Easy Recording (Sony Handycam DCR-DVD306E)

Member Name: sifair

Product:	Sony Handycam DCR-DVD306E
Date:	05/06/07 (972 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sound/Image/Video quality, easy use, price

Disadvantages: none really

The Sony DCR-DVD306E is a camcorder, it is a decent model that has many features and offers good picture and sound quality as well as a decent battery life. If you've been looking for a camcorder that can record onto DVD's your search is over as this one can and as well as all that it is quite a stylish and good looking camcorder that you will be pleased to carry around with you.

BATTERY LIFE
The battery life on this machine is fairly good for a camcorder, the manual says the battery will last for a maximum 110 minutes when recording straight onto a DVD, just short of 2 hours if you like. On this front it seems to deliver and whilst it was being used to record video it lasted virtually all of the 110 minutes that it stated it would. Of course if you change the settings a lot and fiddle with things or use extra features while you are filming the battery life is a little shorter but it still lasts a reasonable amount of time. It will still generally record for between 90-110 minutes depending on what settings you turn on and off. The battery life does deliver and is good and is actually quite impressive. Now when DVD's were not being used the battery life can last for upto 7½ hours which is rather good. This means that you can take the camera on days out with your family and you won't have to worry about the battery running out. Even though 7½ hours is the stated time the camera can actually last this long if you are just simply recording normally which impressed me a lot. Once again if you use extra features the battery life is shortened but you will probably still get a minimum of 6 hours out of it even if you use these features.

QUALITY OF RECORDING, IMAGES AND SOUND
Well I am pleased to say that this camera delivers, it has a superb quality to it and the recordings are sharp and the images taken look good. Sound is picked up very clearly through the microphone on the camera and if you are reasonable at using a camcorder and know what you are doing the stuff you produce can be of real high quality. As the camera has Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Recording on the camcorder the sound that is picked up is of high quality, when you play your video back on the computer you will notice the rich sound and how good it really is, it's highly impressive and is great especially if you have a set of five speakers connected up to your TV. The camcorder also sports a Carl Zeiss lens, Carl Zeiss is one of the most sought after camera lens makers in the world and the image quality looks really good because of this. One of the main benefits of the Carl Zeiss lens is the higher resolution it gives, this means you can see your images in more detail which makes them look better even if you didn't take the best picture. If you were to get this camera I think you would be impressed by the image quality and sound as well as the all important video recordings because the camera uses quality parts that enhance the cameras ability to make everything better than it would have been without these parts.

OTHER STUFF
As well as having good quality parts the camera is easy to use and therefore suitable for beginners and intermediate camcorder users. To record all you have to do is press one button and if your stuck the manual is good and so is the camcorders on board help system. But I'm sure you wouldn't have any problems because the camera is so easy to use. The camcorder is lightweight and compact making it easy to carry around for a day although I would recommend a case to go with it to protect the valuable camcorder, these things cost £325+ in most online stores. Having said that this camera is fairly good value for money and matches well with other cameras that have similar features so it is not cheap but it's also not to expensive, I would say it is a well priced camcorder considering how good it is.

CONCLUSION
The camera is good, recording, image and sound quality are all impressive and won't disappoint anyone, value for money is good and the camcorder is fairly easy to use, overall this is a good camera that offers decent features and a strong battery life, it's easy to connect it up to a PC and you won't find much to groan about at all. A Great Camcorder.

Thanks for reading :-) A FEW OF THE SPECIFICATIONS ARE LISTED BELOW

# STAMINA up to 7 hours 20 minutes (with optional battery)
# 2.7" Wide, Hybrid LCD screen with touch panel
# Easy Handycam function for easy, automatic shooting
# Hi-speed USB 2.0 (output)
# PictBridge compatible for easy printing
# 40x Optical Zoom / 2000x Digital Zoom
# Up to 110 minutes continuous recording with DVD+R DL (Dual Layer)
# Easy-to-use Home menu and Guide function
# Super SteadyShot
# Memory Stick DUO slot for still image recording
# 10 Scene Selection
# Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens
# Dolby Digital 5.1 Creator for Surround sound recording with built in microphone
# Compatible with 8cm DVD-R / -RW / +RW / +R DL
# Super NightShot Plus
# 2nd Start / Stop REC and zoom button on LCD frame

Summary: Great camcorder thats well worth a look for beginners and intermediates

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