Sony Handycam DCR-SR47: Great Amateur Video Camcorder

Use YouTube a lot? Interested in a cheap, easy to use camcorder? Then, you probably can't go wrong with the Sony Handycam DCR-SR47. Learn more below!

The Sony Handycam DCR-SR47 is perfect for YouTubers and amateur videographers, especially with its small size and easy-to-use features. For $399.99, it’s fairly inexpensive for a hard-drive, standard definition camcorder. It comes with a 60GB hard drive, and its highest resolution is 680 pixels, which is fine for this price range of camcorders.

The Sony Handycam DCR-SR47 comes with the standard 2.7 inch LCD screen and touch screen feature navigation. This camcorder comes with a hand-strap to hold it. The hand-strap is fine, but hangs a little low so you’ll have to account for that when you use it. The Sony Handycam DCR-SR47 comes in blue, black or red.

Usability

At 2.4 inches by 2.8 inches by 4.5 inches and only weighing 11 ounces, this camcorder can easily be stuck in a pocket to take out at a moment’s notice when necessary. It also powers up fast, which is great for capturing things quickly. If you leave the camcorder on Auto, you will probably be able to use this for most standard recordings. Plus, there are just not a lot of other settings to even bother with. You should definitely manually zoom into objects. The button is very responsive, but will have trouble locating objects in low light.

Most of your clips will be a little noisy, especially on a high-definition television. The sharpest images will come from the Tele Macro mode. But, if you’re planning on simply uploading videos to YouTube or other such services, this camcorder will serve you fine. The clips look fine on the YouTube format.

Overall

While the touch screen makes it convenient to get to your features, it can be a little confusing and hard to navigate if you’ve never used a Sony camcorder before. Buttons for showing display information or Sony’s direct-to-DVD recording software and other buttons are located inside the LCD screen. You can also find a Mini-USB port here as well.

While as mentioned the video recording comes out fine on the YouTube format, its lower-quality shows when trying to take higher-quality recording. It’s noisy in low-light and not as crisp as higher-priced camcorders. But, for the amateur videographer, it’s a good deal for the price.