Sony DCR-HC36

The Sony HC36 MiniDV Handicam is a budget camcorder that takes adequate video in daylight, but its poor performance in low light will be a problem if you want to take videos indoors--at a party, for instance

Light and easy to carry

Awful still-image quality

Very compact size ; Lightweight ; Easy to use ; Low price

Mediocre video quality ; Short battery life ; No accessory shoe ; Low-quality stills

In the end, it's difficult to recommend the Sony Handycam DCR-HC36. If your budget allows, you'll be better served stepping up to a higher-end consumer camcorder. If your budget doesn't allow the step up, you're still probably better off saving some...

Easy to use, -Small, compact design, -Good automatic features

Poor video quality, -Limited manual controls, -Feels cheap

Low cost; small size; light and easy to carry; easy to use

Comparatively mediocre video quality; awful still-image quality

These problems show up even in good lighting conditions, and are much more exaggerated in low light. In low-light tests, the grain in the images was extremely distracting and much more obvious than the grain in the video produced by the other camcorders

Photo Capabilities The DCR-HC36 has a built-in digital still camera, with the ability to save digital stills to a memory stick rather than the camcorder cassette tape. A dedicated digital still camera usually means decent quality prints, but in the...