Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E Review
Sony incorporation are almost having the monopoly over the sectors of video, audio and information technology products in the professional and the global consumer markets. Sony is uniquely positioned as the world’s one of the leading consumer brands with its dedication in quality and customer service.
The Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E was released in the early 2007, being described to be the ideal camcorder for people on the move and this latest handycam range from Sony offers an impressively long recording time and a longer battery stamina, hence eliminating the hassle of carrying extra tapes.
Great design with an incongruous display:
The Sony DCR-SR290E Camcorder has got a very sleek and stylish design. Being ultra compact, it is a great boon to the travellers and is also very easy to use. Dimensions wise, DCR-SR290E is a heart stealer. If you had been closely following our website, you would have noticed that, we have always never been a fan of Sony’s touchscreen interface and the DCR-SR290E sports a 2.7″ display that is not big enough to accommodate more than four virtual buttons per page, hence, making the menu a bit complicated and problematic. Yet, we have to accept that Sony has done a good job in designing the menu system with these constrains. But the other means of navigating the menus like navigational pads and joysticks gives you a comfort in accessing. And apart from that fact, since the LCD display is the only means by which you could make any selection there are more chances that your display is filled with just fingerprints and any other means of navigation would very well prevent this from happening. Of course some people prefer touch screen to anything else and so, if you are not familiar with that, you will have to try it before buying it.
The 2.7″ wide clear photo LCD plus screen of DCR-SR290E gives improved contrast and colour range that is about 1.6 times wider than the conventional Hybrid LCD displays. As a result, it is significantly much easier to focus, frame and review the shots accurately in high ambient light conditions, especially outdoors.
No viewfinder and hence space for other buttons:
As most of us are aware, the viewfinders are being chucked out from most of the consumer based models by the manufacturers and the DCR-SR290E camcorder from Sony is no exception. Sony has also removed the viewfinder from its latest models that are aimed towards the mass consumer market, adding another step to endanger the so called “Viewfinders”. The still imaging world is not going to have any issues with it as they hardly use them while framing their shots and in other words, the viewfinder is a very easy target of cost cutting.
Having the viewfinder out of its way, Sony has managed to give the handycam a nice and smooth shape to the right side of the camera and also creating some space for it buttons. But unexpectedly, Sony had not made use of that space and instead it left controls for functions like backlight, night shot and easy mode on the left side behind the LCD display. The zoom rocker and mode switch have got a new position that makes reaching them very easy, letting your fingers to fall over it in a very natural way across the camera body and allows you to make finer adjustments and with variable speed, the zoom rocker is a pleasure to be accessed. As in case of most of the consumer grade camcorders, the DCR-SR290E Hard Drive Camcorder too has got four buttons on the left bezel of the LCD display, which allows you to access the main menu, zoom in and out and the record start and stop buttons. The buttons on the LCD display allows for convenient operation when the camcorder is operated at waist level or mounted on a tripod.
A Secure handycam:
Since there is only one chance for you to capture the most special moments when they happen, the HDD handycam adopts to use a twofold HDD smart protection strategy to safeguard against the inadvertent loss of precious pictures. Sony has employed a physical shock absorber in the DCR-SR290E to protect the drive against physical jarring and bumps during operation, whereas, the 3G sensor detects abrupt motion in three dimensions to distinguish accidental drops from other body movements.
Ports and connectivity in DCR-SR290E:
The built-in microphone is quite pleasing as it creates a faux Dolby 5.1 surround soundtrack, which can be supplemented with an optional accessory mic which can be mounted on the Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E’s shoe in case you prefer to have a dedicated mic for the centre channel. The only issue on the audio side is that you will not be able to use any third party microphones with DCR-SR290E as there is no minijack mic input. Apart from aiding you with the mics, the hot shoe can also be used add a video light. The Sony DCR-SR290E accepts Memory Stick DUO removable media for still picture recording and offer Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity with a PC for editing and back-up.
10X optical Carl Zeiss T zoom lens:
Unlike the standard Zeiss branded camcorders found in some of the less expensive models of Sony, a 10X optical Carl Zeiss T zoom lens is used in DCR-SR290E and it covers a healthy range and gives a superlative resolution and colour reproduction. As a compliment, Sony’s Super SteadyShot hybrid Image stabilisation helps in keeping you favourite video footage relatively shake free across the zoom range. But still, a tripod would do a better job when zoomed to a 10X maximum. Video stream buffering also ensures that recording continues smoothly.
Hard disk drive based camcorder:
Since Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E HDD Camcorder records the footage on to the camcorder’s hard disk, there is no need of any tapes and the hard disk can be easily searched, viewed or downloaded to a PC. An analogue connector is supplied with all the HDD models and this can be used to link the Handycam station permanently to a TV and the Hi-Speed USB port allows direct digital connection to a PC. The USB port also doubles as a charger and all that you need to do is, drop the handycam and power it as you enjoy your new shots. Sony’s new One-Touch Disc Burn function is 1.5x faster, allowing an hour’s worth of video to be recorded onto DVD using a connected PC in just 20 minutes.
Memory capacity:
Starting from 30GB on the entry level models, the HDD handycam offers up to 60GB hard disk capacity. With 60GB capacity, the camcorder will be able to store about 41 hours and 50 minutes of video or about 10,000 still pictures. But our model, the DCR-SR290E has got a capacity of 40GB that would allow to capture 28 hours of video.
Low-light performance:
An auto slow shutter mode automatically boosts the minimum illumination performance to 1.5lux compared with 5 lux on previous models, this helps in enhancing shooting in low light conditions. The issue here is that, in low light conditions, the focus slows down rapidly and becomes very sluggish in dim lighting. However, after a few seconds, the DCR-SR290E eventually focuses even in extremely bad lighting conditions. Though the resulting footage of such capturing is mostly monochrome, it is usable and better when compared to the almost unusable footage that you would get from the night modes of some of the other manufacturers.
ClearVid CMOS sensor technology for still image capturing:
Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E does not use the whole sensor at any given time as the vast majority of camcorders in the market, rather, it uses a 3.2-mega pixel ClearVid CMOS sensor technology to capture its images in a superlative quality. For capturing video, it uses 2.28 megapixels in 16:9 mode or 1.71 megapixels in 4:3 mode and for capturing stills, it uses 3.04 megapixels in 4:3 mode or 2.28 megapixels in 16:9 mode. In order to get the 6.1 mega pixel images as advertised by the camcorder, the DCR-SR290E has to interpolate the pixels that are actually captured by the sensor. Though you get an image with the anticipated number of pixels, you cannot expect the kind of sharpness that you might get from a six mega pixel image captured using a dedicated still camera. However, the still images of this quality is a great step forward in the right direction, when compared to the ones that you would get from DCR-SR290E’s siblings of fewer megapixels. They are certainly good enough to be used for web and email and prove to be very decent small prints.
Image quality:
Though the quality of image is good in some ways, it showed more of compression artifacts than what we would like in such videos. In other word, the quality is not the one that you might have got from an equivalent miniDV camcorder. The footage is quite sharp but the motion artifacts do not obscure the details for you. The colour rendition is good too but at times, the automatic white balance of Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E ends up either slightly warm or cool. Though the focus is not lightning fast, it is fast enough to handle most of the situations.
Battery:
The battery of Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E Digital Camcorder is selected to compliment its impressive storage capacity. The DCR-SR290E uses the new-generation H-Series InfoLITHIUM battery having incredible stamina delivering up to 10 hours continuous shooting from a single charge. It has got three new batteries as option, the NP-FH100, NP-FH70 and NP-FH50.
Warranty:
Sony backs Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E with one year limited warranty for parts and labour.
Verdict:
Having a sleek and high tech deign, with a decent array of controls, the Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E is definitely a great choice for the casual shooters who would mostly like to stick with the camcorder’s easy mode. And being hard drive based, the work becomes even more simple as there is no need to carry tape and mini DVDs around. But if you are not that fussy about carrying the tapes, then you could step up to an even better high definition camcorder like Sony’s Handycam HDR-HC7 or Canon’s HV20 for nearly the same price as the DCR-SR290E.
You can check 2009 model Camcorder Reviews, Sony HDR-SR11E, Sony HDR-TG7VE HD Reviews in this website.
Sony DCR-SR290E Video Camcorder – Specifications, Features
| Manufacturer | Sony |
| Model Name | Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E |
| Camcorder type | Tapeless |
| Dimensions ( W X H X D) | 76×78x128 mm |
| Weight | 485 g |
| Display | 2.7″ Clear Photo LCD plus |
| Display resolution | 211200.0 |
| VIDEO FEATURES | |
| Formats Supported | HD: MPEG4 AVC/H.264 SD: MPEG2 |
| Video Signal | NTSC color, EIA standards |
| PhotoTV HD | Yes |
| STILL IMAGE FEATURES | |
| Still image resolution | 6.1 mega pixels |
| Compression of still image | JPEG |
| Image Size: Max | 16:9 Mode 2848 x 1602 (4.6M) ; 4:3 Mode; 2848 x 2136 (6.1M) |
| Image Size: VGA | 640 x 480 |
| Specific features | Still image recording on Memory Stick Still image recording on internal HDD Memory Stick PRO Compatibility Index Playback PictBridge compatibility Still Recording during Movie (Dual Rec) : 7.6 M, unlimited |
| AUDIO FEATURES | |
| Audio System | Dolby Digital 5.1ch |
| Built in Microphone | 3ch, zoom microphone |
| Specific features | Built in Speaker Surround Recording |
| CAMERA FEATURES | |
| Image Device: Size | 1/3.1 ClearVid CMOS Sensor |
| Image Processor | BIONZ |
| Number of Pixels Gross (K) | 3200 |
| Shutter Speed | 1/2-1/800(including Scene Selection) |
| White Balance | Auto / Outdoor / Indoor / Onepush |
| Scene Selection | Twilight, Twilight Portrait (Still Image), Candle, Sunrise & Sunset, Fireworks, Landscape, Portrait, Spotlight, Beach, Snow |
| Specific features | Exmor technology, x.v.Colour, Full Range Auto focus, Manual focus, Spot Focus, Spot Meter, SteadyShot (Image Stabilisation), Face Detection, D-range Optimiser, Night Shot, Camera Noise Reduction, Auto Slow Shutter, Colour Slow Shutter, Backlight compensation, Telemacro |
| LENS AND ZOOM | |
| Lens | Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T |
| F | 1.8-2.9 |
| Filter Diameter (mm) | 37 |
| Zoom Ratio (Optical) | 10 |
| Zoom Ratio (Digital) | 20 |
| Precision Digital Zoom | No |
| PORTS AND CONNECTIVITY | Audio Output, Video Output, S-Video Output, USB Input, USB Output, Component Video Output, HDMI Output, External Microphone Input, Headphone Jack |
| Software | Picture Motion Browse Editing Software |
| Package contents | Sony Handycam DCR-SR290E , Camcorder Power Adapter or In-Camera Charger, Infolithium rechargeable battery, Remote Commander, Remote Control, Handycam Station cradle, Component Video Cable, Multi A/V Cable, Application CD-ROM w/ Driver and USB Cable. |
| Warranty | One year |
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