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Brand:Sony
Model :DCR-SX44/L
Customer Rating : 
List Price :$269.00
Sale Price :$259.95
Availibility :Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Sony DCR-SX44 Flash memory Handycam Camcorder (Blue) Feature
- 4GB Embedded Flash Memory
- 60x Optical, 2000x Digital zoom
- Professional quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens
- 2.7″ Clear Photo LCD (230 K) display
- Direct Copy to external HDD w/o PC
Sony DCR-SX44 Flash memory Handycam Camcorder (Blue) Overviews
The ultra-compact DCR-SX44 features 4GB of embedded flash memory, which can record up to 3 hours of video, a built-in LED video light, as well as a professional-quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, which delivers sharp, high-resolution images and powerful 60x optical zoom that lets you capture extremely tight shots, even from far away.
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Sony DCR-SX44 Flash memory Handycam Camcorder (Blue)
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Sony DCR-SX44 Flash memory Handycam Camcorder (Blue) RelateItems
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Sony DCR-SX44 Flash memory Handycam Camcorder (Blue) CustomerReview
I should preface this by stating that this is my first camcorder purchase. All I was looking for was a social media / Youtube capable camera with a good quality zoom and good quality components. After some review and several trips to a big-box retailer I settled on this camera because the LCD image quality was better than Canon competition, and the size and price were more reasonable than HD options, and Sony lets us use inexpensive high quality Secure Digital cards now in their cameras. I jumped on a sub two hundred dollar open box “like new” Amazon offering for the camera. What I found in this camera was a whole lot of awesome.
After taking about a week of videos of my dog, today I tossed in a 16gb SD card and took this to an event as a backup to a 120gb HD Canon camcorder from my office. Even with fully charged battery on the Canon, it died 75% of the way into the event. After a fair amount of use this Sony camera still shows an hour 15 mins of battery life, and 200 minutes of “high quality” video left on the beefy SD card. The day was super-windy, and the mic and amp at the event had a ton of wind noise, but somehow the audio on the sony made up for it, giving me crisp surprisingly audio. The anti-shake / face tracking stuff worked to make clean video even though this camera was in hand and off the tripod the whole day.
Pros – Great camera – exporting video direct to usb hard drive should be pretty cool, Small enough to fit in the drink pocket of a backpack or a beer coozy for safe keeping, great infolithium basic battery, high quality LCD, audio is amazing. 4gb plenty of space for SD video. 60x zoom also zooms audio -directing the mics at your target! SD / SDHC card option is better than limiting just to Sony’s terrible Memory Stick nonsense. LED light for night shots is better than nothing. Lens cap slider is awesome. Automatic on when you open the LCD is cool. External battery is easy to disconnect if going a week or so between use.
Cons – Sony sells a USB adapter cable for exporting video/photos to any USb hard drive and that adapter should be or come with the camera, or be easy to DIY. Camera initially rejected the SD card, but after a minute it worked. Photo option is lame and worse than modern camera phone, LED light does not come on for photos to improve low light photos. No audio or mic input, and you have to rely on excellent built-in microphone. Proprietary(?) AV out cable rather than 1/8th inch jack. Proprietary power cable looks like 1980’s throwback and could be hard to replace.
Verdict – Buy this camera and eventually pick up a cheap 4, 8 or 16 SD, and you will be satisfied if you are looking for an inexpensive high quality standard definition camera.
Two Cameras in One! – Hillel Dershowitz – West Coast of the Atlantic Ocean
I remember hauling around a video camera that used video tapes.. It was good for its time, but WOW, what a joy the Handycam was!
Taking video was easy.. I could push a button and aim the camera discretely and ‘listen in’ to conversations at the birthday party… It was also great to be able to take still photos from the same camera, just push a button to change from one to the other… and back again.
Easy to use.. just put in a memory card.. download the software from the included CDs.. and you’re off and running!
It is easy enough to change the settings on the menu, just tap the video screen and read through it.
What a pleasure to work.. to carry….. and to download!
Would I recommend it? YOU BET!
Buying this from Amazon was also easy! Lots of possibilities from which to choose, options to include and packages to put together to $ave some money when purchased together.
Good job Amazon and Sony!
Great overall package killed by poor video quality – RJLII – Texas, USA
Our 1995 Sony camcorder finally bit the dust so it was time for a new one. We only use the camcorder for personal use so we were looking for another basic, easy-to-use camcorder in the 0 range. After spending some time researching camcorders the Sony DCR-SX44 camcorder seemed like a perfect fit.
PROS:
Ease of use
Extremely lightweight and small
Internal memory with optional memory slot
60x optical zoom
Built in lens cover
The menu and controls are pretty intuitive so you will be shooting video in no time. This unit is so small that it’s almost too small for large hands to comfortably operate. Fortunately the somewhat small grip is offset by the light weight, which makes extended filming less shaky and fatigue free. I like the onboard memory as well as the option to use SD/SDHC cards. The zoom was very well done, it’s amazing how close you can get. I appreciate the variable zoom that makes it easy to control whether you zoom slow or fast. The one knock on the zoom is that you will need a tripod if you expect to zoom in alot, there is no way a living breathing human can hold this still when zoomed all the way. That’s more a compliment to the 60x than lack of stabilization though. When not zoomed in the stabilization is fine, not great but adequate enough for a budget camcorder.
CONS:
Video quality
Light for low light conditions looks cool but is basically useless
The first thing I did was set the camera to auto and put it on the highest video quality. After recording a video indoors I played it back on the TV. Not good. Very grainy, out of focus, and dark. I knew low light indoors video would be a problem, so I went outside in full sunlight and played around. Back to the TV and again, not good. All the images in the video were soft with no sharp lines and appeared to be slightly out of focus. At this point I knew I had to be doing something wrong so I started over.
I recorded a multi-situation video (including full sunlight, shade, indoors lit, and indoors low light conditions) using each and every camcorder setting available. I then played these directly to the TV, burned them to a DVD, and downloaded them directly to my computer to view. All versions were soft and fuzzy. I then compared the video quality to DVD’s I burned from videos made by our 15 year old Sony tape camcorder. The Sony DCR-SX44 overall video quality (indoor and outdoor) was no better (and sometimes worse) than our old middle of the road camcorder.
(Please note, I have an HD capable TV but do not have HD service, so I do not watch, am not spoiled by, and am not expecting HD quality video)
CONCLUSION:
I wanted to like this camcorder as the brand, style, options, cost, and ease of use matched everything I was looking for. However a camcorder with poor video quality is fatally flawed in my book. It is possible I got a defective unit, but reading other reviews it appears I’m not the only one. I returned this camcorder and got my money back. After doing some more research it appears that for another -0 or so I can make the monumental jump to HD and skip the dying technology that is standard definition.
Poor Video Quality – T. Brewer – Roanoke, VA USA
I’ve used Sony products for years and this is the first time I had to return one. This camera was very disappointing. I shot video at the highest quality level and it was still fuzzy and the audio was out of synch when I downloaded it into my computer. I wanted to replace my Sony Mini-DV camera with this one, but the mini-dv is 10 times better than this one. I didn’t expect high definition, but this was very bad.
Also the software included was very difficult to use, but probably would have been better if I had used it for a while.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored:Sep 08, 2010 02:56:16
Recommend : Buy Canon Printers Shopping Ride on Toys Camcorder Minidv Audiophile Hifi
Frank Stanley