Sony HDR-CX380/B High Definition Handycam Camcorder with 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)

I've been using a Mini-DV tape-based Panasonic PV-GS31 for quite a few years - it has stood up to some punishment and served me well. After a pretty thorough evaluation, I opted to replace it with the Sony HDR-CX380. Wow! I love this camcorder. Here's why:Likes:Weighs next to nothing.Fits into a pocket.Incredibly easy to use.Great feature set, from the built in USB cable to the touch screen, menu structure, external mike jack, auto lens cover, etc.At 8.9 Meg, the still shots are great - on a recent trip I left my SLR at home and really did not miss it!True HD, though having bought it I discovered that iMovie and the version of Final Cut Express I had could not process full HD (1920 by 1080). However, with the direct HDMI connection, I can view full HD, and dropping down to 1080i does not seem to lose much in the way of resolution.Dislikes:Really none. I wonder if it will last as long as my old Panasonic - does not feel as solid, but I plan on treating it with the respect it deserves.Bottom line - I'm still not sure about the debate over using a good SLR for video as well as stills. For me, a dedicated (and ultra light) camcorder seems to make sense and works great!

I usually do not post product feedback, but in this case I want to provide valuable information to others who buy this camera.I got this specifically to record my daughter in musical theater. Very first show the camera consistently over exposed every scene. I was fighting manual exposure for the entire show. My friend sitting right next to me with a 2 year old sony was not having issues and puzzled at why my camcorder was not exposing correctly. He is a professional photographer and knows a few things about exposures and how to adjust cameras.After the weekend show (which thankfully he gave me a copy of his footage), I spent more than an hour on support with Sony. They finally gave me a technical person and he solved the issue in 30 seconds. You must go into the camera scene selection and choose "Spotlight" mode for correct exposure. Note that this is not in the manual.I am giving this camera the full 5 stars rating. I wish sony support was a little faster at giving me a technical resource. I hope this helps someone else.Great camcorder. I could not be happier - now that I know about this setting.**************Update after 1 year of ownership.**************I am changing this to one star since recording in stage lighting situations is terrible. It is always overexposed. I went to a local camera store and the expert there said the issue is with the image sensor size. Sony decreased the sensor size in this model and now it is worthless for recording in low light and theater lighting situations. If you do not need a camcorder for these situations, then this is still a 5 star camcorder.I replaced with a Canon camcorder that was $200 and had a larger sensor (VIXIA HF R500). It is awesome and gives the correct exposure in low light/stage light.Sony CX380 Sensor size = 1/5.8 in.Canon VIXIA HF R500 Sensor size = 1/4.85-inch

For the money I paid, I am not impressed. A little dissapointed with the quality of clarity on the zoom in an outdoor setting. I also don't like the feature to where you have to have the side veiwing screen open for the camera to shoot videos.

Pros: The built-in USB cable is really a nice convenience.The image quality and low-light performance are very good.Cons: marketing this as an 8 mega-pixel sensor is misleading. It has the same sized 2.3 megapixel sensor as many others. Sony claims their firmware results in "8.9 megapixel equivalent still images" Stills, not video.Two main things made this camcorder not a good fit for my needs.No setting for optical-only zoom: The cam is listed with 30x optical, 55x extended zoom. I thought I had turned off the digital zoom, but I was still seeing a lot of noise in the last third of the zoom range. Checking the setup screen, I see that digital zoom is turned off, but if enabled it's 350x. Setting aside the quality I'd get at that resolution, the camera doesn't have an optical-only setting for zoom. This has been standard in every other still and video camera I've used. There's no way to stop at 30x and no indication you're now going into digital zoom. [UPDATE: I just found a reference online that turning off SteadyShot will limit the zoom to 30x. If this is in the skimpy manual, I missed it.]Limited frame rate choices: It's not spelled out clearly even on Sony's website, but the camera will only do 30fps at the MP4 setting. Maybe this is a need specific to me, but for shooting video for the web, I want 1920x1080 at 30fps. Having to shoot at 60fps means working with larger files than I need and more work for me afterwards to convert the video.By the way, there are some incorrect YouTube reviews that say the AVCHD isn't compatible with Apple Macs and you can only use MP4. This is wrong. Apple iMovie 11 sees the camera just fine, although it treats the MP4 and AVCHD recordings as coming from 2 different devices. AVCHD imports and is removed from the camera afterwards. MP4 is only linked to the camera for some reason, which means the camera has to stay connected while you edit. If you drag the MP4 files from the camera folder into iMovie, then the files are imported and can be worked on with the camera detached. Not a big deal, but something worth knowing.