Customer Reviews:
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  good value, easy to use and very portable May 13, 2007
38 out of 42 found this review helpful
i bought this handycam while on holiday in the usa, mainly to video my little cousin who is 18 months. the exchange rate meant that i saved 100 ($200).
its extremely easy to use. the minidv tapes are very cheap and if you have a dvd burner you can get very good quality video's directly. the battery life is sufficient but one of the best things is the sound quality and microphone pic up. i was 10 metres away on a wind swept beach but the camera picked up my voice perfectly. did nt give it 5 stars because it does nt come with a firewire cable and irritatingly i have to buy to different cables to use it on a sony laptop and a apple mac
Nice little camcorder April 23, 2007
100 out of 102 found this review helpful
I purchased this camera as a replacement for Canon Optura 20 which was dropped and when estimate for repair exceeded price of this camera, I decided to move on. After using DCR-HC28 for several weeks, I believe this is a very neat package. Overall, I am very satisfied with this camera. One of the first things that I noticed is that color representation in low light conditions is much more accurate than that of Canon. I grew accustomed to adjusting Optura's white balance indoor in order to get accurate color tones. Now I am finding, that automatic settings work just fine and, in fact, I didn't have a reason to play with presets as of yet. This camera is more of a "point and shoot" type than Canon. It provides you with manual controls, but they are not easily accessible. Still, I have not found a reason to mess with these. Besides, for those, who would claim that manual settings are necessary for advanced/professional type of filming, I would point to the price tag and ask where and when did they last see an advanced/professional camera for under $300?
This camera is also about half the size of Canon and combined with low price and weight, produces a package that I can drag with me while going to the beach, bicycling, hiking, etc and not having to worry about ruining expensive piece of electronic gear, as was the case with my Optura which, at the time when I bought it, cost me about 2.5 times of what I paid for Sony.
So far, I've used this camera in about all of the lighting conditions that I would expect to ever having to consider. I have NO COMPLAINTS about its performance. Picture seems to be sharply focused and color tones are correct. Focus is fast enough to keep up with little kids or to shoot some sports/action. Sound quality of the microphone is quiet acceptable. There seems to be very little noise from drive motor and it is not picked up by the mic so it is not transferred to your recording. All of the essential controls and menus are within easy reach.
There are few negative points that prevent me from giving this camera 5-star rating. Lack of any kind of accessory shoe or external microphone input is a drawback. It would be nice to have these, as it would increase range of conditions under which one can use it. Still, among my friends, who actually have a camcorder, about 90% don't own an accessory light or external microphone, so if it was possible to lower camera cost by omitting these features, it is not a criminal move on part of Sony. The LCD display could have been a bit larger and it would not hurt if Sony would provide it with more freedom of motion - it only swings out to 90 degree angle and in certain situations it is a limiting factor.
 Great all around basic camcorder March 19, 2007
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
Very impressed with the picture and the colour, even in low light with much less granularity than other cameras we looked at. There aren't too many bells and whistles, but for a basic camcorder, you can't beat the quality.
 For Sony Hi-8 upgraders or if you shoot a lot of kids videos February 24, 2007
24 out of 42 found this review helpful
When you rotate the LCD out 180 degrees to let little kids see themselves on the LCD, the viewfinder shuts off, then you don't know if the kids are perfectly inside the frame or not. In comparison, the viewfinder stays on in our Sony Hi8 TRV 138, Sony TRV 118 and Canon mini DV ZR85 but not in this Sony DCR-HC28 and some other Sony DCR-DVD camcorders. This review from D. Johnson on Sony DCR-DVD205 (October 22, 2006) better described the problem:
"A big MINUS for Sony, and PLUS for Panasonic, JVC, Canon, and Hitachi -- When you rotate the LCD display 180 degrees on the old Sony Hi-8 Camcorder, the viewfinder remains on. The kids see themselves on the LCD, they giggle and jump around and play while I frame the shot in the viewfinder, and get great scenes. On the new Sony DCR DVD-105, 205, 305, 405, and 505, the viewfinder turns off. Panasonic, JVC, Canon, and Hitachi leave their viewfinder on, so if you want great images of small kids, don't get the Sony - Sony totally missed the boat removing this feature, probably to save power - I'd rather have an option to off the viewfinder if the LCD is rotated 180 degrees, rather than Sony forcing it off. Based on the lack of a built in light and removal of the viewfinder when the LCD is rotated 180 degrees, I decided to return the camcorder, and I feel good about doing that, because these basic features make the video better and should be in the Sony product. "
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