Excellent little camcorder

I originally bought this camcorder to work with my laptop and produce training videos. I have to say I am extremely satisfied with this purchase.

The unit interfaces with a firewire cable (not supplied) which fits into a small port on the side. Under the computers control all the normal features except record can be controlled by the computer allowing easy importing of recorded footage.

On the top of the unit is a three position combination switch for power and mode (camera/playback, the zoom control and a button to switch night view on. I found the position of the controls easy to operate during normal use, with the zoom control positioned where my fingers naturally fell on the unit.

The opposite side has three buttons - back light, battery level and easy mode - and the fold out LCD screen. Back light compensates for bright light behind the subject, and easy mode lets the camera choose all the settings. A touch of the battery level button produces an easy to read bar chart of the current battery level in either the viewfinder if the fold out screen is not being used or on the screen if it is, which as well as a percentage level gives an estimate in minutes to battery flat for both screen and viewfinder usage.

The rear of the unit holds the battery, which can easily be changed for batteries with a life of up to 20 hours, a power control, and beneath a small rubber cover the recharge point.

All the other functions of the camera are controlled by the touch sensitive screen, which is bright and sharp even in daylight conditions, and comes on a tiltable hinge to allow it to be positioned at any angle. Menus on the touch sensitive screen remove the requirement for lots of controls all over the unit, keeping it uncluttered and lessening the chance of pressing a control inadvertently.

Built into the unit and turned on by default is an anti-camera shake feature that lessens the effect of slightly shaky hands. At minimum zoom this seems to work flawlessly, though as you zoom further in to the maximum 800x it becomes less and less effective. Certainly for long distance shots of the kind such a high zoom could give, it would be advisable to use a tripod, since the nature of a palmcorder doesn't make for completely stable filming. This would seem to be its only flaw, since folded up a tripod would still be over six times the size of the actual camcorder.

The night sight function is not ideal, and has only a limited range in open spaces. It is more suited to less open spaces, but fine - and quite fun - to use to walk around an unlit apartment in the dead of night. Using the night sight function does not seem to have any major impact on battery life.

In conclusion, I am very satisfied with the performance of this camcorder and would recommend it to anyone. It packs a lot of features into a very small space but in an intelligent manner. A real gem of a unit.