SonyDCR-SR85 1MP 60GB Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom

This is one of the best camcorders I've ever dealed with. It's a big step up from a old VHS mini tape one. The hard drive makes it very convenient. With the charger station that comes with it, you can use it to charge and watch the video footage at the same time. I paid $550 which is quite a deal because it is a $700 camcorder. I do wish some more accessories came with it but that's okay. The zoom is great. For being only a one megapixel camera, it looks pretty good except when zoomed in. I would definitey consider this to all my friends.- real easy to use and great capabilities

I bought this as my first video camera and I cant say I'm disappointed. The battery life is alright if you are not using Nightshot. Also if you use the memory stick instead of the HDD it lasts longer. The display is very easy to navigate and very responsive to touch. Overall ease of use is 5 stars. Even a technologically inclined person can make heads or tales of this with a little practice, especially when using the "Easy" mode which is activated at the press of a button located on the side of the unit. The only thing that was slightly sub par was the image quality. On HQ mode it makes a nice size picture but it has scan lines and is sensitive to movement even with the image stabilization. After converting to a different, smaller format it is great for YouTube and any other video. I wouldn't make a move with it by any means but it is decent. The snapshot function yields low quality pictures but are fine for Facebook or just capturing a moment without having to pull out your still camera. I would compare image quality to that of a decent cell phone picture. Just for an example, I have had successful results recording a four wheeler trip in WV, firing guns on board a US Naval vessel, a few videos of me racing at the drag strip, and a few other things. The videos all came out just fine. The Nightshot function is good for close range (~20 feet max) but is useless without an external IR light source past that, other wise it is satisfactory. The HDD is more than sufficient in terms of space. It is a little slower to start recording than the flash memory stick but is still decent. The lack of a view finder wasn't an issue at first but when I wanted to record at night without spreading the light from the screen all over the place, it was kind of a hassle. The zoom on this camera is fantastic and the image stabilization really comes into play during long zoom recording. I was able to record Naval jets flying at high speed from about 3 miles away and ended up with a impressively stable picture and pretty decent quality for being as far away as I was.Over all I was impressed with the camera but sold it after owning for almost a year for a Kodak Zi8 pocket camcorder. I just needed something that I could slip into my pocket and go. I would suggest this camera for anyone on a lower budget, teenagers would make good use of it, and it would probably be pretty good for recording family events and just keeping memories.

I just received this camcorder (DCR-SR85) and I am very happy with it! It is so small & lightwieght, plus it takes fantastic videos. The videos download very quickly with the included software, and are crisp and clear as any DVD movie that I have (standard definition). I stuggled with all the choices out there, but I am very satified with this product. I use it mostly to document procedures for work, but it is great for home movies also. I think it would be nice to have a larger mega-pixel camera in it (only 1 meg) since it is so small it could easily replace my digital camera also! I also purchased the extended warranty from Sony for only 89.00 (3 years), and an extra battery. This one is a keeper!

Maybe I got a dud, but this camera did not work at all for what I needed. First off, I was not able to use it, because it buffered itself every 20 seconds. I was only able to get about 3 minutes of video before it started buffering. Then, it would buffer about every 20 seconds, resulting in only short snippets of viewable video.Secondly, the lack of a mic gain setting screwed me. Yes, I was recording in a loud environment. The sound was very distorted and unbearable. This camera needs a function to be able to turn down the mic sensitivity.Didn't work for me.

Great Technology! But after downloading the movie files to my computer, using SONY software to make my movie, and create a DVD the end product video quality was no better than a VHS tape. I was expecting a lot more clarity being a SONY HD Camcorder.I'll give an update to this if I can figure out the clarity issue and change my revue to five stars.16 Jan 2010:Well after recording, downloading, editing recorded movies and transferring it to DVD I found some interesting things from this video camera. The recorder does have a hard time with focusing during slight or low light environments. It will thus make image quality seem grainy or out of focus. I guess one would have to get a more professional video camera if one wanted to film during low lighting environments without the need of an obnoxious Headlight. Also when going from close targets to telephoto and capturing scenes farther away, the camera has problem to focus in immediately or clearly, unless of course it is a bright shinny day outside. However for a camera which can capture hours of recorded data, it's good. The touch screen is cool, but editing should be left to when you transfer your movies to the computer. Also deleting movies on the touch screen can be time consuming, so I personally do that after downloading family movies onto my computer. Sound quality capture is great! However don't use the photo capture if you want a quality photograph. Overall for a general video recorder it's good.So I raising my previous rating from two stars to three stars.

It is a good handy cam, however I was not satisfied with video resolution. But at this price you can't expect more then that. Camcorder had a problem with zoom in and out operation, there was some mechanical noise and it was getting recorder in video. So returned it. Got full refund from amazon instantly... no troubles at all, Thanks amazon!