One caveat...a wide angle lens would be a smart purchase. It's difficult to get far enough away from the action and still hear what is going on.
We chose official Sony cassettes for this first run to ensure optimal picture quality and compatibility. Image quality is excellent, but we did notice that it performs better after it has 'warmed up'. This might be due to cassette stability or electronics temperature, but in no way detracts from this product's quality. Fade in/out options are excellent and with the 'cinema' setting gives your production that 'ER' feel.
I suspect that upgrading to a higher capacity battery may be a next step, but it lasted through the kid's party with ease. About 30 minutes of shooting remained, even though we used the LCD the whole time.
Title use is a little confusing, but you do get the option of creating two custom titles in addition to the standard fare.
The tripod was prepared, just in case the weight of the camcorder became tiring, but it was not needed. The lightness of these new camcorders over the ones of yesteryear makes life much easier, and is not burdening.
We researched considerably, before purchasing this product, which is no guarantee of success, but I have no hesitation in recommending it to those considering a Hi-8 camcorder.
It's probably the best Sony Hi8 camcamcorder you'll get without all the bells and whistles that let you download video on to your PC.
It has a few great features like NIGHTSHOT (which allows video in virutal darkness) and STEADYSHOT. Also, the 20X zoom works really well. (Don't be impressd by the 460X digital zoom-- on any camcorder; the image becomes more blurry the closer you zoom in with it.)
You'll probably have to get another battery, as the one the Sony CCDTRV308 comes with will only last for about an hour or so when using all the functions (LCD screen, stop and start REC). I recommend buying the NP-QM71; it lasts between 4 and 6 hours.
BUT (A VERY BIG BUT), If you want to anything more than basic VCR editing, get at least a MiniDV, especially if you're willing to spend between $500 and $1000. I was willing to drop $500 for a MiniDV because I wanted to easily edit my videos, but I wasn't willing to spend another $500 to upgrade my PC to accomodate the large amounts of data.
Otherwise, the Sony CCDTRV308 is a great Hi8 camcorder for basic video recording and little or no editing.
© Copyright 2000-2010 Flip Video Ultra . Photo Ads. All rights reserved.
