Hitachi DZ-BX35A

The Hitachi DZ-BX35A camcorder is quite compact and of a moderate range in its price tag. It is not difficult to handle, so the newbies will not find it intimidating. Its well-designed, slender and light-weight features make it convenient for carrying around, so it will be a useful travel companion. Unlike other small sized camcorder, this device has relatively large buttons, making it easy for users to navigate the various features. In fact, its menu system is also far from being complicated. This device comes equipped with a 2.7 inches wide screen LCD to make it convenient for users to view the playback of images. Its strong, 25x optical zoom lens is another attractive feature that users will take into consideration when making a decision on purchase. The images taken are sharp with accurate colours but there will be oversaturation found if the shooting is done under direct sunlight. At $400, users might consider such an entry-level MiniDV model to be on the high side, but this extra cost is actually for the convenience of having your videos burned directly into DVD. However, this feature will not be attractive to the buyer who does not have a DVD drive in his laptop.

The Hitachi DZ-BX35A camcorder faces a problem of being time-consuming when it is writing to a disc. A considerable amount of waiting time has to be wasted. The autofocus is also on the slow side as compared to other camcorders available in the market. Although this device has an image stabilizer, it is of not much help if the user has a problem in keeping the camcorder stable. The user might have to consider using a tripod in order to get shake-free images. At such a price range, it is actually not a very worthy purchase because only the basic features are offered and the image quality produced is also quite low as compared to other camcorders of the same price in the market. In fact, the images taken are only good enough for e-mailing.