Sharp VL-E685U Camcorder Review

by Robin Liss
Published on Jun 22, 2001 12:00 AM



The Sharp VL-E685U is a 8mm camcorder or "viewcam" as sharp calls it. Sharp specializes in LCD panels and displays a couple years ago they came up with the idea of using a LCD panel on a camcorder and they created the first camcorders with LCD panels, a feature now common on many video cameras. The viewcam shape is unique, it consists of a a piece with a LCD panel and the tape recorder and a part with the actual camera and some functions, the two are conected so you can rotate one, enabling people to shoot themselves and look at the picture at the same time. This form has some positive and negative aspects. Its good because it provides a large LCD screen and a camcorder that is easy to manuver. The bad part of the viewcam is it is at times akward to hold and creates shaky video. The camcorder has a 16x optical zoom and 64x digital zoom. The LCD is 3 inches in size.

I would recomend this camcorder for a person who wants to do a lot of "passive" shooting where the camcorder is not moved alot and does not have to be very active, the price of this one is high so before you buy this camcorder I would look at less expensive viewcams. I think this camcorder is great for sports and auditorium shooting. I must admit that the first camcorder I bought was a viewcam, at first when I was a beginer I liked it but as I got more advanced and wanted to do more advanced shooting I really began to dislike the form of the camcorder.