Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony DCR-HC37 Handycam Mini DV Camcorder With 2.5'' LCD Screen

Bought this camera just before Easter, and I'm very impressed. The picture quality is excellent, the optical zoom is one of the best on the market and the Nightshot function works very well with very little noise so pictures still remain nice and clear.

The only thing to note is that, if you want to use the full range of the zoom function, you WILL need a tripod, simply because at such high zoom, camera shake becomes very noticeable. This will happen whatever camera you get, so it's not a negative, just a point to consider.

The battery it comes with will last just over the length of the tape, if used with the screen open, so if you want to film more than one tape's worth of film, then either get another small battery, or buy one of the high capacity ones (the NP-FH100 has an awesome 14 hours maximum!).

I bought one of these from Amazon for £175 with a free camera bag and free (fast) delivery. I had checked out this model @ Argos and Currys who were selling for £209. Considering that the bag is worth £15, I saved £49 all in. Amazon were unbeatable on this!

This is a first class camcorder which is incredibly easy to use. The Easycam function automates just about every setting, but for tweakers like me, there's a good range of custom settings too.

Picture quality is sharp, and the image stabiliser works well. The 800k CCD image sensor is top drawer, rendering strong, vibrant colours.

All of these small camcorders have less than brilliant microphones, but the HC37's picks up very little tape transport noise and distant sounds are decently reproduced.

PC connectivity is good with both USB streaming and IEEE1394 (FireWire) connections. The supplied motion cap software is basic but will do the job for the vast majority of users. I'm a Microsoft beta tester so I tend to stick to their stuff, and this works nicely with both Windows XP and Vista Ultimate's Windows Movie Maker, requiring minimal user interaction.

To sum up, this is a superb little camcorder made all the more remarkable by the fact that it costs less than a decent mobile phone. Very professional-looking results are to be had if you watch the supplied DVD video on how to shoot your movies.

Had this Camera for about a month now, its not the most straight forward piece of kit i've used to but you get used to it soon enough, I haven't figured out what all the settings do yet and the navigation is a little tricky. The touch screen LCD is a nice feature. As for picture quality its very good with minimal noise and the sound quality is outstandingly good. The night shot light is good fun too.

I'd reccomend purchasing the optional Sony battery or equivalent third-party battery as the one provided only has about an hour's worth of life on a full charge. The camera itself weights next to nothing and can almost fit in your pocket its so small.

A few small points. It has got a USB connection but I can't seem to use it to record video to my PC, so I ended up having to purchase a 4 to 6 firewire cable seperately; make sure your computer has an IEEE1394 Port in the back. This works really nicely with Windows Movie maker and I can save movies quickly onto my computer now using this.

Overall A very nice piece of kit I can highly reccomend

For a family camcorder this is difficult to beat at the price. Like the previous reviewer I bought a package including case, spare battery with extra capacity and some Sony tapes. It really is point and shoot - if you want, in simple mode - and the zoom is excellent ie it's very smooth and clear.

It is just the right size - some cameras on the market are so small that you can drop them or wobble - but this is large enough to feel a modicum of stability.

Unless you feel the need for HD or you really want one of those big heavy cameras that you can virtually shoot a feature with, I don't understand why you would want to spend more than this.

I was very impressed with the delivery from Amazon having ordered this item; it arrived the following day! This is the first time i have purchased an 'electrical' item from Amazon, so i'm well impressed. I bought the Sony DCR-HC37 Handycam to replace an old analogue samsung 8mm camcorder that finally died on me after owning it for 8 years. I'm one of these people who hate going through the instructions first (impatience i know) but found that the handycam HC37 was so easy to use, i didn't need to view the instructions first. Basically, get the camcorder home or have it delivered next day by Amazon and charge the battery (all necessary units included in the box, except DV tapes). I also purchased the DV tapes so i was all ready to go as soon as the thing charged, this took about 45 minutes if my memory serves me right. switch on, open the viewfinder, press EASY button and press REC to start filming. I took the camcorder off to the park with the dog in tow and filmed around five minutes. Got home stuck the cables into the tv (audio, video jack etc) and into the camcorder and hey presto, there was my filming on the TV!!!! I'm writing the review before i've tested it loading onto the computer so i can't give 100% review.
If you basically want a very easy to use 'point and shoot' camcorder, then this is the one for you, particularly if you hate all the added features that can sometimes come with a camcorder and you never use!!!!
Go ahead and buy one, I don't think you'll be disappointed and at this price it's a great one to buy dad for Father's day; if like my dad, gadgets are all too much. This one will be a sinch!