Although the Sony DCR-HC42 is a lightweight in both price and heft, it's far from lightweight in quality. In our tests, we rated the $560 DCR-HC42 the second-best performer. The DCR-HC42 produced great-looking video in our tests, with smooth movement; it also captured strong, accurate colors, even under difficult lighting conditions such as indoors under fluorescent lights.
Unfortunately, the still images the camera takes were a little disappointing--very fuzzy, with bland colors. The camcorder can record still images to a Memory Stick Pro Duo card at a maximum resolution of 1152 by 864 (about 1 megapixel); although having the option to take still images is nice, the results really aren't good for anything except showing on a TV.
The DCR-HC42 fits well in the hand and, at 14.5 ounces, it is light enough to be carried around all day. The camcorder is 2 inches thick and 4.5 inches long, a size that should just squeeze into a large pocket. While the controls sit comfortably under the fingers, we found that the 12X zoom control lacks resistance--anything more than slight pressure sets off zooming in or out very quickly; it took a deft touch to slow it down.
As with the Sony DCR-DVD403, the zoom and record controls are duplicated around the 2.7-inch wide-aspect LCD, which looked great in all but direct sunlight. Most camcorders, when shooting in 16:9 mode, display the video with black bars at the top and bottom, resulting in a smaller image; but, its wide-aspect LCD lets the HC42 use the whole screen, which means you can see the image much better.
For recharging and linking to the PC, the camcorder docks in the included Handycam Station, which is also where the USB 2.0 and FireWire ports are. This design means that you don't have to unplug everything when you take the camera with you, but it also means that you can't connect the camcorder to your PC (for transferring video or images) without that unit. And the camera fits rather loosely into the docking station. At one point, I accidentally bumped it while copying a tape onto the PC, disconnecting the camera and stopping the transfer process. However, you don't need to use the docking station to recharge the camera; you can plug the power supply directly into the camera itself.
Upshot: The HC42 is a well-priced camcorder for those who want something that won't weigh them down on a day or weekend trip.
source : www.pcworld.com/
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