After recording and playing video all weekend, my simple conclusion is this video camera is AWESOME. Yes it is expensive, but, WOW the pictures is fantastic when hooked up to my hi-def plasma or played back on my iMac. It is as small and light as any normal video camera. It takes regular DV tapes, and is easy to use and easy to play back on the TV with either HDMI or Component cables if you don't have HDMI.

If you are considering a new video camera, GET THIS CAMERA.
It is absolutely worth the money.

I went back an looked at my old video tapes, video I once though looked good now looks terrible compared to the images from this sony camera. I haven't been this thrilled with a purchase in a long time.

After a few days of use and editing the picture is simply amazing! Colors are bright even with my century lens. Great Camera.

Very happy with this camera. Was expecting poor images in low light and focus issues (had read other reviews that stated those problems) but was pleasantly surprise.
I don't do any pro-audio, so an external Mic jack is not a problem for me. In my experience, recording music (at high or low volumes) sounded great IMO.

I have had this camcorder since Friday April 14th and have multiple opportunities to 'play' with it. Most of my videotaping has been in SD mode, not HD.

This camcorder is the perfect camcorder for users who want to position themselves for HD in the future. It is capable of HD recording and the recording quality is very good to excellent. The controls are plentiful for an average consumer. However, the prosumer or professional user may be disappointed that there is no mic or headphone jack as well as no separate controls for White Balance, Exposure, Focus or AE shift.

I would recommend that if you are doing any recording of music, that you purchase one of the microphones that are available for this camcorder. The built in mic is only adequate.

There is a technical review of this camcorder on camcaroderinfo.com that goes into a wealth of detail if you are interested.

So far, after 3 days and a church cantata, I am very pleased with the performance of this camcorder. Good job Sony!

Just got this camera from amazon a day ago, and the performance is unmatched. I been waiting for an HD consumer camcoder to match my 2 year old HDTV for a while, and this one is perfect. Recorded footage in dusk lighting and its superb. I switched between Discovery HD theater Channel and my camcorder and both look the same quality. Definetly broadcast HD quality camera. Records to my old DV tapes just fine, easy to capture video in HDV ( sony vegas software), easy to hold, film, good image stabilization, zooming focuses quickly as well. I exported the capture HDV video to 720x480 MPEG 2 Widescreen for use to burn my files as DVD, and to my surprise 90% of the HD quality remained ( when you have a very good source for making DVDs, they look as good as any DVD u buy in store). This will make perfect quality DVDs, and i will keep the HDV footage (either on Hard Drive, DV tape or DVD5 in divx or WM9 file format at full resolution) so that i can master HD-DVDs or Blue Ray dvds at full resolution when that technology is ready.
Low light performance is good as well. But clearly the best aspect of the image quality is the picture perfect quality of HD footage, the stable HD picture and the immence detail... everything from 300 full detailed flowers on my garden, to every 1" tile in my pool, to leaves of grass on my lawn, all recorded flawlessly with full detail.

Stop thinking about it and buy it, you won't regret it. Plus u have 30 day return policy on amazon, so u have time to test it.

Bought my HC3 from Best Buy on 10MAY2006.. For a wedding/birthday party.. Worked great.. Advise to get a tripod/stable device for steady pictures. When you have fast movements, artifacts/pixelation occurs not bad video recorder.. It has ALOT of output connections.. Most important is the component/firewire outs. VERY GREAT QUALITY. I am very pleased however you will play a pretty price for the device.. Get the LONG BATTERY.. PF90 Sony.. DO NOT BUY OFF BRAND.. the "sony" chargers will not charge the battery and your stuck with charging from the Camcorder. I bought a 1GB Memory Stick "DUO PRO".. And can get 800 pictures from the camcorder while recording.. It will store 3 pictures while recording.. then when you pause/stop the pictures will be copied to the stick.. wish they could do it on the fly.. THe MP for picture while recording is 2.3MP and Non is 4.0MP.. Don't think they state that in the SPECS.. :)... I taped 5hrs of video and can only say outstanding things about the quality.. But shame I can't edit HD for under $4000 software.. Will wait for BlueRay and HD Editing for a few years.. If you want better you have to get the SONY FX1 or JVC HD with more granular controls.. Other than that.. GET THE HC3...!

Greetings wanna be owners of HC3.

Just got mine. Here's a brief overview.

Design is awesome. It looks like a Red Bull can with all the buttons on it. Battery compartment is the best part of it. No protruding bat packs out the back.

On the inside, however,

you have to understand that this is only a 2nd generation camcorder. The quality is about the 2nd generation DV cams back in the day.

No, i'm not bashing the HiDef, but when played at full resolution on big screen the edges are really blurry. No sharp lines.

Basicly, if you want the quality of the latest blockbusters this is not your cam.

The CMOS imager does not have quite enough pixels for full HD. It takes two pixels and creates a third in the middle.

That's no way to capture video!

Does bring the size and cost down, but I suggest you safe your pennies for a little more.

Price is going down anyway, and the quality is going up.

I suggest you be smart and wait.


(or be a fool and waste your hard-earned savings)

I have and love the top of the line Sony I bought years ago. At that time the camera was $1,900 and I know would be a fraction of that today. Do I wait? Of course not. My babies would of aged by the years by then. How much do you lose by waiting. Depends! I am a Sony Person by birth rite but have learned in this modern era the leader does move. This king of camcorders has fallen in placing and therefore the one. They are focusing on the LCD and Plasmas TVs expecially the Bravia Line etc. This is where they choose to be. I was warned time and time again by the expert of cameras, my main man Steve. Canon is number one now. Look at the resolution between the two and he is right. This camera is superbly disappointing and anyone claiming that it has great HD color owns a poor quality HD TV. There is a reason they are the only company now who carries a so called hand helled consumer HD camera. Because it can not be done right. Same reson above a 40" inch LCD tv can not be made of quality and the switch to plasma, a loweer technology. The money, how do we make a LCD TV, in larger sizes for a reasonable price. I am saddened and disappointed in this product to the point it will be considered a throwaway as I am not willing to give up the quality of picture, that is to last for generations, due to me being hooked by the HD claim. Sorry. No go here. It is sad. But the new Bravia Tvs look great. Sony's intention is to become the must have of tvs such as the Ipod of mp3s. There are numerous brands and yet many people, many millions including adults and teens, the mega money, would not be caught dead with out the coolness of the IPOD. Sony doesn't care about the cameras, they have to get the tvs or they are dead. At least they know where to fight their battles and I will be buying a Sony 36" Bravia of the higher quality for 2,600 or so as it is the best. I still love my sony. In these changing times the best is no longer the best. It changes. How could a Sony camera of video not be good I asked. Because they have been elsewhere and when I watch my Bravia, my second tv, to be with my bose wave as surrond sound, i will be glad. I will also be buying a Canon Camera for video imdediately. Sorry guys. I know my cameras. And why the focus of Canon on Cameras. To ride the everincreasing success of Apple Retail and the Genious of Steve Jobs. If you havent been in a apple store lately, what vidieo cameras are shown. Canon must not lose this business and they still put out a fine digital still shot at all levels and Nikon as dropped, Minolta bought for its advancements so no more and Olympus is catching, Then Leica has just releaesed a more expensive small camera. It changes daily. The old days of film when you were canon or Nikon mostly have changed. I was raised to only buy Sony, and the best. Now the best is winning and no I am not rich. Just would rather have good cameras than clothes. Different type of a woman I guess. Take care and remember, never by a camcorder for its stil features or the other way around. No camera can ever ever cover both nor it should. Really

this camcorder is great. low light recordinds are on the avg side, but when you go outside and film for example on a golf course, it looks super great. very nice design on this camera. it feels like a coke can with a handle.

the 4MP camera feature with flash is so nice. it takes great pictures and is real easy to operate.

make sure to get a longer lasting battery, as the standard battery doesnt last for too long. i got the LCSVA30 sony case and fits it perfectly.

i would recommend this camcorder definitely

I have had this camcorder for about 2 weeks now. Overall I'm pleased. Most of my video playback has been done via a Pioneer 50" plasma HDTV so I do have a very nice playback source to judge the recorded video quality.

Disclaimer - I am a novice photographer/videographer so people might correct my few gripes saying, "if you'd just set the flux capacitor settings to ...," but my review should be applicable to people that operate the camera in "easy" mode (all of my recordings have either been done in 'easy mode' or with the auto settings - not quite sure what the difference is other than 'easy mode' doesn't let you adjust anything).

Pros:
- Incredible detail & pretty good color reproduction when photographing outdoors. Seriously, it is almost (but not quite) as nice as watching cable/satellite HD when hooked up to an HDTV w/HDMI and/or component video connections - (I've tried both, not much noticable difference between the two, although HDMI is more convenient). I don't believe (and I've read the specs on the format, so I'm pretty certain), that HDV format will produce true HD quality video but in the right lighting conditions, what is reproduced is definitely better than watching an anamorphic widescreen DVD on a progressive scan player so I'd say it's somewhere between HD and SD in quality (when the lighting is ideal).
- Easy to operate. Great menuing system and the controls are easy to use.
- Very nice LCD display & view finder
- Compact, ergonomic design that fits well in your hand
- Very sturdy, robust feel to the camcorder

Cons:
- Picture quality degrades quickly in lower light conditions including normal indoor lighting almost to the point that I'm not sure if it's any better than standard DV quality (other than the nice widescreen format). I bought an external 3 watt Sony flash that helps at close range but even then, color reproduction is not as good as outdoors and I notice more artifacts (blurriness in certain images & patterns, pixelation, etc.). I'd probably venture to guess that if all of your videotaping is done indoors, you might be better served with a 3 CCD camcorder than this one - but outdoors, there's no comparison.
- Images with bright sources behind them get washed out. I videotaped a sunset and everything other than the sunset, itself, was completely washed out. I imagine this is one of the things that the white balance or exposure can correct but in Easy/Auto mode, no such luck (par for the course???).
- Camera often requires two hands to hold steady to avoid jittery video. Maybe it's just the fact that the quality with this Sony is so sharp, but even my POS JVC mini-DV camcorder from 6 years ago seemed to have a better anti-shake mechanism. Those w/steady hands, tripods, or willing to use two hands need not worry.
- Sony seems to be hiding driver/software support for the camcorder and the HDV format. There's little to no help in the manual about how to upload video to a PC in HD format unless "it's a Sony VAIO." I'm pretty turned off by it. Digging around, it seems that if you're a PC user, you need Windows XP SP2 or else you have to jump through hoops to get it to work. I hooked it up to my mother's Mac and had no problems capturing the HDV video using iMovie. I'd love to know what some of the other reviewers are using (hardware/software) to down convert the video for standard DVD (MPEG-2) format - others have said they've had great results. When I down convert, the results look choppy, grainy, and there are compression artifacts everywhere (this really isn't the camcorder's fault, though).
- Battery life - this might be par for the course with camcorders these days, but I just got back from the zoo where I did lots of record/pause/record/pause recording for a few seconds at a time and the freshly charged battery only had about 35 minutes of recording life. I'll probably buy a second battery.
- Some flimsy platic covers that cover the AV outputs and AC adaptor and seem destined to break off at some point in the future.

Unless you're a 'glass is half full' person, it's always easier to cite the cons of a product than its pros. Overall, I am very pleased and if it wasn't the few complaints that I've listed, I would've given this 5 stars. My only serious gripe is the video quality drop-off in lower light settings, but my old mini-DV JVC camcorder had the same problem (it was only $500, though). If they had a 3 CCD version of this for under 2K, it'd probably be perfect. Some form of HD MPEG-4 recording format would also be nice, but for now, I can't imagine a consumer HD camcorder in this price range being any better.

Bottomline, if you're eager to start videotaping in HD format and aren't a professional with at least 5K to drop, you should be pleased with this camcorder, but taylor your expectations for indoor/low-light recording and buy a nice a flash.

Since I don't have a HD tv, I can't speak to how the video looks in HD, but I can say that the HC3 makes superior home DVD movies.

The camera is easy to use, and has a bright, clear display. The battery life is surprisingly good.

I was able to easily import the HD footage into my iMac (G5 processor) and create high quality DVDs that blow away the footage shot by my father-in-law who has a top-of-the-line 3 CCD camcorder. Being a serious videographer, he was sceptical of the HD capabilities (and the ability of a cheap Mac to process the video), but was really impressed with the output.

In my house there is a constant battle between getting great hi tech gear and needing it to be easy to use. I am the geek and my wife if the "make it easy" person. This camcorder fits the bill for both. She gets the "easy" button and I can tweak the camera to a reasonable degree for someone who knows nothing about videotography. I know computers and once I get the video on the hard disk and into the editing software I can do what I want. With our kids we wanted something to capture memories and the HD 16:9 aspect was a must for me. I don't see this as expensive when I think of what I am capturing. One small note for everyone though is that although you can capture in HD you can't make a DVD in HS yet. Sure, a SMALL number of you can but for the masses in the US the HD DVD burners are not available. Shoot your film now and keep it for when you can burn our own HD DVDs. It will not be that long and tapes are cheap.

Picture is stunning from such a little package.
Only problem is the zoom, which does not have a manual ring or adjustment for subtle slow zooms. Unfortunately, the zoom switch is crude and hard to control to avoid jarring fast zooms.
Still a great ptice for HDV camera and great size for portabilty.

What I liked:
1) 1080i hdv looks great on my hd tv
2) Did pretty good job of showing 1080i on a 4:3 TV using composite output

What I wish it should have:
1) Dongle for S_Video should have been shipped instead of Composite dongle
2) You need 1394 port on ur pc to be able to capture the movie recorded on the camcorder. Sony should have used the built in USB port for sending video to pc.
3) Has limited dubbing features: You can't connect ur VCR or old Hi-8 camcorder and copy that footage to the mini dv using this camcorder. iLink is the only way allowed.
4) Wish it has more optical zoom and better low light handling.

I still think its a great camcorder at that price.

True it is a breakthrough technology and its a cool gadget. You have to store on the tapes and this does not use a DVD, which means that the storage life is limited, unless you want to convert all the data to DVDs, oh yeah... we got time for that. This is typical marketing strategy, sell as many of these as you can, then add 5.1. and sell them and then add the DVD writeup and then sell them. I do not see why they could not add both these options right now, I almost bought the system, before I realized that. I will wait till both of these capabilities are added and then buy.

This is my 4th camcorder and I just love it.
I'm a big photo enthusiast, and despite I own a Nikon D70 Digital SLR camera, this summer on a 3 week trip to Europe (by train) I decided to travel light and left home my Nikon to use only my new Sony Camcorder: It's a great travel companion, light discrete and easy to use. Still photos are very acceptable. Video quality is simply breathtaking.
I've done editing on my G5 iMac using iMovies HD and it works just fine. Edited video needs to be recorded back to tape to keep the HD format, but I hope that problem will be solved in a few months, when HD DVD-R drives becomes more affordable.
In summary if you are looking for great video quality and performence, look no more. This is the best Camcorder you can get without going PRO.
As additional advice: get a case and one additional battery since the one that comes with the camcorder is rather small and doesn't last enough.

This is a question to HDR-HC3 owners: I need to know whether this camera can produce BOTH NTSC and PAL video or is it only one or the other. Both the European and the American cameras have the same model number and I can't find this info in the Sony web sites. Please check your camera or manual output instructions to determine this. Thanks...

I checked the manual of my HDR HCR and it said the camera was compatible worldwide

I bought this video camera for my sister, so I can't say much about specific details of the product. All I can say is that she so happy with the camera that she asked me to buy lot of accessories like Battery Charger, Battery NP-FP90, 1 Gb Memory Stick, HVL-HFL1 Combination Video Light & Flash, SPK-HCB Sports Pack and VCLHG2030 Telephoto Conversion Lens, all Sony brand. She has not tested them yet because they just arrived, but I'm sure she'll enjoy even more this splendid video camera.

As far as background; I'm familiar with graphics and video, but an educated beginner when it comes to actually creating digital video. I've only used this camera in Easy mode.

I haven't had a chance to use this camera much for recording video. Sony gives you no software support. None. So that's a huge problem. Make sure the video editing program you use handles HD video. Vegas 6. Pinnacle 10. Avid ... Version 4 IIRC. Don't quote me on that last one. Otherwise, you'll have to record everything using normal DV. Also, make sure your computer is fast enough to rip the feed, or you'll drop frames when you try and take the recording off the camera. My 1GB memory Intel 2.2 GHz computer couldn't stand up to the High Def feed.

As a stillframe camera, it doesn't perform as well as I'd expected. The frame speed adapts well in Easy mode. For example, drops of water falling off a fountain come out perfectly clear. However, I expected to be able to take unlimited stillframes while simultaneously recording and I can only take three.

Orangeware has a nice $20 program that lets you turn this camera into a high definition webcam. So far, they're the only ones who allow this for this particular camera as far as I know. (Would it hurt Sony so much to give a program like this bundled with the camera, not to mention some tools for ripping HD video?! )

I love the IR function. You can work even in pitch darkness. Though if you're out of range of the built in IR flashlight, this is less helpful. But still it's a wonderful low-light camera.

Probably this will be a much better camera once I get together all the other items needed to support it. Like new software and hardware.

People who do not want to settle for less, go for this, HD is the way to go. Though pricey for people like me, I did not find a better camera at this price. I am not sure of the HDV format but it gave me very crisp pictures when converted to MPEG. However HDV to DV conversion, a lot more is desired, I see lot of noise, not sure if it is due to my hardware. But overall it is excellent

Freakin' SWEET!

You can get the details from other people's reviews. You'll hate watching your old low-res videos after using this baby.

Have owned for one week and find the picture quality truely outstanding and sets it apart from the other camcorders. Sony makes it pretty simple to use and I find the touch screen pretty cool once you get use to it. The digital picture quality is better than I expected and will do just fine for standard snapshots etc.

My "But" is that you do need to spend about another $250-$300 for peripherals like extra battery, lense covers, Iwire cable etc.

If you can afford the price go with HD

I bought this camcorder in preparation for my son's birth. Even though it is expensive compared to most non-HD camcorders, I think the picture quality is well worth the price. The video is easily transferred into iMovie HD on a Mac and after some editing, I can burn it on a DVD!

There were some information that I couldn't find readily before I bought the camcorder... This camcorder works well with regular DV tapes. I didn't buy the "HD" DV tapes. The "HD" DV tape claims that it can reduce 90% error and 50% dropout, but if the regular DV tape only suffers 0.1% error rate, then the premium in price for the HD tapes is definitely not worth it.

Sony doesn't include a i.Link cable (4pin to 6pin 1394 cable), so have to get that if you are planning on transferring the video to a computer.

They are also kind of cheap and does not include a HDMI connector. Considering the manufacturing cost is well below $5, it does not make sense why they can't just throw it in.

I love this camera. The video is very clear especially watching it on Plasma TV. However, I have an issue with the camera. Somehow, the red eye reduction is not working properly. Most of my photos got red eye even though the red eye reduction is on. Please check if anyone is having the same issue? Now about the software, I got an email from the MS Media dept saying the Windows Vista Movie Maker will be able to handle HD import. But I am not upgrading pretty soon so can anyone suggust a good software to edit HD videos in PC.

Opened up my HDR HC3K box last night. The HC3K just means that it has a few extra goodies (extra battery, sony HDV tape, cleaning tape). Initial impression even before turning on the camcorder was it felt solid in the hand and not too big. It felt a little more compact than the DVD based DVD405. Played with the controls for a few mins and then started shooting video in reasonable indoor lighting. Below are the pros and cons:

PROS:
1) Good indoor video performance: I had halogen lamps in the room, so the picture was little tinted... but the picture control infront of the camera can be adjusted to lower the white balance and make it look little whiter.
2) Easy controls: There are not that many manual picture controls but sufficient for a non-pro user. The controls can be accessed via the LCD menu as well as by pressing and holding down the button infront of the camcorder. The buttons are easier to use than the LCD (which could leave fingerprints). The whitebalance and exposure controls give you great enhancement in video specially under low light or indoor conditions.
3) Beautiful picture quality: The indoor video quality was just fantastic. Crisp, Clear and sharp. Plugged in the AV cable and played it back onto the SONY Vega TV (non-HD). The picture quality was just great. But I was a little under-impressed with the fact that picture wasn't any better than my brother's panasonic GS500 (non-HD). But may be on a plasmaTV it might have looked better.
4) The slow-speed record feature is a great addition. Haven't played with it extensively but sounds like a cool feature.
5) Imports smoothly into Macbook: Just plugged in my firewire cable, the macbook recognizes the camcorder within iMovie and copies the video file. No drivers required... was a piece of cake. Ofcourse copying is not as quick as from sony DVD405 or hard disk based camcorders into a PC. You still have to play the entire length of the recording to capture in mac.

CONS:
1) Constant whirring sound of the tape while recording. Its more noticeable in the indoors. Having said that, the sound wasn't high enough to be caught on tape. I couldn't notice it while playback.
2) Lacks 5.1 surround sound. That would have been a nice addition. But I read in a few forums that its more of a technical reason than just a design issue.
3) Doesn't come with a Firewire cable: When you spend $1K+ for this camcorder, you would expect sony would provide atleast a $25 firewire cable. But its a shame, they don't.
4) Really pricey: I bought this at a online retailer [...], and got it for $[...]... but its still pricey compared to sony DVD405 which is almost half the price. But quality is probably worth the extra bills.

This is a good cam for the price, great picture, OK not good or great sound. I went with the HVR-A1U for better sound control.

For those needing a PC based solution to edit, Sony Vegas Movie Studio (Amazon sells it) which is the consumer version of Sony Vegas pro editor is a good choice. Version 6 was good with HDV and Version 7 is better. HD is a lot of data and a newer well configured PC is best for crunching all that data. If your computer meets the minimum hardware for Vegas Movie Studio but is still slow you can improve performance with a utility from VASST called Gearshift. I used Vegas Movie Studio 6 and upgraded to the full pro version Vegas 7.

I'll leave the techno-speak to those who care about how this camcorder operates. However, what I will say is that it's very easy to use, light, compact and has an amazing picture quality. Obviously it's expensive, particularly if, like me, most of the time it will be used to film the kids. However, it's a quality product and the latest model, so you have to expect to pay a premium. Only gripe - for this price they could have thrown in a firewire cable, but that's nit-picking.
Before long, everything will be High Definition and you'll be glad you bought it.

Bought this camera way back in April shortly after when it came out. Bought it just in time for my first born to join us in the world. The reason why I bought this camera is because it was cutting edge, and at the time, I was in a time crunch and knew that if I bought a SONY camera, then it will be a good buy. Well... its been 6 months now and I can tell you that this camera does rock. here are some things I had to buy for this camera (which by the way I bought for 1499 way back. now look at it, it's only 1099. WOW!)

1) Bought the HD tapes (Bestbuy has these for 30 bucks for a 2pack, amazon has it for 20 bucks)
2) Bought a battery with longer life span.
3) Bought a firewire cable (any firewire cable will do) to connect it to my Mitsubishi WS55511. Found out that MitsWS55511 does not comply with this camera to my big dissapointment and I was about to return the stupid camera out of disgust. I can't believe I can't use the firewire connection with my HD tv. Ticked me off to be honest with you. I then took the camera to the BigScreen Store with a bunch of HD tv's and found out that all the new tv models that has IEEE input does work with this camera. I decided to keep the camera and basically use the component cables (my tv does not have HDMI input) and used that for the TV.
4) Bought a $100+ HD software (pinnacle software) to download the movie from the camera to DVD. $1499 camera and it does not come with download sofware?! C'mon!
5) Bought a Camcorder light and found out it makes a whopping difference with low light.
6) Bought a tripod but hardly use it.
7) Bought a 2GB Memory chip

Things I have issues with:
1) The camera does not have a stabalizer button, Supposedly its built in, however while watching videos, It does not seem the stabalizer is working.
2) The camera does not come with a shoulder strap. Again, $1499, it should come with this.
3) The camera does not allow you to record movies on the memory chip. This would've been a great feature for quick clips and all you have to do is take the chip out and download the file. All movies has to be recorded on the DV Tape.
4) Without a light, recording in low light conditions may affect the quality of your HD playback. Thus, the reason why I bought the Sony Light (see my other review).

Things I think is worth it:
1) The item is compact and light
2) The picture is OUT OF THIS WORLD. BEST PICTURE, BAR NONE!
3) The 4MP is pretty good. I love taking still pictures (widescreen and 4:3) with this thing. I dont have to lug around 2 cameras around.
4) The LCD touchscreen is wide and big enough for quick playback.
5) Zoom is awesome, especially in HD.

Overall, this product does deserve a 5 star. However the package it came with could've been better, esp with the price I paid. $1099 for this product is a steal! Of course the pictures I took with it is priceless. I attribute this to the timing of when I bought the product. Was in a hurry in buying a camcorder but at the same time I wanted something that would at least last me for a few decades. Now to get my ROI, it needs to!
LOL

Hope this helps!

This HD video camera comes in a conveniently small package and takes amazing video and photographs. The HD video is incredibly sharp and we especially enjoy the ability to take wide angle still photo shots. We took it to Italy for two weeks and my husband would not go anywhere without it. We love it!

The picture is unbelievable. That's the bottom line.

Battery life on the included battery is poor, still shot quality is mediocre compared to a decent digital camera; However the video quality under various lighting conditions is hands down the best I've ever seen. As always, indoor and low light conditions won't yield the best results, but this camera is as good or better than most any other consumer level camcorder in that department. When you get outside in good lighting. Wow!! The results are simply amazing!

Extremely easy to use (at the cost of some flexibility in manual settings).

If you want a quality camera that produces a picture that is second to none in the consumer market, this is it. Nothing touches it.

Image quality is exceptional, the weight it's light and the camera is full of features. My only complaint it's that after spending over a thousand dollars, the camcorder desn't come with a Firewire cable and the sound recording could be much better. In general,if you are not a professional you can buy this great camcorder, that you won't regret it.

I got this back in March and loved it! The HD video is amazing when played back via HDMI cable on my plasma TV. The video still looks really good when recorded on the regular miniDV tape. Don't really need the HD miniDV. The video quality in low light is still good even without accessory light, much better than my old digital SD camcorder. But the photo is just average compared to a point-and-shoot camera. The photo appears a bit soft, but still good enough for casual use. I still uses DSLR for photos, and uses this one as a backup when I ran out of memories on the CF card. The only complaint is that editing miniDV tapes is cumbersome and time-consuming. I uses Pinnacle Studio plus with HD video editing and saved as HDV in the PC. But when I burn the video to the DVD, the video quality is only SD. I'm waiting for better and faster software to burn in HD video. Overall I'm very impressed with the video quality and has no problem after months of use.

For myself, as a network television cameraman & editor, this is the best consumer video camera, for the money, that I have ever seen or used. The picture quality is so good that I have been using it a lot lately to shoot b-roll for a national television program and everyone from the producers to the technical staff have been genuinely impressed with the results. Sony should be charging a lot more money for this camera based on picture quality alone, not to mention the many great features it has. This camera has been very well thought-out.

A few of the things I really like about it..

1. The manual white balance function
2. Spot meter
3. Spot focus
4. HDMI output
5. Smooth slow-mo record
6. Touch screen monitor
7. HDV/DV switching
8. Zebras
9. Low-light sensitivity
10. End-of-tape search
11. Zoom & re-frame during playback also displays in HD
12. Wireless remote control also has the zoom in and out on it
13. The optional 7 hour battery is well worth it
14. Built in flash

I could go on and on!

Over the years, I have used many Sony camcorders, including digital. With its HD capability, the little HDR-HC3 is impressive and easy to use. The minuses are not negligible, however. The electronic (rather than optical) image stabilization when combined with the light weight can sometimes make it a challenge to take really "steady" videos without a tripod. Because the pictures are so clear on HDTV, any shakiness becomes all the more obvious. For my applications, this was a serious drawback and I ended up returning the camera for that reason. The viewfinder is also inadequate, in my opinion, forcing one to use the LCD display most of the time while videoing--which is less than satisfactory outside when it's a bright day! Best try this one out before purchasing.

Bought this camera 11/06 as "refurb" from Amazon for great price. Other than a few fingerprints, camera was in new condition. I have a Sony FX1 HDV camera ($3000) and wanted a second HDV camera that I could intercut with on 2-camera shoots. The BabyCam, as I call it, fits the bill perfectly. Great video, close color match to its bigger brother, incredibly tiny and light--just a wonderful all-around camera. Stills are what you would expect from a 4-megapixel camera--not state-of-the-art, but good enough for pretty much anything. The still flash is unbelievably strong.

Only negatives:

(1) No audio headset monitor out (don't care--not needed)

(2) No audio in, unless you buy special Sony microphone (again, don't care)

(3) Still tape-based, when long-term trend will be to flash memory or hard disk memory. But that's a ways off.

Have high end HD video camera. Images from this little tyke compare well. Lens is OK. The suggested additional wide angle lens is, in proportion to the very small camera, kind of bulky. A trade off. Maybe a wider built-in lens might compromise elsewhere. So indoors be prepared to do a lot of panning. Then be prepared to be sick when you view how hard it is to pan smoothly with such a small camera. You learn to body prop and pelvis turn - feet wide.

The BIG question is whether, given the nature of who will use it and how they will ultimately view, is whether to get the DV Tape version (my choice) or the Hard Drive version. Think that through carefully. If you plan to use a computer for viewing primarily then you can avoid the very big step of computer capture from tape.

Also consider that if you don't have a tape player that can play HD tapes, then your camera becomes the player (generally not a good idea).

A huge use for this camera is as a SECOND HD for those back shots, or tight to B roll or use with a more professional camera and not be lugging a zillion pounds extra nor the bulk of another pro camera. Some on air has done this with this camera (I know for a fact) and nobody has noticed.

Some news people are also using this camera when they want to be discrete about video taping.

I bought this May of 2006 and absolutely love it. But check out HDR-HC5 and HDR-HC7 that just came out on preorder. If you can wait until March, I say go ahead and get the HC-7 unless you get a steal price for the HC3.

Bought this in October for a trip to Ireland with my family and I could not be more pleased. I understand that the HC5 and HC7 versions are coming soon which offer 4 and 6 MP still capabilities and if you're in no hurry you've certainly nothing to loose by waiting, but get a high definition video camera! It will turn your video experience on its head.

This camera has a ton of features - all the features that I could possibly desire in fact. One of the features I like best is the ability to place whatever menu item you use most on the first screen so it is readily accessible. I did this with exposure compensation for instance and it works great.

The picture quality is simply beyond belief! The Wow factor is amazing. Everyone who has seen the videos this produces is amazed at the quality and you will be too. It does suffer from image degradation with less light, but come on! This is to be expected. I actually thought it did quite well.

If you take nothing else from this review take this: get yourself a high definition video camera as soon as you can. You will never even consider standard definition again. Don't let another memorable occassion pass by without recording it to hi-def.

I highly recommend this camera or one of its siblings!

Sony did it again.

This is my third Sony from D8 to MiniDV and now Hidef. I usually do lot of research before buying anything and for camcorder typically Sony is always the winner. I have been using this for over 3 months now.

Good: Compact, almost no noise as in it does not record the motor noise along with sound as some of competitors do, terrific colors and clarity. Worth the price for every cent

Bad or not so good: being too light shakes a lot or should I say you need to be careful. Low light is not good which is always the case with Sony consumer or as a matter of fact almost all the consumer camcorders.

Overall I am satisfied with this camcorder and recommend it. Now HC5 and HC7 are also out and price for HC3 has gone down as well.

Do your research and see what fits your needs and go for it. Save your memories in Hidef, the way to go - all the best.

This is the first HD-Video Camara that I have owned, and I love it. I have had it for about 24 hours now, and altho there has not really been to much to record it looks amazing. I got it at my local Best Buy and the lady who sold it to me said that it had been on the shelf for no more than thirty miniuts. When I first opeaned it I took it out side and shot some video of the garden. It looks great, the colors are so much more vibrent. The greens from the foleige look real on the tv. Another thing that is great about the camara is the touch screen. The coolest feature with that that I have found so far is the touch focuse. This allows you to turn off the auto focus and tuch on the screen where you want the cammara to focus. So far the only thing that I am not happy with is the battery(what a suprise)because it neither lasts long nor are old sony battires compatable. Altho Im not intrested at the moment they have some very cool acessories, like the underwater housing, and both telephoto and wideshoot lenses. I got this cammara because my family and I are going on safari in Africa so I am very exicted to use it there. I would recomend this camara to anyone who is eaither looking for the lates in tecnoligy or just a great camara.

I would have to agree interms of video quality, HDR-HC3 rocks. Especially if you play the footage directly off the camera. It loss some of its quality after encoding process because the color ratio for HDV format is 4:2:0. So be aware of that, I usually set my color bar up high so even after losing alot of color detail I still get pretty saturated image in the end. Audio quality I believe is fairly good as compare to its predecessors and Panasonic DVX100A, DVX100B.

It doesn't have a line in jack which is a big turn off for me being a film student I'm oftenly required to use as many accessories as I can for my shorts in order to make them look and sound professional. This camcorder lacks tremendously when it comes to hooking up stuff to it. Also there aren't much manual features for users who are comfortable with camcorders and like to do the hard way instead of using automatic or easy setup. You can't set a shutter speed which limits you to shoot in certain situations. If you want to catch a flying bird or a racing car, you can't do it without manipulating shutter speed. I don't like how big companies priporatize their products and leave their customers with no choice but to buy only their add-ons and etc.

For its lower price, it gives you enough to satisfy your needs. But to be more specific it also depends what are your preferences.

The first use for this HD camcorder was to record for an hour total of childbirth and bringing the baby home. Lighting varied from dim in labor/delivery to bright in ordinary rooms and of course outdoors. The first material went into iMovie and then to iDVD and produced top-quality HD images on a 50-inch screen.

Some people worry about low-light performance. Yes, it is dim and grains out slightly in very low light. Check the Hollywood movies or TV journalism when they are using ambient, low light without hidden "fill" lighting. What do you expect for $1,050???? (Down $50 from when we got it.)

Highly recommended. Wait for the inevitable new one if you must, but strongly consider this one at that time as its price should fall below $1,000.

I was very pleased with this product. The ease of use, great video quality make it worth the high price tag. It also takes great still pics. I saved about $300 on Amazon and got my camera in 1 day, just in time for my kids Xmas program. With the MiniDV format your not bound to the Bluray format but you can make stunning high def DVDs if you invest in some software and a burner.

Obviously Sony created this from the HC1 to appeal to more consumers that don't give a rip about having shotgun or wireless mics. I don't regret getting this. My son's birth is all in HD and looks tremendous. As I got better at editing, I started getting work from clients to do video (I am a web and graphic designer), so I immediately saw the need to have a camera with better audio functionality, so I purchased the HC1 as well, and now I use both...the HC3 for video only and as a backup camera. The HC3 is great to get started in videography, and hard to beat for great home movies. If you don't have a Mac with Final Cut (Express or Pro, it doesn't matter), then don't bother getting this camera. Get a nice DV camera that you can edit with some cheap $100 movie editing software. If you want to do it right, get a Mac, and everyone will think you are a friggin genious because your movies look so good.

Overall, a great camera. No motor noise with Sony's shotgun mics (I've tried them all). I will say that if you get this camera, you MUST MUST MUST get Sony's Bluetooth mic. AWESOME quality, and you can use for interviews and weddings. Really good.

I happened to get a great deal on this camera at $500. It has more than been worth it for that price, but there are several shortcomings that keep it from being worthy of the premium price range at most retailers, and the interests of mid to pro level videographers.

First of all in terms of manuel control, there is very little to be said. It is, for the most part, non-existent.

You can set the small wheel to adjust the "exposure" and the focus, but that is about it, its also very easy to jiggle the frame when using the wheel.

Apparentlly you can shut auto shutter off, but sadlly after doing so, you aren't given the ability to adjust the shutter speed.

White ballance can be set manually, but you will need to go into the extensive menues to do so, and the camera resets to auto each time it is turned off.

Low light situations are a problem for anyone that is going to be filming indoors whitout any extra lighting.

My personal most inconvenient problem with the camera is its complete lack of inputs. For me its a real shame because i need to do a lot of signal captures from different sources, which means I can't bring along this cam for a good amount of work. Also audio is a pain because of this, At the moment I'm having to record to minidisk, and even though the quality is better, allways having to sync up in the edit is becoming a bit of a pain.


Aside from all these things, this camera really does create wonderful images under the right conditions, and with its size, its incrediblly convenient if you want to get great shots without having to lug around a huge kit.

I must agree with an earlier reviewer, that this camcorder is not worth the asking price ..... especially now, since Mini DV seems to be a dying technology. Don't get me wrong; for what it is, the HC3 does a great job, with quality video and relatively easy operation. But the tape mechanism, as I've had to discover the hard way, is very delicate and it is getting harder to find people to service these machines ..... unless you want to send it directly to Sony and spend over $500. Ouch.

What happened in my case was, at one point the camera prompted me to insert a cleaning cassette for dirty heads. Never do this. I got one, it became stuck, and caused damage to the camera's tape eject mechanism. It has been in the repair shop for a month now because, as they informed me, it is getting harder to acquire parts for these cameras, despite their being only 1.5 years old! One of the reasons for this, I believe, is the popularity of the newer DVD and hard drive recorders that are replacing Mini DV camcorders. I am now kicking myself for lack of foresight .... that's the technology race for you.

Anyway, I know this isn't really the best example of a product review. I was very happy with the little I was actually able to accomplish with this machine, but if you're going to spend this kind of money on a camcorder, I'd have to recommend one that captures to disc; it makes for better backup, and compared to the high maintenance of a tape transport-based unit, would definitely spare the user enormous expense and headaches on a device that will probably prove unreliable (not to mention obsolete) a year from now.

I purchased my HC3 several weeks ago to film a family wedding. I didn't really intend on purchasing an HD camcorder, but I got a really good deal on a closeout and went for it.

Having shot quite a bit of VHS and 8mm tape in the past, the images from this camcorder are unbelievable. Even downgraded to DV format, I'm amazed at what this little camera can do. I'm also very impressed with the auto focus and white balance. I reprogrammed the small "manual" button to do AE-shift and it worked perfectly. Even in very strong backlight or high contrast shots I was able to quickly dial in the exposure. Very very good.

I also used the still image capture feature quite a bit. Despite being a camcorder, the images I got were almost as good as those taken with my small Casio EX-Z. However, they weren't nearly as good as the shots from my Canon G. My only complaint on the still imaging is a significant release delay between pushing the button and capturing the shot.

The only thing I don't like about the camcorder is the steadyshot feature. I was hoping for more. Long-zoom shots were not nearly as corrected as I had hoped. I don't have expereince with the Canon or other steadyshot models, so I can't compare. Still, I was hoping for more. If you're going to do a lot of long-zoom video with this camera, because of its size and low mass, you'll need a tripod or steadicam.

Low-light performance is average. I've seen better.

Also. I purchased the Sony Bluetooth wireless mic and videolight. These were great. I can't say enough good thinga about the wireless mic. It worked perfectly. The videolight is terrific for its size and weight. It won't give enough light to fill a room, but it does a great job for what it is.

The Sony HDR-HC3 worked well. However the great drawback of Sony camcorders is shown in my recent experience with my HDR-HC3 which I purchased here on Amazon.

We went as a family on a cross-country trip this past summer, filming hours worth of video. When we finally arrived home I plugged my camera into the DV port of my computer. In the past I have had no problem uploading video and making DVDs of family adventures, using our old Canon DV camcorder. We liked that the HDR-HC3 had the option of normal DV or HDV output.

However, unlike with my Canon, my computer (and subsequent computers) could not recognize my camera. After much research online, I found that the problem was that I had assumed the ieee was similar to firewire in that it was hot-swappable. In fact, it was not. Both the camera and computer must be off when attaching them, or the port will fry.

It takes a lot of concentration to remember how to connect the camera. According to other Sony users on various webcam boards, this is a common problem for the general public who are used to USB hot-swappable devices.

The repair fee for this "misuse" is from Sony about $350, according to what they said. One person mentioned that they had been able to open up the camera and purchase a $75 fuse and connected that to the camera hardware....a complicated vs expensive choice of options for a general user like me. Sony acknowledges the fact that the port is extremely sensitive, but still considers it a user-mistake and the fried port is not covered under warranty.

Consequently, I am in the market for a new camcorder that I will only use connected to my computer.

Use of tapes filmed on my Sony HDR-HC3-- Oh, the clincher is this: I tried to use my Canon as a conduit for uploading my footage to computer, but because it was HDV, my Canon could not read it--and this goes for trying to use my Canon to watch the video footage on television. Also, you cannot plug the camera into the TV with a normal 3 to 1 composite DV cable, it requires a camera-specific cable, so tough luck if you forgot to pack it!

This all said, I am pleased enough with the camera that having experienced all of the above, I have learned from my mistakes and probably will purchase another one on ebay for my computer uploads.

I hope that you will learn from my mistakes if you decide to purchase this camera.

I love this camcorder. I used in during my vacation in Hawaii. I still can't believe how amazing it looks on the screen. Most of my guests who started watching the video thought that we were watching a discovery channel broadcast. It works it's best outside especially with great lighting. Lighting really is the key. The more the light, the better the image. I just use the component video cables on my HDTV LCD. I'd recommend it to anyone who's really into image quality.