill look down and zoom in on my shoe laces. I could literlly see grains of dirt all over my shoe lace, my shoes are completely clean to the naked eye. I was also zooming in on letters in long distances and was completely able to read everything clearly. The zoom does get a little pixelated when you put it on a TV (i have a Samsung HDTV) if you go too far or move around alot. However the stabability of the camera is phenominal, normally a zoomed in shot would be real shaky and un watchable, not with this camera.-Like i said im a film maker, but i prefer to use the screen. I was using it outside and its not bad at all, you can put a screen of it or you hand or something and see clearly. The camera is TINY! I couldnt believe it was so small, fit in the palm of my hand without a problem.-Sound is pretty good. When im filming its completely quiet all around me so i can hear the people talking and what not just fine. It sadly has no option for an external mic though. Its a CLEAR mic that will pick up alot of noise though, wind blowing or something. The Directional Mic that it has does a pretty good job of cutting out some back noise, but id still love for it to have an external mic.-The cool thing for film makers like myself, is its a extremely good intro camera that you can afford. Not only that but Sony offers a TON of accesories for it. Wide Shot lenses, Camera saturation covers, underwater casing, external lights, and things of that nature. I thought that was extremely neat and bought the lenses myself.-I forget the file it records in, but it uses the file so that it can burn directly to DVD. The feature is neat if you have a DVD burner for it (about 100 bucks) but you need to convert the file on your computer if you want to edit it. Its all good though, and if you have a good program you wont lose alot of quality.-The built in HDD is amazing, so much space i couldnt believe it. Not only that but the memory cards it uses are the same as the PSP, they are cheap as heck. So you could add over another 16GB to it with a single card. One reason i bought this camera over its competitior is purely the fact that it uses a hard drive and not just memory cards, trust me its alot cheaper and alot cleaner.-How the camera runs is great. Flip the flap open and bam its on within seconds, push record and its almost instant. It also has a built in lense protector, so press the switch and it shuts or opens, the camera will also warn you if its close obviously. The touch screen is impressive, i was expecting a delay or inaccurate intereactions but it worked well. Its nice not having a wall of buttons on the side of the camera for you to accidently push while recording.The bad things i can think of. It has no external mic option, however you can buy Lepel mics and just match up the audio if you wanted. The battery it comes with kinda sucks, only lasts 90 minutes and even less if your filming in the best quality. The single shot pictures are not the greatest, can get a little grainy, but you dont buy a camcorder for that. Its not HD, while i wish it was, you have to buy some of the newer models for 500 to 600 if you want HD and i cant afford that right now, the quality is still amazing though.I tried to touch upon everything here if nnot ill try to update as I come across things. So far im extremely happy with my purchase. I love Sony products as its usually quality and this camera is no exception, if anything its advertising the other cameras they sell that ill probably end up buying in the future. Right now though this is what I could afford and to me it seems like i got a 500 to 600 dollar camera for 300 and thats not a bad deal in my books.

We bought two of these video cameras for our kids for Christmas. Our son in Houston and daughter in Portland, OR. Now they are sharing some of their doings directly with us so we don't feel so far away from them. The camera is set up to be easy to use without even reading the directions. Playback on the TV was great: clear picture and sound. We are all very pleased with the camera but it is important to get a spare battery pack as the battery life is currently unkown but would hate to miss out on a shot because of dead battery!

The Sony DCR-SR47 arrived just in time for me to record Christmas 2009 day and night. Shot video indoors (day and night) and outdoors in daylight. This unbelievably small camera (it fits in palm of my hand) took really nice video in all conditions. Sound was just fine under all conditions...even capturing my wife's voice outdoors when she was 20 feet behind the camera.Battery had 90 minutes of time when fully charged & recharged within a couple hours. The footage was transferred to a DVD on my computer using the supplied Sony programs & one touch recording button; picture & sound quality was first rate.I recorded directly onto hard drive but like the choice of choosing between hard drive & memory stick. The LCD screen works fine and the touch programing on the screen is easy to follow.Sony programs uploaded easily from supplied DVD. My ONLY COMPLAINT is the printed user guide is hard to follow. A basic beginner's summary for key functions would have been welcomed.I have no idea why my experience was so much better than some of those below but, on first take, I can only compliment Sony for an excellent video product in such a small, portable package. As for a snap shot camera, don't know & don't care. My only use will be video.I'll report back when I have a chance to use the many features of the camera. But if your looking for a camera to shoot basic family type video, this is a solid choice.

I am really enjoying my Camcorder. It is such a clear Recording. I like it better than any other one I've ever had.I like it because I have no more problems with my DV tapes. Because I am not using them. I am connecting it to my DVD recorder,with the cables I also ordered. I am still making DVD's from it. It was worth the purchase to meet my own home video's created, or using in church, or anywhere.Photography is my life. Sometimes, I believe I was born with a camera in my hand. Not really, but it is my thing i do in my lifetime. Thanks Amazon.

Our old Panasonic has been blown away. I can't believe how easy it is to use! I love how small and compact it is. A little nit-picking - the zoom button could have been made easier to use in action - I almost never get away without a little jiggle of the camera before I have it zooming in or out like I want. I also think they should have programmed it to close the lens cover automatically when it's powered off. I've forgotten a few times, and so far, it hasn't been an issue, but it worries me that the lens will get damaged one day because I failed to close the cover when I turned it off.

This camcorder has lots of bells and whistles which are really nice. But when it is all said and done the picture quality is absolutely horrible. Even on the highest quality setting it is just terrible. My husband and I really wanted to like this camera and are so disappointed. It is not worth the money. We do not recommend this product at all. We have a 9 year old Sony DCR-TRV320 which has served us well and the picture quality is better still than this new camcorder.

This camera is astounding, taking clear pictures with a very sensitive microphone, picking up sound clearly. We would like to see this marvel be more Mac computer compatible. Other than that, it is very versatile, a lot of capacity with excellent battery life.