HDR-HC5

Used the camera for four months now. The HDR-HC5 has a number of nice features for a consumer camcorder, but anything other than point and shoot functionality is counter intuitive and a bit cumbersome to access at best. Almost all the settings can only be accessed via touchscreen menu, which is difficult and time consuming to access or change on the fly. To Sony's credit, there is a user programmable sub menu which allows you to put the functions you want, in whatever order you want, on a separate and easily accessed menu, which does make getting to the more commonly used functions easier. Very good HD video in bright sunlight, however, any situation with less than ideal lighting brings forth excessive video noise, and degrades the picture considerably. When the video gain kicks in, the picture is anything but HD quality. Auto focus is typically poor in lower light situations, with a lot of focus wandering, and the only way to manually focus the camera and overcome this is through the touchscreen, so unless you are shooting with a tripod, or your subject matter doesn't change much in the way of distance, your shots will be jerky from pushing on the lcd screen to maintain focus. The auto focus in not horrible, just not very accurate in lower light situations. The focusing increments are not very good either, and it's easy to overshoot your focus unless you "tap" on the +/- focus icon on the screen, and tapping on the camera is not ideal when shooting video for obvious reasons. I would give this feature a "D+" on the grade scale. Another major issue is that there is no audio input or headphone jack what so ever, and the built in microphone is typical of consumer oriented camcorders, which is not saying much. Sony discontinued the hot shoe mounted $20 accessory which allowed you to hook up an external mic of your choosing, so now your only option for improved audio would be to purchase Sony's add on mics, which are pricey for what they are, and barely a step up from the built in mic. Sony did a terrible disservice to the end user by discontinuing this accessory, and I'm sure they made that decision purely from a marketing point to limit your options to purchasing their mics only. It's ridiculous from the users standpoint that they wouldn't continue to offer this, considering many of their new HD camcorders don't offer external mic inputs. The 4.0 mp digital photos are pretty good for a camcorder. Overall, if you prefer point and shoot, push the record button and let the camera do the rest functionality, then this camera will fit the bill. However, if you are looking for a camera with good and easily accessed manual controls, then you should definitely look elsewhere. Purchased new excellent condition demo/clearance model at Circuit City; hence the low purchase cost. Camera is now discontinued, so used/clearance HDR-HC5 camcorders should be able to be found at decent cost.