Sony Handycam® DCR-TRV900 Mini DV Camcorder

I bought this camera almost one and a half years ago. At the time the cost was much higher than it is today. When I first started using this camcorder I was more than impressed. I have owned many cameras before (8mm, Hi8, and Digital8), but I never seemed to get the picture quality I was looking for.

Having decided that I was going to start shooting some weddings on the side, I decided to finally upgrade my hardware. For the first time as was surprised rather than let down by my most recent purchase.

THE PICTURE:
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I had never seen a sharper picture other than on dvd and the such. The 3CCD's do make a HUGE difference.

The colors where very beautiful... well it's to say - all the colors except for the reds. The reds are red-no doubt about it-but they are just a little bit too blatant, in fact you will start to notice they will often take over your shots. However, most everyone I have showed footage, did not find it a problem. On the other hand when compared to other 3 ccd's cameras the image is a little colder. However, all these little color issues can be adjusted by setting manual exposure, and color balance manually.

Being a camera aim at mid-pro users this camera offers many manual as well as extra features. One of the most important features are exposure, shutter speed, and the zebra effect. All three control or help set the level of light is exposed...

The exposure setting is similar the aperture setting on your 35mm camera, setting this manually will often times make the shot.

This camera has a great shutter speed range, in fact when set to 30fps the camera films at a more cinematic pace, good for your little feature films.

Then the zebra effect; this tool is very important if you want to set correct exposure as relying on the viewfinder or lcd isn't always the best way to set the exposure. What the zebra effect does is it draws little lines on the screen over the areas that are overexposed. It doesn't record those lines, but is simply there for the preview.

Of course there are many other controls over the images you capture, but I feel they aren't as important as the ones above mentioned.

THE SOUND:
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This might be the only place where the camera isn't at a professional level. Although the sound is very crisp and defined, there is some motor noise (heard only on quit parts and good sound systems). However the biggest drawback is the Mic pickup, it does a decent job with close up audio, but picking up a conversation beyond 5 feet is a challenge. Of course any videographer will tell you that using an external Mic will always give you better results, and this camera does have a minijack Mic input.

THE BODY:
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This camera is very small for what it packs inside. In fact many pros use it because it is so inobtrusive in public. This camera will scare fewer bystanders than one of the full size cameras.

-The layout of the buttons is very intuitive, and a little practice and you won't even have to take your eye from the lcd or viewfinder to set your most vital functions. The buttons are very solid, and haven't become flimsy or touchy after over 200 hrs of use.
-The manual focus ring is decent size and allows for pretty handy control.
-The loading mechanism is rather uneasy with the strap often in the way of the door, but in most case has no problem at all.

WARNING!!!
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I don't qualify this as a complaint but rather as a warning, as it is the use of the camera rather than the camera itself that causes this problem.

Over time the tape mechanism will become dirty. Believe me even when you keep the door shut all the time. If you don't use a DV cleaning kit every 20 or so hours of use, the mechanism will eat tapes. If you do use it you won't have a single problem. This is a well reported problem but can be easily avoided with care.