Sony Handycam DCR-DVD810 Camcorder Reviewby Jeremy StamasPublished on Nov 20, 2008 1:30 PM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (7.00)
The DCR-DVD810 does well with automatic controls, which is what we expect to see from Sony. Autofocus, white balance, and exposure features all work quickly and accurately—giving you strong results without any manual adjustment. Sony also provides an Easy mode, which is a simple way to run the camcorder with fully automated controls. Easy mode does block some automatic settings, however, like scene modes, spot meter and spot focus, and white balance presets.
Autofocus worked quickly and well, often taking less than a second to focus images. In low light, sometimes the DVD810 had trouble focusing, but this is normal for a camcorder in this price range. Auto exposure also performed strongly, providing smooth transitions with changes in light and even shifts in areas of high contrast. The camcorder also offers two "one touch" features for exposure and focus—spot focus and spot meter. With both features, you simply touch the part of the LCD screen that you want to correctly expose or focus correctly.
Auto white balance was the weakest of the automatic controls. It often produced a yellowish hue under incandescent light and a bluish tint with fluorescent light. Outdoors the auto white balance usually worked wonderfully. Sony provides two white balance presets—outdoor and indoor—which is a meager array. The one-push manual white balance, however, is an excellent feature.
The camcorder has an auto slow shutter feature that will bring the shutter speed down to 1/30 of a second in low light situations. A shutter speed this slow will significantly boost the brightness of the image, but it will also give a significant choppiness to anything the camcorder captures in motion.
The DCR-DVD810 has 10 special scene selection options that automatically adjust the camcorder's settings to fit the particular scene: Auto, Twilight, Candle, Sunrise & Sunset, Fireworks, Landscape, Portrait, Spotlight, Sports, Beach, and Snow.
Overall Manual Control (3.25)
While Sony does a great job with automatic features, it usually falls short when it comes to manual control. All manual adjustments on the DCR-DVD810 must be made with the inarticulate touchscreen interface. It is not only an inefficient system, as you must navigate through menus to select the options you want to control, but it's also a difficult one to work with. The touchscreen is not suited for fine-tuned adjustments, the buttons are small and difficult to press, and the screen gets far too cluttered with icons and information to allow for easy manipulation of controls. Sometimes, as with the case for manual white balance and the spot focus/exposure features, the touchscreen works extremely well. It's with more delicate controls, like manual exposure and focus, that the camcorder runs into walls.
It's disappointing Sony doesn't implement a Cam Control dial on the DCR-DVD810, a feature we loved on the Sony HDR-SR12 and HDR-CX12 (both are HD models). The dial provides an easy, smooth way to make manual adjustments, and, best of all, it allows you to avoid using the touchscreen system. The DVD810 is certainly large enough to accommodate a control dial, which makes it extra frustrating that Sony doesn't provide one.
Zoom (5.50)
There are two ways to zoom on the DVD810. A traditional zoom toggle is located on the top of the camcorder and is easily adjusted with the tip of your index finger. On the LCD panel are also two zoom buttons that can be useful if you like controlling the camcorder with two hands. The zoom responds well and a bar display appears on the LCD to show you how far you've zoomed. Unfortunately, Sony doesn't provide numbers with the display, so exactly recreating zoom levels for different shots is nearly impossible.
Zoom Power Ratio (25.00)
The DCR-DVD810 has a 25x optical zoom, which is the same magnification offered by the Sony DCR-SR85. This will likely be enough of a zoom for most situations, but it falls short of the 37x optical zoom offered on the Canon DC330. The DVD810 also has a 2000x digital zoom, but it severely distorts the quality and look of the image. We always recommend sticking with optical zoom.
Focus (5.50)
As we discussed above, the DCR-DVD810 uses the LCD touchscreen for manual focus adjustment. The feature is accessed in the Camera menu and is adjusted by pressing the "far" and "near" buttons that appear on the touchscreen. Too many icons and numbers clog the screen when you attempt to manual focus and the entire process is annoying and bothersome. If you're used to focusing with a lens ring or dial, the system is sure to aggravate.
Using the touchscreen to focus can be a real drag.
Exposure & Aperture (5.00)
Manual exposure is controlled in a similar manner to focus on the DCR-DVD810. A bar appears on the screen with buttons on either side that allow you to raise or lower the exposure levels. There are 26 separate exposure steps in all, but no numbers tell you how much you have adjusted the levels, although the bar graphic will give you some idea. Adjusting exposure is a bit easier than using manual focus as the screen is less cluttered and it is easier to see what's going on.
There is no independent aperture control on the DCR-DVD810.
The screen is also cluttered when adjusting exposure.
Shutter Speed (0.0)
There is no direct control over shutter speed on the DCR-DVD810. Sony is the only major manufacture that doesn't allow for this control. Canon and JVC have shutter priority modes, and Panasonic has independent shutter and aperture modes.
Sony's auto slow shutter and color slow shutter features do offer options for slow shutter speeds, but they are entirely automated features.
White Balance (5.50)
The DCR-DVD810 has a One Push manual white balance feature that is easy to use and provides good results. Simply select the One Push feature, point the camcorder to a white or neutral gray image, then push the white balance button. The button will blink for a few seconds while the adjustment takes place. Sony also offers an outdoor and indoor white balance preset, but you'll probably be good sticking to auto most of the time and manual when you want accurate colors (especially indoors).
Gain (0.0)
There is no manual gain control on the Sony DVD810. Only Panasonic and Sanyo offers this option on consumer camcorders.
Other Manual Controls (3.25)
Color Slow Shutter – This option drops the auto shutter speed on the camcorder to as low as 1/2 a second, which provides a tremendously bright image in low light, but produces an incredibly choppy image whenever motion is recorded.
Guide Frames – Grid lines, to help you frame your shot, appear on the LCD and viewfinder when this feature is selected. The lines only appear on the display and won't end up on your recorded footage.
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