The prfect entry-level camcorder (Sharp Viewcam VL-Z1S)

Member Name: paul-t

Product:	Sharp Viewcam VL-Z1S
Date:	05/09/04 (498 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: price, ease of use, picture quality

Disadvantages: not many features, no built-in memory

This is the first camcorder I have owned but I have used plenty of camcorders owned by friends and family.

What attracted me to the Sharp VL-Z1S was the price. It is one of the cheapest Mini DV camcorders on the market yet still boasts a fairly high spec.

The camcorder is extremely easy to use. You will be shooting in just a couple of minutes. It really is child's play to record and playback.

I was very impressed with the quality of recorded footage - the fact the camcorder is Mini DV format obviously helps this. The quality is easily as good as other digital camcorders at twice or three times the price.

There are some very useful features like digital image stabiliser, backlight compensator (for shooting into the sun) and gain adjustment for shooting in poor light (although the camcorder isn't great in poor light even with the gain fetaure in use). You can also add dubbing and commentary after you have recorded footage.

The 10x optical zoom is impressive. Although the 500x digital zoom is a little unnecessary - once you get beyond about 40 - 50x with the digital zoom, the picture quality becomes so poor it isn't worth recording.

You can purchase a DV lead which enables you to download footage to your PC or Mac for editing and archiving. You can also use your everyday VHS video recorder to perform some rough editing by connecting using the AV lead supplied.

All in all this is a great camera for the camcorder beginner who doesn't want to fork out a fortune.

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