Sony DCR-HC46 Camcorder Reviewby John NeelyPublished on Jun 18, 2006 1:00 PM
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Still Features (6.75)
The HC46 captures stills in JPEG format to MemoryStick Duo and MemoryStick PRO Duo cards, which load in the LCD cavity. Resolution options include 640 x 480 (0.3MP), 1152 x 864 (1.0MP), and 1152 x 648 (0.7MP widescreen). It can save each still in Fine or Standard qualities. If you are in video mode with a widescreen, 16:9 aspect ratio and click the still shutter button, the camcorder will default to a fourth resolution size – 640 x 360 (0.2MP). No card comes included with the camcorder.
The MemoryStick slot, located in the LCD cavity
There is no flash on the HC46, nor is there an accessory shoe to fit one in later. Both of these features are on the next model up, the HC96. The HC46 does offer burst mode, which takes up to thirteen 640 x 480 images in a row, or four 1152 x 864 and 1152 x 648 images, all at 0.5 second intervals. Still mode has a timer which can be set for 10 seconds. The HC46 also records short MPEG4 video files to MemoryStick at resolutions of 320 x 240 and 160 x 112. The camcorder is PictBridge compatible for easy printing with select printers.
Most of the manual and automatic controls available in video mode are also available in still mode: Program AE modes, focus, exposure, white balance, Spot Focus, Spot Metering, auto shutter, Color Slow Shutter, telemacro, and NightShot.
This feature set is fairly similar to that of other camcorders in its price range. The maximum still resolution of the HC96 is much higher (3MP), but that camcorder is also about $300 more.
Still Resolution (2.9)
We tested the stills of the DCR-HC46 for their resolution by shooting a standard ISO 12233 resolution chart and running those stills through Imatest imaging software. In total, the largest stills (1152 x 864) produced an approximate resolution of 293641.01.
The chart below shows how the HC46 stood up against the competition.
| Still Resolution | |
| Sony DCR-HC46 | 2.9 |
| Soy DCR-HC42 | 3.4 |
| Sony DCR-HC36 | 1.5 |
| Panasonic PV-GS39 | 1.0 |
| Canon Elura 100 | 4.0 |
Still Performance (3.75)
The Sony DCR-HC46’s stills are not its strong suit. The color balance is absolutely abysmal and wrought with blotchy blue noise. The entire image has a faint blue wash to it, as if the image was shot under sunlight without proper white balance, though we can assure you that we took the shot under controlled indoor lighting and properly white balanced it. Besides the blue noise, there is also blackish and whitish noise in abundance.
Last year’s DCR-HC42 is essentially the same as the HC46. The Sony HC36 only shoots at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480, but the color balance is much better. Blackish noise is decidedly worse, but there is no blue noise, and most people would take the dark noise over the blue.
The Panasonic PV-GS39 also maxes out at 640 x 480. Color performance and balance are not great, but are definitely better than those of the HC46. Noise and poor sharpness are other hallmarks of the GS39. The JVC GR-DF550 produced dull colors in its stills, but they were far more even than the HC46. There was little noise, but JVC seemed to show some lens drop-off: poorer performance around the edges than in the center.
The Canon Elura 100 did not have the noise issues of the HC46, but its color performance was just about as bad. While the Sony had uneven saturation, the Elura 100 was mostly washed out. Neither of them was very good at all.
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Still Performance |
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| Sony DCR-HC46 | 3.75 |
| Sony DCR-HC42 | 3.75 |
| Sony DCR-HC36 | 3.5 |
| Panasonic PV-GS39 | 3.25 |
| Canon Elura 100 | 3.75 |
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