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Sony DCR-HC26 Camcorder Review
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The DCR-HC26 is Sony’s
entry-level in the series of MiniDV camcorder. Commenting about the
entry-levels is a hard task, as they are designed to work badly compared
to all the top camcorders. The DCR-HC26 has fewer features to give and
pays little in return.
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Video Performance
The DCR-HC26 (USD300)
offers a 1/6” Charge-coupled device with 680K gross (340K effective)
pixels. At 3000 lux, the camcorder created tones. The image was
extremely noisy, even at this brilliant light level. It depicts no
advancement as compared to the last year’s HC21 (USD329), and has all of
the same defects. The colors are saturated that might gratify some users
who are fed up of the straight tones that a Canon sometimes creates.
However the Canon’s colors are true. The HC26 offers what one previous
critic mentioned to as “nuclear colors” on the HC21. that is why, I
conceive the critic thinking was that the automatic increase and color
correction have been lifted to the level that forming the colors “pop”
has accepted a greater priority than forming the colors as they look to
the human being eye. Moreover, the whites are slightly brighter on the
HC26 as compared to the last year’s camcorder
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By analysis, the last
year’s low-end Canon ZR100 (USD220) developed correspondent saturation,
with a little stress on the green tones, but performed that without
making much noise. Reducing the noise also controlled down sharpness,
but on the whole, the ZR100 presents a more desirable image. This year’s
ZR500 (USD225) is likened to develop the same results.
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The Panasonic PV-GS39
(USD213), a latest product at the same price of USD350, has a very alike
image to the HC26. Both are extremely noisy and almost the same in
saturation. The Sony inclined to force the blues more into the magenta
region, producing a lilac look.
Low Light Performance
The performance of the
DCR-HC26 in the less light conditions was dissatisfactory .A 1/6-inch
chip is not so large in size to accumulate enough light. At 60 lux, the
HC26 produced an extremely noisy picture that could not be neglected. In
all conditions, the image depicts that much color has been missed,
especially in the green-yellow area of the spectrum. One point in the
camcorder’s justification is that the white stays pretty strong.
Last year’s HC21
demonstrated a much stronger functioning in the yellows and greens
portions, whereas the noise was just as common. The Canon ZR100 produced
a noisy image, but held much more color information. Panasonic’s PV-GS39
was, by a considerable margin, the victor at 60 lux in the contest,
developing a brighter image while trying to press down noise degrees to
the same point seen at 3000 lux.
Wide Angle
We examined the Sony
DCR-HC26 for the comprehensiveness of its area in both 4:3 and 16:9
ratios. In the ratio of 4:3, the HC26 possessed a big angle of 44
degrees. Whereas In the ratio of 16:9, the HC26 showed the same score as
shown in the 4:3. This signifies that the camcorder does not have native
or “true” widescreen. Rather, it uses a Cut short method which cuts the
frame from the topside and bottom side, then Make large the rest one to
fit 16:9 ratio frames. In this technique, you in fact lose information
in spite of getting information on the sides.
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