Sony Handycam DCR-SR42 review

Though most digital cameras produced today have sufficient resolution to make the spec itself almost a non-issue, the same can't be said about camcorders. That goes double for camcorders which record directly to hard disk or DVD, since they need sufficient pixels to compress into a decent image.

The resolution of the hard disk-based Sony Handycam DCR-SR42 -- 680,000 pixels -- falls into the insufficient range, especially since its effective video and still resolution is a mere 340,000 pixels.

The SR42 is available for around £285 and comes with a hard disk that can hold up to seven hours of best-quality video. Like all the SR models, the SR42 comes with the Handycam Station, which charges the battery and connects to a TV or PC. It also supports one-touch DVD burning via software or when connected to the Sony DVDirect.

Design
On one hand, the SR42 feels compact and lightweight -- only 377g. But the plastic body also feels a little cheap, more like what you'd expect for half the price. It's almost too small, as well. Our fingers overshot the top of the squat body, making it awkward to shoot one-handed -- we had to pull our wrist and fingers back to manipulate the zoom and record controls with our right hand.

Usually, in camcorders with sensors of such low resolution, the manufacturer saves some cost by dropping the flash memory slot for recording stills. It makes even less sense to have one here, since you could record stills to the hard disk instead 

Features
As with the rest of the Sony consumer camcorder family, the SR42 uses a touchscreen menu system. On this camcorder's 64mm (2.5-inch), 4:3 aspect LCD, you need tiny fingers to navigate -- preferably ones without fingertips, since the screen can literally become obscured by fingerprints.