Tracy and Matt's Blog

Matt bought me the Sony Handycam DCR-HC35 for my birthday this year and as I have now had it a couple of months I thought I would write a review of it.

The Camera is very small and light, and has been easy to use. But I will come back to those things later.

In the box you get:

The first thing you need to do when you get the camera is charge the battery – for this you have two options you can either put it in its docking station or you plug the charger into the camera direct. The battery that is supplied with the Camera takes less than two hours to charge.

The only thing that is a bit annoying is you do not get any tapes in the box – so if you buy this remember to pick up a pack of tapes at the same time!

Once the battery was charged and I had a tape I picked the camera up and started using it without looking at the instruction book at all – it is that easy to use! The camera runs through a quick set up which just involves entering the date and time and then you can start using it.

It has as ‘Easy’ button on it for first timers to use but I didn’t find this necessary at all as it is easy enough to use anyway.

The viewing screen flips out and also swivels up to 180 degrees and has a touch screen facilities for using the menus. It also has record and zoom buttons next to the viewing screen.

I have used the camera at several dog agility shows to video my friends and it is so lightweight that it is easy to carry around and I have really nice footage of this fast moving sport!

I have since bought an extra battery and a carry case to keep it all in! But although I have bought another battery I have not used it until I have run out of battery and needed to change and I have used it quite a bit in one day! Although I think that when we go to Florida that may well change!

I have also installed the software on my PC and copied it on to there so at some point in the future I can edit it or put it onto DVD. The software supplied is very basic and if you are into editing you may wish to look at different software.

You are also supplied with a cable for viewing on a TV and this can be plugged into the camera direct or to the docking station. The video I took looked great on a large screen.

As well as video the camera does take still photos.

Overall I think this camera is excellent – I can’t fault it! I love my birthday present!

Tracy

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