The best camcorder in its class and general advice on buying (Sony CCD TR 427)

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	Sony CCD TR 427
Date:	23/07/01 (1746 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent price, Good features, Good quality filming

Disadvantages: Small buttons , B&W viewfinder, no screen

Camcorders have always been viewed in my family as an extravagant toy. Something that is not essential to everyday life.
"A normal Camera is just as good" they exclaimed.
Well after seeing a few wedding videos and holiday films that other people had made, I decided to bite the bullet, and buy one for my honeymoon.

The beauty of a foreign honeymoon is, of course, duty free. Your home airport is THE best place to buy your camera. There are 2 reasons for this.

1) You can ensure you buy the correct format camera for your country. (Americans can buy a NTSC camera in USA and English can buy a PAL camera in England). Its best to do this as converters are a pain and cost a lot of money.

2) The tax free saving can make a big difference. For example, I saved over £60 on my camera. Thats a saving of nearly 20%.

My advice would be to speak to your high street retailer before you go. Do this because they can advise you on what you want at your leisure. No rushing for a plane in a high street!
Then you can buy it with no questions asked at the airport.

I was lucky. I was given loads of advice at the airport by a businessman buying a new DIGITAL camcorder. He told me what and what not to avoid. So here is my advice to you that he gave me. It paid off.

Tips for buying your camcorder.
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1) Know your budget.

This has 2 sides to it. Set yourself a limit and dont go above it.
There are hundreds out there and they are all handily spaced on the market about £10 apart. Its easy to start creeping the price up to get a few extra features.
At the same time you dont want to buy the cheapest one or you will find its a real dog.

2) Know your technology.

Digital or Hi8? Hi8 or Video8? Digital zoom, Sound supression,etc,etc......
all a bit confusing isnt it?
I was told this.....
The difference between Video8 and Hi8 is tremendous.

<br><br>Video8 is about the standard of those dodgy 80's camcorder films from "You've been framed". In other words, its crap.

Hi8 takes the same size films but is about 100 times better quality.
Its like watching a documentary on "the Cook report". Its that sort of quality. Its worth an extra 30 or 40 pounds to get a Hi8 camera.

Digital cameras ,as were explained to me, a bit like 4,000 HI fi systems. You can spend £300 on a really good stereo for your house and get the same quality sound. The difference between the 2 is probably inaudible to the human ear as our range is not that good. If we were dogs listening to the stereo, or bats, we could tell the difference.
The same philosophy is applied to the camcorder. Digital ones make such little difference,you would not notice it yourself. The only advantage is it does not require tapes. A big price difference though. About £800 difference!

Zooms are different on different cameras.

Conventional zooms are when the actual lense makes the movement. Its quite restricted on how far it can zoom in.
Digital zoom is when the camera takes over and "works out" what you should be seeing. A very clever bit of kit. A good digital zoom can magnify up to 500 times! Mine has a combination of the 2.

3) To screen or not to screen?

The screens that come on the cameras today are like little TVs. At the end of the day, do you really need them? Only one person can see it clearly at once due to its lovely LCD distortion. Stand a foot to the left and you will see nothing. So its not really for group viewing.
So you may as well have it against your eye, rather that by your waist. You will see just as much and its just another expense to knock the price up more.

4) fancy extras.

Dont get conned into buying loads of extra rubbish for your camera.
When you buy it, makes sure it comes with everything you n
eed. Ask the salesperson if it has a charger, a battery and all the necessary leads to connect it up to your tv.
After all, you do want to watch it when you get back.
dont forget tapes though. You will need these as they dont come with tapes. Make sure you get the right ones for your camera too. Hi8 tapes for a Hi8 camera!
One accessory I can recommend is a proper bag. I bought one to carry my camcorder around in and its been superb. lots of pockets and holes for accessories, wallets, passports and other essential items on holiday. You wont need to take another bag out with you that way.

Review of my camera.
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I have a TR 427 and it is superb. I would recommend it to anyone.
Here are my reasons.
Its a Hi8 camera so it has the quality as good as a digital camera.
It has an autofocus so I dont blur people's heads.
Filming in the dark is not a problem because the camera has a "Night-Shot" function. This is good for virtual darkness but it has a drawback. It turns colour filming into a black and white appearance. The grain is also pretty poor in this function.
The zoom is excellent. There was not a single occasion during my 2 weeks when I felt I was too far away to film anything.
Tape loading is very simple. Its all electronic so there is no pushing or pulling componets that could break.
In fact, it is a very study little camera.
Its lightweight, has a handy hand strap to hold it with and fits in the hand of anyone. Its small enough for a child to use if you are prepared to let kids use it.
It has facilities for lining out to a TV and has a mic input for a hand held mic. Its not needed as the in built one is sufficient.

The instructions are very straight forward and has a quick start guide for those of you that are too impatient to sit down and read.

There are lots of features built into this camera. You can add text to the film, graphics, time stamp
s, fades in and out, pans,etc.
In fact its endless what you can edit onto it after filming.
Battery life is 150 minutes. 2.5 hours of filming. If you consider it takes 90 minute tapes, that isn't bad.
The charge time is minimal. About an hour for full charge.
You can buy up to 18 hour batteries for it but its ulikely you will need that. Added to the fact that it costs £150 for one of those batteries!

At £320 in Duty free, there is very little to take away form the camera. But here are the few problems or niggles I have.

1) the viewfinder is Black and White. I got a bit worried when watching the film through the viewfinder. I thought I had bought black and white tapes or even worse, a black and white camera! All was revealed in colour on playback through a TV.

2) This camera does not have a Viewing screen.
You pay extra for one with a screen but my preference was not to have one. Its an extravagant extra as far as im concerned.

3) The price of a new battery! £60 for the cheapest!

4)The size of the buttons. When I said a child could use it, that was not a lie. In fact a child is about the only one who can use it! The buttons for playback are so small.


Conclusion.
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Follow my advice and you wont go wrong. This camera is superb and I can recommend it to anyone.

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