Sony DCR-HC46 Camcorder Reviewby John NeelyPublished on Jun 18, 2006 1:00 PM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (9.5)
The Sony DCR-HC46 is a camcorder that does not offer many manual controls – instead, it excels in its very well-implemented automatic controls. Engage what Sony calls Easy Mode by hitting the well-labeled Easy Button, and the HC46 instantly goes into autopilot. In auto, the camcorder performs admirably, allowing a novice shooter to focus on the family trip to Disneyland instead of squeezing out the best possible image. Individually, the auto controls are all very capable as well. When your subject is framed in the center of the screen and well-lit, the camera snaps into focus quickly and accurately. Likewise, auto white balance and auto exposure make their adjustments almost instantly, without the auto-adjustment-lag that is so common in consumer camcorders.
The HC46 also includes a number of controls that enable users to govern how the camcorder makes auto adjustments. The Program AE modes are intended to provide better performance in special shooting situations and include Spotlight, which compensates for intense key lighting; Portrait, which creates a shallower depth of field to help throw the background out of focus; Sports, for fast-moving objects; Beach & Ski, which compensates for very bright environments; Sunset & Moon, for darker environments; and Landscape, which prioritizes focus on distant objects.
Auto shutter, which automatically adjusts shutter speed depending on lighting, is the HC46’s default setting. While this camcorder does not allow true manual shutter speed adjustments, Color slow shutter forces the unit to adjust shutter speed in low light in order to achieve better color saturation. In contrast, Sports mode (mentioned above in Program AE features) uses faster shutter speeds to reduce the blurring of fast-moving objects.
Spot Meter is a feature that offers some control over what part of the frame is used to achieve proper exposure. Selecting Spot meter from the P-Menu brings up a bounding box that encompasses most of the LCD display. Touching any part of the frame within the bounding box forces the camcorder to use that “spot” for metering purposes. While this is not a fine adjustment, it works well if you need to override Auto exposure in a relatively simple composition. It works best if the camcorder is mounted on a tripod, because trying to select a spot to meter is very difficult when camera shake is part of the mix.
Overall Manual Control (3.0)
The HC46 offers few manual controls, a deficiency shared amongst nearly all consumer Sony camcorders. Perhaps listing the manual controls that not included is the most illuminating portion of this section. The HC46 does not have manual shutter speed, manual aperture control, or manual gain. It does, however, have zoom, focus, exposure in EV steps, and white balance controls.
The P-Touch Menu
Each of the menu's sub-categories
The Camera Set sub-menu, which has most of the manual controls
Most of these controls are located in the menu on the touch screen LCD. The first level of the menu, the P-Touch menu, is accessed by pushing the “P-Menu” button in the lower right corner of the screen. This level has large buttons spread out across 3 pages, all for the most popular functions. You can customize this menu if there are features you’d like to have more accessible not currently found on the P-Touch level. Level 2 is accessed by pushing the Menu button in the P-Touch menu. You scroll through the titles for each of the sub-menus: Camera Set, Picture Applications, Edit/Play, Standard Set, and Time/Language. The first, Camera Set, contains most of the manual and automatic controls. The animated gifs illustrate the options found here.
Zoom (8.0)
There are two zoom controls. The primary control is located on top towards rear. Normally, you’d want the control to fall under the index finger. Here, it falls under the middle finger – not the best design, but it’s not too much difficulty to push your index finger forward onto the control. The main control is a raised toggle switch. It has a very smooth feel, and is pressure sensitive to about three different zoom speeds.
The second zoom control, located on the LCD panel, is found on most Sonys. Here it is located under the screen as two very small buttons that can only effectively be pushed with the fingernail. These controls, I believe, are of limited use. Not only does it tend to jar the camcorder more than the primary toggle, but also unnecessary. Even if you are holding the body down low, with your hand out of the strap, your thumb will still likely fall comfortably on the primary zoom toggle. Also, the LCD zoom controls are not pressure-sensitive and have only one speed.
Zoom Power/Ratio (12.0)
When compared to other point-and-shoot camcorders’ capabilities, the 12x optical zoom of the Sony HC46 is not impressive, especially when the HC36 boasts a 20x optical zoom and some range up to over 30x. The lower optical zoom rating is partly a function of CCD size: camcorders with a smaller CCD are capable of greater zoom power. Packing a marginally larger 1/5.5” CCD than the HC36’s 1/6” into the same body, the HC46 sacrifices zoom power for better image processing. If optical zoom power is your prime consideration, a cheaper camcorder like the $300 JVC-GR-D350, with 32x optical zoom, might be a good option.
The Sony DCR-HC46 also has a digital zoom capability, maxing out at 800x. While this is a huge figure, camcorders achieve high digital zoom numbers by magnifying the pixels available at the highest optical zoom. This method means that image quality plummets when a camcorder enters optical zoom territory: beyond 24x, the HC46 produces a progressively more pixilated image until it becomes a useless muddle. Thankfully, the camcorder’s digital zoom can be either turned off or capped at 24x to ensure a recognizable image. When digital zoom is engaged at either 24x or 800x, a dividing line appears between the optical zoom range and the digital zoom range to indicate whether the camcorder is magnifying pixels. In general, we discourage the use of digital zoom because it is so detrimental to image quality. In addition, 800x digital zoom ratings may mislead consumers into believing that their camcorder has amazing telephoto capabilities when, in fact, digital zoom just blows up the pixels available to a camcorder at its maximum optical zoom.
Focus (4.0)
The focus control on the Sony HC46 is poor, but no poorer than on most consumer camcorders. Like all Sonys, the focus on this model is found in the menu, with four large icons blocking out a good portion of the screen. Adjusting the focus is done by pushing two touch screen controls. Here are the problems with the focus control. 1) The LCD screen has the relatively low resolution of 123K. 2) There are four icons taking up a good portion of the screen, blocking what you may be trying to focus on. 3) The touch screen gathers fingerprints like ants at a picnic, further blurring your picture. 4) The control is buried in the menu. 6) There is no numerical indication as to where you are in the focus range.
Our conclusion: let the auto focus do the work unless there is an extreme focus problem. It’s not worth the effort.
Exposure (Aperture) (4.0)
The exposure control on the HC46 is located in the menu. Like the focus control, the exposure control is operated by touch screen buttons, a plus and minus button. Yes, it does make the picture lighter and darker, but there is no numerical indication as to how much you have changed the exposure. Presumably, it is in EV step, but whether they are full stops, half stops, etc., is unknown.
Panasonic offers full exposure control in f-stop, independent of shutter speed. Most Canons offer Aperture Priority mode, which allows f-stop control while the camcorder takes care of the other controls.
Shutter Speed (0.0)
There is no shutter speed control on the DCR-HC46. You will find manual shutter speeds in some form on nearly every other manufacturer, including Panasonic, Canon, JVC, Samsung, and Hitachi.
White Balance (7.5)
The white balance control on the HC46 is located in the menu. There are two presets – Outdoor and Indoor – as well as an automatic and “One Push” (manual) setting. The manual adjustment is fast and accurate. We recommend that even beginners learn how to make a manual white balance adjustment. It’s a simple process and can make a big difference in color performance.
Gain (0.0)
There is no manual gain on the DCR-HC46. Only Panasonic offers full gain control in the consumer realm.
Other Manual Control (0.0)
There are no other manual controls on the DCR-HC46.
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