The first thing that struck me about the camcorder was it's size. It is less than half the size of my previous camcorder and about 1/3 the size of the one I was using. The whole camera fits inside of my hand. As a matter of fact, if it were any smaller it would be too small for me to use. One advantage I have with this size is when I am doing my storm chasing, I can put the camera on the dash and it slides right up to the windshield without any hanging off the back. I use some velcro to hold it in place.

The controls are relatively easy to use when in automatic mode. They are placed well on the camera and are accessible fairly easily with my fingers and thumb. The difficulties begin when you want to start using some of the manual of more advanced features of the camera. This requires a study of the cameras functions and how to use and access them.

The functions on the camera are controlled on or near the flip out wide screen. There are a couple of buttons on the inside of where the screen folds in and a couple of buttons and a very small joystick on the edge of the screen. I like the joystick function over the touch screen of the Sony as it will allow for the longer lasting of the screen. However, You are now into using two hands to control the functions of the camera. Fine for most simpler applications, but more difficult for my uses with the camcorder while trying to drive. I will have to have things preset before entering the vehicle.

The flip screen itself is nice and has a nice picture. One of the things I noticed immediately was that when you close the screen, the camera stops recording. I am not real pleased with that function. For one, it is a drain on the battery, a serious drain. All of my other cameras would operate without the screen open. Of course, they had viewfinders to look in whereas this one does not. What you are viewing is a guess without the screen pulled out. For a consumer camcorder, I suppose it's fine. I see most amateurs operating the cameras that way anyhow. The other negative is that in bright light situations, it can be difficult to see that screen and thus difficult to frame you shot.

This model comes with a 30 GB hard drive. What does that mean? Well, on the highest quality of recording, it holds 7 plus hours of video. On the low end recordings, it can hold 37 hours of video. The hard drive is just that and when hooked to the computer, you can move movie files back and forth on and off of

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