Sony DCR-HC42 Camcorder Review

The DCR-HC42 is the most expensive camcorder in Sony’s HC series this year. It features the same body type as the two lower-end models, the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC21 (Review, Specs, $329). It is the cheapest Sony MiniDV camcorder this year to feature a 16:9 LCD screen (2.7”), an intelligent accessory shoe, and a enhanced (not just letterboxed) widescreen mode. It does have some downgrades from the DCR-HC32 and the DCR-HC21, namely an optical zoom reduction from 20x to 12x. But one of the big upgrades is an imager adjustment which boosts the effective video pixels on the DCR-HC42 to over double what they were on the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC21.

Video Performance (5.0)
The DCR-HC42 ships with a better imager than that of the other lower-end HCs from Sony. A 1/5.5-inch CCD ships with the DCR-HC42; it has 1.07 gross MPs, with 690K effective for video and 1 MP for stills. This is over double the effective video pixels than found on the DCR-HC32 (and DCR-HC21) which features a 680K gross pixel CCD with only 340K effective pixels for both video and still. The increase in pixel count on the DCR-HC42 gives the camcorder the ability to provide a number of still sizes as well as a non-letterboxed widescreen mode, which is nice. In a way it also helps with the video quality of the camcorder. If you compare the video quality of the DCR-HC42 to that of the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC21 at bright light levels, you’ll find that the DCR-HC42 produces a better image, showing a more balanced spectrum without the “nuclear” colors seen on the other Sonys. I think part of the reason the DCR-HC42 does this has to do with the addition of some sort of filter that affects the blue end of the spectrum. The red seems subtle, and compared to the other Sonys it is not over-saturated at 3000 lux, but tends towards a bluer shade of red. And while all other colors at 3000 lux on the DCR-HC42 are nicely balanced and normal-looking, the blues pop out at you like they are 3D. This apparent blue filter aids the greens and yellows of the spectrum at bright light levels, making these colors very vibrant yet restrained and rich. Unfortunately, the pink/magenta tile suffers since the blue filter makes it very violet looking. There is also a slight reduction in noise from the DCR-HC32 to the DCR-HC42. Additionally, while the DCR-HC42 shows a good image at 3000 lux, we will see that the blue filter (?) has some negative side effects at lower light levels.

Video Resolution (12.0)
What makes good video, and what are merely profit-motivated manufacturers' tacked-on flashy but hollow gimmicks, is sometimes hard to discern. For this reason we offer the reader low light performance results as well as some assessment of the camcorder’s “real” resolution, which is often quite lower than that projected by the manufacturer.

With the DCR-HC42, we took footage from the camcorder’s regular 4:3 mode and 16:9 mode of a standard resolution chart, exported stills from this video, and, using Imatest Imaging Software, put each still to the test multiple times in order to get an idea of how the camcorder actually performs. In 4:3 mode, the Sony DCR-HC42 gave us approximately 296.5 lines of vertical resolution at its best, with approximately 403.5 lines of horizontal resolution, yielding a real resolution of 119637.75. The DCR-HC42’s widescreen mode gave us approximately 447.3 lines of horizontal resolution at its best, with approximately 250.9 lines of vertical resolution at its best, yielding a real resolution of 112227.57.

The Front (8.5)
The front of the DCR-HC42 is exactly like that of the DCR-HC32 in every way except for color. The DCR-HC42’s front is also ovular, featuring the lens barrel on above the camcorder’s stereo microphone and infrared sensor. Like the DCR-HC32 it features a Memory Stick Duo port and a built-in lens cover with an open/close slider to the left of the front’s mid-section. As on the DCR-HC32, the DCR-HC42 loses the microphone input found on last year’s model. Last year’s port was located on the bottom left of the camcorder’s front. The color scheme found on the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC21 has been reversed, the front panel now done in silver and rest of the camcorder in gray.

The Right Side (7.0)
The right side of the DCR-HC42 is dark gray and arranged similar to the DCR-HC32. It features Sony’s faux-suede strap running across the side from middle-left edge to lower right edge, and is affixed to the outside of the camcorder’s tape mechanism panel, which flips up from the bottom of the camcorder and allows for tape changing. Above this panel are a number of camcorder controls, including the camcorder’s mode dial, photo button, and zoom toggle. Also, located in this region, though closer to the front of the camcorder, is the DCR-HC42’s night shot plus switch.

The Left Side (6.0)
On the left side of the DCR-HC42 is the 16:9 LCD screen. This is one of the best gimmicks and cool features on the camcorder. A wide select button is located on the margin of the LCD and gives the user a quick option to go to widescreen mode. Secondary zoom and record buttons are located on the margin as well. Since the DCR-HC42 is a touch screen camcorder, there are no buttons underneath the LCD screen. However there are a group of buttons above the screen: backlight, display/battery info., and Easy mode. The entire left side of the DCR-HC42 is metallic gray which is much more attractive than the DCR-HC32’s silver.

The Back (7.0)
The back of the DCR-HC42, which is again similar to the DCR-HC32, features the camcorder’s battery slot, color viewfinder, primary record button, and tape mechanism open switch. The back edge of the camcorder’s mode dial is easily accessible and located near the primary record button on the back of the camcorder. The camcorder’s color viewfinder extends directly backwards.

The Top (7.0)
The top of the DCR-HC42 features one of Sony’s new, more-slender-than-normal intelligent accessory shoe. All new intelligent accessory shoes on Sony camcorders are smaller than normal and only work with Sony products.

Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (9.5)
Automatic controls are available on the DCR-HC42 in the same areas as the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC21: white balance, exposure, focus, and zoom. There are a number of Program AE presets for environments of Spotlight, Portrait, Sports, Beach & Ski, Sunsetmoon, and Landscape, which is consistent with the other lower-end HCs. These presets cannot be considered manual shutter speed controls, as they merely place windows of performance on exposure. The A(uto) Shutter function is present on the DCR-HC42, as on the other Sonys. An adjuster for bright light environments doesn’t seem to do anything. Since its default is “on” there's no reason not to just leave it on.

There is an easy mode of the DCR-HC42 which may actually be the best option of the camcorder. Considering the strength of most of the automatic controls and the weakness (or lack) of manual controls on the DCR-HC42, one might as well operate the camcorder in easy mode.

Spot metering and Spot focusing, two touch screen menu features of last year, remain available on the DCR-HC42. Each feature allows the user to touch any area within a white box on the screen towards which the camcorder will adjust either focus or exposure accordingly.

As far as performance goes, the automatic controls on the DCR-HC42 are excellent as always. White balance is subtle and buttery with adjustments to exposure and focus quick and accurate.

Overall Manual Control (3.0)
As on the DCR-HC32 and the DCR-HC21, manual control options on the DCR-HC42 are sparse and what’s there is limited. Unfortunately, there is only an Exposure control, not individual (and independent) iris and shutter speed controls. The specific relationship between the two features, used for Exposure, is not defined, even within the manual. On top of this, there are no focal length values accompanying the manual focus control, making focal adjustment cumbersome and hard to exact, not to mention a pain to access with the touch screen menu. The zoom control on this camcorder is great though, on par with those found on the new Canon ZR series.

Zoom Control (8.0)
The zoom control on the DCR-HC42 is the same as the one found on the DCR-HC32 and the DCR-HC21, and it’s a pretty good one. Though not as big as the toggles found on the new Canon ZRs, it’s as fluid and allows for easy speed-varying zooms. The bad part is that the optical zoom on the DCR-HC42 isn’t as big as that of the DCR-HC32 or DCR-HC21; it is only 12x—the others have a 20x optical.

Focus (4.0)
As bad as the focus on the DCR-HC32 and the DCR-HC21, the manual focus of the DCR-HC42 is controlled using the camcorder’s touch screen menu. This requires the user to swim through the Byzantine menu system, tapping their way to the appropriate focal length by cursorily assessing the picture using only the LCD screen for a monitor. There are no focal length values given (as on some of the new Sony DVD camcorders), which is a bummer. The focal length of the DCR-HC42’s optics is also smaller than that of the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC21 (3.0-36mm v. 2.3-46mm).

Exposure (Aperture) (4.0)
There is no true adjustment of F-stop on this camcorder, as on so many Sonys of this year, last year, and probably years to come. A +/-meter is used to move through 24 steps of exposure, from light to dark (F="1.8-3.1)," though no measurements are provided. This is because exposure is a combination of both F-stop adjustment and shutter speed; the algorithmic value of Sony’s “exposure” is not given.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
As with iris adjustment, there is no true shutter speed adjustment on the DCR-HC42. While shutter speed is altered by certain functions as Program AE and Exposure adjustment, there are no extremely slow shutter effects available. So, you won't be able to get any of those entertainingly dream-like, drugged-out psychedelia visual effects of yesteryear.

There is a Color Slow Shutter option, which slows the shutter substantially, but only in dark environments in order to get more light. It basically works to compensate for all of those infrared night modes which eliminate color, and it's not really practical as any sort of manual control.

White Balance (7.5)
White balance options on the DCR-HC42 are standard and work fine. Options include One Push (manual), Auto, Indoor, and Outdoor. The only really manual control is one push which allows the user to manually set the white balance to whatever is in front of the camcorder at any time, e..g. a white balance card (or a puke green puddle of filth, whatever you want--that's the great thing about manual control). The indoor and outdoor functions set windows of performance on the camcorder’s automatic white balance possibilities.

Gain (0.0)
There are no manual gain controls on the DCR-HC42.

Other Manual Control (0.0)
The Sony DCR-HC42 doesn’t offer any additional manual controls other than the above mentioned ones.

Ease of Use (9.0)
The touch screen menu system makes navigating the DCR-HC42 a bit difficult; however, besides this the camcorder is very easy to use. It functions great in Easy mode, which (needless to say) makes things a lot easier. And, though the touch screen menu makes navigation somewhat troublesome, it is somewhat convenient for everything to be located in one place. The widescreen LCD makes 16:9 visualization (and access) very easy and convenient as well. While the camcorder is not without its handling problems, actual ease of use doesn’t suffer too much because of the layout.

Still Features (7.0)
Stills are captured to Memory Stick Duo on the DCR-HC42. The port for this stick is located on the front of the camcorder in the same spot as it is on the DCR-HC32. The same basic menu as used for video capture is available in still mode, with a few modifications. No audio options are available in Memory mode, and users can chose between two qualities of still images (Fine and Standard) and two resolutions for MPEG capture (320 x 240 and 160 x 112). Actual still photos can be taken at either 640 x 480 or 1152 x 864 in 4:3 mode and 1152 x 648 in widescreen mode. Otherwise, all manual controls are available in memory mode as well as all Program AE presets except sports. No picture or digital effects are available.

Not only are images available for capture at a bigger format on the DCR-HC42 than on the DCR-HC32, but the camcorder adds two burst modes (exposure bracketing--three photos are taken at various exposure offsets to give you an option of which is better), and normal burst mode (three photos taken consecutively).

There are number of flash settings. If the right external flash is used, the user can set the flash to execute all the time, all the time with red-eye reduction, auto, or auto red-eye. The flash can be set to high, normal, or low.

When switching between memory stick mode and tape mode the camcorder remembers whether or not you were using widescreen or 4:3 in each mode, which is nice.

Still Resolution (3.4)
The Sony DCR-HC42 captures stills to Memory stick at resolutions of 640 x 480 and 1152 x 864. The camcorder’s 640 x 480 captured images with approximately 273068.67 pixels (0.273 MP), while the 1152 x 864 images yielded 338788.80 pixels (0.338 MP).

Still Performance (3.75)
The stills from the DCR-HC42 are okay. They are definitely crisper than those of the DCR-HC32, which can be attributed to the improved CCD on the DCR-HC42. The crispness is comparable with that of the PV-GS35 (Review, Specs, $359.95) (Review, Specs, $283.25)’s still images, though the DCR-HC42 unfortunately suffers from the same nasty noise that plagues its low light performance. Although this noise is not as apparent as in the 15 lux image during our low light tests, it is still noticeable, and the user can see its effects most clearly in the pinkish-red section of the spectrum.

Low Light Performance (2.0)
When you see the low light performance of this year’s DCR-HC42, you’ll wonder how this camcorder could perform as it does in bright light. While the DCR-HC42 benefited from an upgraded imager, retaining more color information and producing an overall brighter image than the DCR-HC32 at lower light levels (in this case 60 lux), its blue filter (or the something that is boosting its blues) causes an influx of really nasty blue noise--nastier than the noise found on the DCR-HC21. It's particularly noticeable as it streaks across the magenta, pink, and red areas of the spectrum, and this noise is a big detriment to the overall performance of the camcorder, especially since 60 lux is only slightly darker than average indoor lighting. This bad performance negatively balances the camcorder’s cosmetic attractions and its widescreen options.

Things only get worse at 15 lux, where the DCR-HC42 shows a lot more of this noise in more conspicuous places. While the camcorder retains a lot more color information than the other HCs, this small plus is definitely outweighed by the hideous and obvious noise. It's so bad that I’m interested in looking at another DCR-HC42 to make sure that this problem is uniformly consistent with all of the models. Unfortunately, I have no reason to think otherwise.

Zoom Power/Ratio (20.0)
The DCR-HC42 has a reduced zoom ratio of 20x.

Wide Angle (8.5)
As it has a shorter focal length than that of the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC21, the DCR-HC42 showed a smaller wide angle measurement in 4:3 mode of 38 degrees (the others had 42.5 degrees). In widescreen mode, the DCR-HC42 reaches 40 degrees.

VCR Mode (6.0)
The Play/Edit mode is available using the camcorder’s mode dial. When selected the LCD screen goes blue and small touch screen buttons appear along the bottom of the screen for playback options and menu access. The menu is the same as that found on the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC42 in that it allows the user to change still functions, format the memory stick, perform a slide show, put digital or picture effects on your images, or print. The cool thing about the version on the DCR-HC42 is that it can be used in widescreen mode as well.

LCD/Viewfinder (9.0)
The DCR-HC42 features one of Sony’s new 2.7” Widescreen LCD screens. It is an LCD touch screen with Sony’s Hybrid technology. This is probably the best LCD out this year so far. It doesn’t solarize like so many others when viewed from an angle. It features the same amount of pixels as the DCR-HC32’s 4:3 LCD screen at approximately 123K (560 x 220). The viewfinder is electronic, in color, and includes 123K as well.

Audio (4.0)
Unfortunately the DCR-HC42, like the DCR-HC32, loses its microphone port from last year which forces the user to depend upon the built-in stereo microphone. 12 and 16 bit options are available as is a dubbing option, but there are no manual audio level controls, which is a bummer.

Handling (7.0)
Like all of the lower-end HCs this year, the DCR-HC42 is almost too small for its own good. While its size definitely aids the camcorder’s portability, it definitely hinders handling ability during recording. The strap seems too high for the zoom toggle, and the zoom toggle seems too low for the strap. Either way the excellent quality of the zoom toggle seems wasted because, during handheld recording, the user must slide his or her hand down out of comfortable strap-range to access it. Also, the zoom toggle is somewhat inconvenient for the index finger, my preferred zooming finger.

Portability (8.0)
The portability of the DCR-HC42 is nice. The camcorder is very small, and while this is somewhat of a hindrance when it comes to handling ability, the overall size makes it a good camcorder to travel with. Unfortunately, you might have to carry around the docking station too to do any capture.

Battery Life (12.0)
The DCR-HC42 ships with the same NP-FP50 InfoLithium Battery, a better battery than that which ships with the DCR-HC32 or DCR-HC21. The user can either plug the camcorder directly into the AC adaptor while the battery is in its slot to charge the camcorder, or plug the camcorder (and battery) into the docking station which will feed off of the wall outlet. When recording with the LCD screen open and without using the zoom toggle, the DCR-HC42 recorded a little under two hours of video at approximately 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 35 seconds. This is bit more than is specified for battery life, which is nice, though these batteries tend to lose some life over the months.

Compression (8.0)
The Sony DCR-HC42 uses standard DV compression to MiniDV tape. MiniDV compression is certainly the standard of video quality which all other compression formats are judged against.

Media (8.0)
The Sony DCR-HC42 has the ability to record video to 6.35 mm MiniDV tape in both SP and LP modes. Sixty minutes can be recorded in SP mode with 90 minutes available in LP mode. Still images can be captured to Memory Stick Duo.

Editing (8.0)
Video footage recorded to MiniDV tape can be edited very easily using any of the many editing software suites, most notably Avid and Final Cut Pro, though many manufactures include rudimentary editing software with their products. The DCR-HC42 ships with Sony’s Picture Package Software, which enables rudimentary editing, copying, and burning to various CD formats. If you have a Sony VAIO computer, “Click to DVD” software can be used to create DVDs.

Widescreen/16:9 Mode (8.0)
The DCR-HC42 includes Sony’s newer and better “Enhanced 16:9 Wide Mode.” This mode can be engaged by pressing the wide select button on the LCD screen’s margin. The black bars located on the sides of the image in 4:3 mode disappear and the menu stretches to fill the entire 2.7” LCD screen. The widescreen mode of the DCR-HC42 is pretty cool, and it definitely makes this thing a nice little gadget. You can also take widescreen stills that aren’t just letterboxed. The DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC21 have letterboxed 16:9 modes only, and they only work for video capture, not still.

Wide Select (16:9)

Standard 4:3 Mode

Scan Rates/24P (0.0)
On the DCR-HC42, video is captured at 60 interlaced fields per second each with 525 lines of resolution only. There are no artificial or true methods of approximating a film-like effect or capturing video at an apparent 24P scan rate.

Ports (6.0)
On the camcorder’s right side is a long slender port cover which actually only reveals two ports (although it could cover about four, as it does on the DCR-HC21): the LANC jack (for remote control) and A/V input/output. Also, on the back of the camcorder is a DC input. There are many off-camcorder ports on the camcorder’s docking station. They include secondary A/V input/output and DC inputs, as well as a FireWire port and a USB port.

Other Features (4.5)
Display Guide

Utilizing the DCR-HC21’s touch screen menu, the Display Guide function allows the user to press on unknown areas of the LCD screen in order to learn what icons and other display elements mean.

Fader
Accessible in the menu system, this feature allows the user to fade to and from a color picture to either white, black, mosaic, or monotone (black and white).

NightShot Plus
Sony’s night mode is operated by a switch on the right center of the top of the camcorder. When used with the N.S. Light, this feature emits an infrared light to illuminate objects. When the N.S. Light is turned off, moonlit images or arc-light lit subjects can be filmed with better color representation.

Super NightShot Plus
This is basically a 16x stronger version of NightShot Plus.

SteadyShot
The DCR-HC42 features an electronic image stabilization function. When recording a TV or a computer screen black lines may appear when using this function.

BackLight
This function brightens the LCD screen to help the user monitor the capture. A sun-with-rays icon appears on the lower left of the LCD screen when this feature is selected.

Color Slow Shutter
This is a special night mode found on both the DCR-HC32 and DCR-HC42. It slows down the shutter speed of the camcorder considerably without increasing the F-Stop, forcing tons of light into the picture, and hence brightening the image. The only problem is, looking at the effect makes you feels like you’re drunk. (Though I don't know if everyone would necessarily find that a problem...) It cannot be used with fader, a digital effect, program AE, manual exposure, or spot metering.

Tele Macro
This is basically an automatic telephoto close-up. When selected, the camcorder zooms in as far as it can. Once the zoom toggle is adjusted, Tele Macro turns off. With the DCR-HC32 the user can get as close as 39 cm (about 15 inches) to a subject; with the DCR-HC42, the gap is 35 cm (about 14 inches).

Comparisons
Panasonic PV-GS35
The PV-GS35 is the DCR-HC42’s main competition, and it's formidable competition at that. With a 30x optical zoom as its gimmick, the PV-GS35 is a strong match against the DCR-HC42, which sports a 16:9 LCD screen as its flashy selling point. The PV-GS35 offers more manual controls and produces better images in low light situations. The unfortunate blue noise on the DCR-HC42 really takes away from its video performance. The DCR-HC42 does however have better still capabilities and can support analog to digital pass through, but the stills captured might not be as worth keeping as those captured to the PV-GS35.

Canon Elura 85 (Specs, $325)
The Canon Elura 85 is available for a recommended $599.00. It includes, like the GR-DF430 (Specs, ), a beefed up imager (1/(4.5), 1.33 MP) which may offer some good low light, although we haven’t got a chance to test it yet. The camcorder includes an 18x optical zoom, better manual controls than the Sony in question, and Canon’s high resolution 16:9 mode—similar to that of the DCR-HC42. Navigation on the camcorder is made fairly easy by the addition of a jog dial.

Panasonic PV-GS65 (Review, Specs, $899)
Panasonic’s PV-GS65, the cheapest 3 CCD camcorder this year (and really ever) is available for a recommended $599.95. With three 1/6 CCDs, it produces better quality video than the DCR-HC42 and any of the camcorders in this comparison section. On top of that it sports a newer, more ergonomic design than last year’s lower-end three CCD camcorder and has a bundle of easy to reach (now) manual controls. All these things make it a better buy than the Sony DCR-HC42.

JVC GR-DF430
The JVC GR-DF430 is available for a recommended price of $599.95. It features a 1/4 inch, 1.33 MP CCD and 15x optical zoom. While this CCD is bigger than that of the DCR-HC42, the GR-DF430 also includes JVC’s 3-D Noise Reduction which may make a huge difference in the camcorder’s low light ability. Among its other features is the ability to shoot slow motion video, attach an external microphone, and support analog to digital pass through. Manual controls should also be better than the Sony’s. Still image capture options are also a bit better, supporting capture at 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1024 x 768, and 640 x 480.

Who It's For
Point and Shooters (9.0)
Definitely a point-and-shooter camcorder, the DCR-HC42 offers good automatic controls with a nice Easy mode, and after all, its manual controls are bad anyway.

Budget Consumers (8.0)
At a recommended price of $600, the DCR-HC42 does offer the cheapest widescreen LCD on the market (which is cool), but there is better video performance out there for less. See comparison section as it is based on price.

Still Photo / Video Camera Hybrid (1.5)
The DCR-HC42 cannot be considered a good hybrid camcorder though it does offer more still features and sizes than the DCR-HC32.

Gadget Freak (4.0)
A widescreen LCD screen is definitely a nice touch, and though Sony’s new DVD camcorders are more gimmicky in this way since some of them offer Dolby Digital Audio recording as well, the DCR-HC42 is still pretty cool and also cheaper than the DVD camcorders.

Manual Control Freaks (2.0)
Not a reason to buy, as there are few manual controls.

Pros / Serious Hobbyists (1.0)
With its poor low light performance, the DCR-HC42 cannot be recommended to the pro/serious hobbyist.

Conclusion
The DCR-HC42 is an alright camcorder. It offers a few function gimmicks like a 16:9 LCD screen and some more still options than the DCR-HC32. Unfortunately, the CCD upgrade from the DCR-HC32, while affording the DCR-HC42 an increase in crispness and color information retention, also adds a bunch of blue noise. This makes the DCR-HC42, despite its cosmetic amenities and portability, not that practical for decent video performance. Especially at this price point, which the DCR-HC42 shares with the PV-GS65—the cheapest three CCD camcorder this year—I’m not sure the DCR-HC42 has a shot, unless prices come down substantially.