Sony DCR-HC46 Camcorder Review

The touch screen menu makes the HC46 and other Sony camcorders easier to use simply because it’s a ubiquitous interface form, present in ATMs and all manner of informational kiosks. Clearly Sony has selected the touch screen because their market is already familiar with touch screen technology, and navigating their menus thus requires no ramp-up.

Touch screens are problematic for a few reasons, however. We write often about the fact that they require users to touch the LCD screen – the most important means of assessing image quality – which will inevitably become covered with fingerprints. The second major liability to the touch screen interface is that it limits the precision of features like Spot Meter and Spot Focus to the accuracy of your fingerpad on the screen. A stylus would be more accurate – but more specific manual controls would be better still. Finally, touch screens require that icons and text be large enough to select with a finger or thumb, and can get in the way of the scene. Non-touch screen interfaces, like Panasonic’s joystick, are not beset by these issues, though they may be slightly more difficult to master.

Features like Program AE, Spot Meter, and Spot Focus, which provide some control over image quality, give ease of use another boost. These features are simple to use and can provide adequate control in a variety of non-standard shooting situations.

Handling (7.0)
The Sony DCR-HC46 is well-designed for hand-held shooting, and is a comfortable camcorder to hold. The right side, where the camcorder is gripped, is curved ergonomically and the hand strap is wide and nicely padded. Importantly, all the most important controls are within easy reach of the thumb (Rec/Start/Stop) and index finger (Mode, Photo and Zoom Toggle). All of these key controls function intuitively and a new user should feel at home operating basic controls within a few minutes. The Zoom Toggle deserves special praise because it is both sensitive and accurate, allowing for smooth zooms at various speeds, and stops on a dime.

Additional on-camera controls are easily accessed. Back Light, Disp/Batt Info and Easy Mode buttons are clearly labeled and appropriately placed on the camcorder’s upper left side – out of the way but close at hand. Engaging NightShot Plus is similarly easy – you simply flip a switch – and it is located on top of the camcorder body. Opening the Tape Compartment is a partially manual process and involves pressing a latch and pulling out on the compartment door simultaneously, in a design that mirrors many camcorders on the market. Thankfully, the compartment can be opened fully even when the camcorder is mounted on a tripod. The one main gripe about basic handling is the tiny battery release, crammed so tightly against the viewfinder that operating it is a tricky process. People with larger hands especially will have trouble with the release, and, to a lesser degree, with the other on-camera controls of the HC46.

The HC46’s menu is intuitive, and relatively easy to navigate. The onscreen buttons are literally self-descriptive, because they are presented as text – as you scroll through menu options by touching up and down arrows, you simply touch the selection you want when it appears. Unfortunately, simplicity does not equal efficiency, and the utility of many options (such as manual focus and exposure) is compromised by the fact that they are buried deep in the menu tree. I’d venture to guess that there is an inverse relationship between a feature’s accessibility in a camcorder’s interface and its frequency of use – and if that’s the case, few HC46 users take advantage of the camcorder’s more advanced capabilities. The touch-screen interface, as well, remains an issue.

Finally, though the HC46 is well-suited to basic shooting, and is, in my opinion, a nice looking camcorder, it feels a bit cheap. The controls are solid, but there’s no getting around a plastic body that feels and looks like plastic, despite pleasing lines. Additionally, the LCD hinge on our test model seemed less sturdy one would hope for in a model where the touch screen acts as the main menu interface. Pressing on the screen caused it to bend slightly back beyond ninety degrees to the camcorder body, a fact that did not inspire our confidence in the HC46’s overall durability. Other camcorders, like the Canon Elura 100 and the Panasonic PV-GS39, sport stronger hinges even though they don’t use touch screen technology.

Portability (8.25)
Sony’s HC line is quite portable, and the external dimensions of the DCR-HC46 are identical to the measurements of its step-down cousin, the HC36: 65 mm x 79 x 113 mm (2 5/8” x 3 1/8” x 4 1/2”). With a better imaging system, the HC46 is only slightly heavier than the HC 36: 445 g when fully loaded with the included battery and a MiniDV tape. The HC96 is slightly larger and heavier than both of its cousins and a less portable, if more capable, option.

Factoring in the Handycam Station Input/Output dock impacts the HC46’s portability. Sony has introduced the docking station this year on the HC46 and HC96 as a new feature, but it decreases overall portability while adding an item that could be misplaced. The other camcorders mentioned in this article, including the HC26, do not use a docking station, and are therefore more portable. However some users will appreciate the fact that the camcorder can be easily removed from the docking station, even when all of its ports are in use. In contrast, disencumbering an all-in-one camcorder requires unplugging cables from numerous ports, an activity that can be hazardous when you are in a hurry.

LCD/Viewfinder (9.3)
The Sony DCR-HC46 shares the same 2.7-inch, 16:9 aspect ratio LCD screen as its step-up cousin, the HC96, with a resolution of about 123,200 pixels. This is a typical LCD resolution for camcorders in this price range, and is not sharp enough to allow for fine-tuning focus manually. In their favor Sony, LCD screens suffer less from solarization than competitor’s screens, and remain viewable when tipped beyond forty-five degrees. However, this advantage when it comes to solarization is compromised by the fact that the LCD doubles as a touch screen and will pick up fingerprints during normal use. As anyone who has looked through a grimy window knows, fingerprints and grime are more visible at an angle. The HC46 screen will indeed suffer less from solarization, but it’s going to be a grimy non-solarizing screen.

The drawbacks of LCD-based interfaces are clearest when using functions like manual focus. By definition, focusing manually requires that the user see an image clearly in order to make fine adjustments. However, the HC46’s Manual Focus interface because blocks the majority of the LCD with oversized buttons and icons. When the user’s ability to scrutinize the image is most critical – during Manual Focus – Sony has made doing so absurdly difficult. In addition to the Manual Focus’s place ten steps within the menu structure, this further indicates Sony’s emphasis on the point-and-shoot market, and illustrates the limitations of the touch screen camcorder interface.

In addition to the LCD screen, the HC46 has an electronic color viewfinder that seems to render an even sharper image. This viewfinder would be a useful tool for manually focusing the image precisely because of its added sharpness, but manual controls are only available via the touch-screen interface on the LCD screen. The viewfinder does extend out from the camcorder body, providing good clearance, but it is extremely uncomfortable to look through. In fact using the viewfinder properly and blocking ambient light from the sides requires placing your eyeball directly against the hard plastic encircling the lens. In other words, poor implementation has rendered this technically very good viewfinder nearly useless. Sadly, this seems to be another example of Sony including a feature that would be useful to experienced users (like Manual Focus), and then dooming it through thoughtless design.

Battery Life (13.0)
The DCR-HC46 ships with the NP-FP50 battery, which is estimated to run for 100 minutes of continuous recording and 125 minutes of recharging time. We tested the battery ourselves for continuous recording by shooting in Easy mode with the LCD open, the back light on, electronic image stabilization on, and no manual controls or zoom engaged. In total, the battery lasted 129 minutes and 47 seconds (2 hours, 9 minutes, and 47 seconds).