The first noticeable aspect is it’s size, much smaller then the previous series (TRVs) and includes a lot more features and a much cleaner design. The features of the HC42 are abundant and if you don’t need things like digital pass through, a color viewfinder, or the accessory shoe I would recommend another camera in the HC series because at $599 retail this DV Camera is pricey.
I’ve used Sony DV cams for a while I still love them; their small, light, easy for average use and the quality of these smaller cams are great, especially in low light and average use.
The onscreen menu system is the drawback for many pro-sumers since we want controls on the camera itself and not buried in a menu but your not going to get the controls you want with a camera this small.
I hoped that I could use some of the older add-ons from my TRV33 but there was no way, the battery itself is half the size of the older one (holds the same charge 120min). A great added feature is the base station that allows you to connect the usb, firwire, power and av cables to it so all you need to do is drop the camera in the base station and your set to edit preview and charge.
The night shot had also improved tremendously, it’s actually somewhat colored now it was previously green, like most night vision gadgets. The built in camera cover is also really cool sine I lost the last one in a couple weeks. I wouldn’t say it takes good stills because I haven’t tried but I assume they suck (you never want to buy a DV cam with the notion of using it as a still camera, even the hybrids are week at one or the other).
There’s one more awesome feature, the “easy” button. The reason I like it is, I like to do a lot of manual controls and Sara doesn’t so she can press the button and the camera turns to wife mode including the menus and then I can turn it off and set it up the way I want.
Pros: Light, small, feature rich, big preview screen, base station/dock included, Easy button
Cons: Menu’d controls, average battery
Another recommended gadget of gadget week.
