Quick Review Camcorders : Sony DCR-HC21

With the DCR-HC21 Sony ushers in this year’s lower-end HC series (not to be confused with the models in the higher-end HC models, the HC90 and HC1000), a series of relatively compact MiniDV camcorders that are affordable and easy to use. These are your basic vacation camcorders from Sony. The DCR-HC21 especially is affordable and basic, an even more stripped down model than its siblings, the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC42. But as we’ll see, there are some advantages to being last.

Let’s talk about the specifics of the DCR-HC21. It features the same CCD as the DCR-HC20, last year’s model, and because of this, produces similar video quality. We tested the DCR-HC21 to see what kind of colors it would show and how crisp they’d be at both bright and low light levels. Camcorders usually falter in lower light levels, and the DCR-HC21, like last year’s DCR-HC20, follows this trend. There is some noise (grainy distortion) at the bright light level of 3000 lux, but overall the image is fine for a 1 chip (single CCD) camcorder. Lower light performance is horrible, marred by a very apparent blue noise problem, evident on some of Sony’s camcorders last year, and very much apparent on this year’s DCR-HC42.

The DCR-HC21 is navigated using the camcorder’s built-in touch screen menu system. Using this system one taps the LCD screen to make adjustments to nearly everything the camcorder has to offer. This can be annoying if you’re trying to adjust something during recording, what with the tapping shaking the camcorder and all, but it can also be a cool little gimmick if you’re just using the camcorder for pointing and shooting. Let’s face it; this camcorder doesn’t have much manual control.It is for pointing and shooting.

Speaking of manual control, the camcorder includes manual controls over exposure, focus, and white balance. White balance is going to be your only useful manual control here. You can set it before shooting, so tapping the screen won’t be a problem, and moving around within reason during the shoot won’t interfere either. Both focus and exposure require tapping as well as digging through the menu system. They can’t really be adjusted on the go. On top of this there are no numerical, or any other, indicators to let you know what or how much you are adjusting , which turns the whole thing into a guessing game. Exposure adjustment, instead of being broken up into aperture and shutter adjustments, is one blanket value, and visualized over a +/- meter with no numerical values.

On the bright side, the automatic controls here are the best in the industry, smooth and accurate. My advice is to turn on the camcorder’s Easy mode and roll tape.

The DCR-HC21 features a standard 2.5” LCD screen, unlike the DCR-HC42 which features Sony’s new widescreen LCD screen. There is a widescreen mode on the DCR-HC21 though.

More good qualities to try to make up for the terrible low light video quality. The better manual controls on this camcorder are its quality zoom control, its port placement, and its optical zoom. The zoom control on this camcorder is one of the best you can buy on a low-end camcorder. It is tied with Canon’s ZR series in this category and beats the socks off of the zoom toggles found on JVC and Panasonic’s entry level camcorders. Secondly, it ships with a 20x optical zoom, which is pretty high for such a mediocre camcorder. That said, Panasonic’s entry level line has optical zooms which beat everyone out of the water - their PV-GS31 reaches 30x. And finally, port placement: the DCR-HC21 does not ship with a docking station, unlike the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC42. One might say this is a bad thing, as docking stations are convenient and don’t require you to unplug a bunch of cords every time you want to connect to the computer, but with all of its ports on the camcorder, the DCR-HC21 doesn’t require you to pack an extra docking station when you’re bringing the camcorder on vacation or want to quickly transfer footage to someone else’s computer.

So, bottom line: this is a good vacation camcorder for someone who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money, wants a small camcorder, doesn’t mind limited functionality, and likes the smooth gimmicks that Sony oh, so graciously offers. For more functionality (and zoom power) for an equal or perhaps lower price, check out Panasonic’s lower-end MiniDV offerings such as the PV-GS31, PV-GS35, and PV-GS19.

 Sony DCR-HC21 Compared to the...