Sony DCR-HC85 First Impressions Camcorder Review

by Robin Liss
Published on Mar 7, 2004 12:00 AM



The Sony DCR-HC85 is the highest priced camcorder of the new Sony 2004 MiniDV models. At $1,000, the DCR-HC85 includes a 2 Megapixel CCD - breaking a new price barrier in the pixels for price war. The DCR-HC85 includes the same imaging system last year's $1,300 model - but at a $300 price point. The camcorder handles well, includes a manual focus ring and a nice zoom controller. Combined with a nice shape and comfortable handling, the DCR-HC85 may be the star of the Sony 2004 MiniDV line.

Video Performance
The Sony DCR-HC85 leads this year's pack of Sony camcorders with a large, 1/3.6 in. CCD with 1080K effecitve pixels for video. The DCR-HC85 includes a 10x optical zoom. Unlike the rest of this year's MiniDV models, the DCR-HC85 increases CCD size by a large 70.4% when compared to last year's DCR-TRV39 which it is replacing if you compare similarly priced models. What Sony has effectively done is take last year's DCR-TRV70, which sold for $1,300 and had a 1/3.6 in. CCD on it and reduced the price by $300, a great move. The video performance on the DCR-TRV70 was quite good, with great color defintion and a very sharp image due to the high number of effective video pixels. Although we can't make solid conclusions about the DCR-HC85's video performance because I saw it on the show floor at CES where it was impossible to objectively test camcorders, Sony has told camcorderinfo.com that the DCR-HC85 includes the same imaging system as last years DCR-TRV70. It can be safe to assume that the video quality will be very similar if not identical in this year's DCR-HC85.

The Front
The front of the DCR-HC85 is covered by the lens which is surrounded by a zoom ring. Below the zoom ring is the stereo microphone and below that is the infrared reciever with a tally light in the left corner.

The Right Side
The back of the right side of the DCR-HC85 starts with mode indicator with a seperate light for tape / camera, memory and play (VCR). Below the indicator lights is a mode selector dial. Sony has implemented a new mode selector dial on this years models. Instead of clicking from one mode to the next, the mode dial is shitfted slightly and springs back into position, changing modes. The rest of main part the right side of the camcorder is completely bare besides a handstrap, a night shot vision button towards the front and the lens at the way front of the camcorder. Below the lens barrel which extends out of the camcorder slightly is a hard plastic cover which reveals the microphone in, headphone out, Mini AV / S-Video jack and the Control-L jack.

The Back
At the top of the back of the DCR-HC85 is the color viewfinder. Below the viewfinder is the battery slot with the memory stick slot to it's left. Below the memory stick slot is a flash charge indicator light. Below the battery is a piece of soft plastic which reveals the Firewire and USB jacks. To the right of that is the DC in jack.

The Left Side
The left side of the DCR-HC85 is literally consumed by the 3.5 in. LCD screen - it takes over the camcorder. In front of it, towards the lens are dedicated auto / manual focus and backlight buttons. In the back is a Display / Battery Info button, an Easy Handycam button and a flash on / off button. Opening the LCD screen reveals nothing besides the record button on the side of the screen which Sony has added.

Automatic Control
The overall automatic control of the DCR-HC85 seemed fine. It is a little hard to evalue automatic control under show conditions, however the automatic exposure and focus seemed quick in responding and didn't seem to have any problems. Sony includes Auto Exposure modes with the DCR-HC85, which are preset shooting settings for a vareity of conditions.

The DCR-HC85 features Sony's unique Spot Metering and Spot Focus features which were first widely implemented in the 2003 camcorder line. Spot Metering and Spot Focus, through the touch screen LCD, allow you to touch an area of the screen and the camcorder will automatically adjust either the focus or the exposure to that area. I think they are great features, a nice hybrid between manual and auto control.

The feature that all the Sony employees were the most excited about was the Easy Handcam button. The button is designed to, you guessed it, make shooting easier. PRessing the button throws the camcorder into full auto mode, puts fewer icons on the screen and makes the text and icons larger. It also gives you less menu options. I think it's a great idea, ease of use is the big trend now in consumer electronics and I'd be giving Sony all praise if for every ease of use feature they added they didn't take away a hobyist, manual control feature.

Overall Manual Control
Although Sony has slighty improved the usability of the touch screen by upgrading to the 3D menu navigation system, the fact that the manual exposure and shutter speed control are accessed through a touch screen is still a big drawback to the DCR-HC85. On the upside, the DCR-HC85 does have a focus ring which is great for adjusting the focus. The problem with the touch screen is that you can't smoothly adjust the exposure or the white balance while shooting, you have to stop, or at least pause your shooting to bring your attention to adjusting the picture functions through a touch screen. If the camcorder was to say use a jog dial like models before 2003, you could intuitively adjust the exposure with out having to take your eye away from your shot. If you're shooting a long form project with just one camcorder (say a recital, play, or game) and you don't want to interupt your recording to adjust a manual picture element besides zoom and focus, you're going to have a hard time with the DCR-HC85.

Zoom
The zoom power of the DCR-HC85 is 10x, which is standard for Sony camcorders. I don't understand why they can't mix it up a little bit, just for fun. Put an 11x zoom on one of the camcorders, or, even more crazy, why not a 9.5x? The zoom on the DCR-HC85 is controlled by a slider on the top of the camcorder. Unlike other Sony cams, the zoom control on the DCR-HC85 is flush against the top of the camcorder, however, becuase it is slightly larger it gives you a slightly larger range of phsyical motion, meaning it's easier to achieve variable speed zoom and to hold those zoom speeds. You can get a slow crawl, medium, or fast zoom and hold that zoom for the full 10x of the camcorder fairly easily, and on the first try, as you should be able to. I'm fairly pleased with the zoom control on the DCR-HC85.

Focus
The only manual picture control function that I'm happy with on the DCR-HC85 is the focus (I'm a stubborn little camcorder nerd, aren't I?). The focus on the DCR-HC85 is controlled through a focus ring. The focus ring provides a fair amount of phsyicall resistance and isn't too sensitive allowing you to accurately, and quickly adjust the focus. Since the focus ring is, well a ring around the lens, it is located right where your hand will be when you are shooting - so adjustment is natural. Unlike the touch screens on some of the lower Sony MiniDV models, the focus ring is intuitive to use and you don't have to interupt your shooting to properly adjust it.

Exposure (Aperture)
The exposure control on the DCR-HC85 is controlled through the touch screen LCD screen's 3D menu. Although the 3D menu navigation system is better than last year's system it's still not natural. The problem with the touch screen is you have to swing your attention away from composing your shot to look at the LCD screen and press the right buttons. A jog dial, where you can feel the dial and don't have to look at it would allow you to adjust exposure while still concentrating on your shot. This is especially important for long form projects like plays, recitals or sports games where you can't stop recording to adjust the exposure. Also, I don't want people who are new to videography to think that exposure control is just for advanced users, most users will have to adjust the exposure every time they are shooting - it's incredibly important and should be given higher priority. The DCR-HC85 would be a much better camcorder if it included a jog dial for manual exposure control.

Shutter Speed
Sony does not include any manual shutter speed control on the DCR-HC85.

White Balance
The white balance on the DCR-HC85 is controlled through the touch screen LCD. You have for modes, auto, manual, indoor and outdoor.Of all the manual picture functions, this is the one I mind being controlled through the touch screen LCD the least because you only need to use it once every shooting situation.

VCR Mode
The DCR-HC85's VCR functions are all controlled through the touch screen LCD. The play / pause, fast forward, rewind, stop and other related buttons are all superimposed over the video during playback. The camcorder includes all nessecary VCR functions.

LCD / Viewfinder
The DCR-HC85 includes a 3.5 in. LCD touch screen LCD, which most of the camcorder's functions depend on. The LCD screen is reflexive-transmissive, meaning you can view it in both direct sunlight as well as indoor lighting conditions. Sony has added a record button to the right of the LCD screen which is a nice feature considering on the heavy dependence on the LCD screen with the DCR-HC85.

Handling
The DCR-HC85 has a slightly rounded shape which makes it very comfortable to hold in your right hand. The camcorder grips well, it's not too small like some of the lower end Sony MiniDV models, and it's generally well designed. The few buttons that are there are well placed, and the focus ring is a great. I was able to hold the DCR-HC85 stable and comfortably. I believe, along with the Sony DCR-HC65 that they are the best shapped camcorders in the lower and mid range Sony MiniDV line. The biggest problem with the DCR-HC85 however is the consolidation of all manual control features into the LCD screen. You can't adjust the exposure or any other features without tapping the LCD screen, which creates camcorder shake. If you're zoomed it, that tiny shake will look like there's an earthquake going on. It's really too bad, I feel that the DCR-HC85 has a nice shape, and I really like the zoom control as well as the focus ring, if you're just going to use those picture options then it's a great handler - but manual control and a steady shot is nearly impossible.

Stills
The DCR-HC85 includes a 2 Megapixel imager producing stills at 1,600 x 1,200 pixel resolution. Because of the smaller size of the camcorder, Sony has put a Memory Stick Duo slot instead of a Memory Stick slot on the DCR-HC85. Memory Stick Duo cards are about half the size of normal Memory Sticks. The camcorder comes with an 8 MB Memory Stick Duo. The camcorder includes a USB jack for hooking your camcorder up to your computer for transfering the digital stills from the camcorder to the computer. The DCR-HC85 also includes a pop-up flash.

2 Megapixels at $1,000 is a great price, no other company is producing a 2 Megapixel camcorder near that price point. As I mentioned in the video performance section, what Sony has effectively done on the DCR-HC85, and this applies to stills as well, is reduce the price of last year's 2 Megapixel model by $300. Last year's model was the DCR-TRV70 and it produced some outstanding looking stills. I can't make any conclusions about the still performance of the DCR-HC85 because I was looking at it on a show floor, however, since the CCD is the same as was used on the DCR-TRV70, it is likely that they will have very close, if not identical still performance.

Audio
The microphone on the DCR-HC85 is placed below the lens. The camcorder is generally large enough that your hands won't get in the way of the microphone, however we don't really spend much attention to on camcorder microphones because they are generally bad on all models. What we do look at is the options that the camcorder provides. The DCR-HC85 is a good job at giving you audio options. The camcorder includes a microphone in jack, a headphone out jack, a hot shoe for powering and attaching accessories, as well as an audio dubbing mode.

Jacks and Ports
The DCR-HC85 includes a USB and Firewire jack for connection to a computer. The camcorder also includes an S-Video, Composite Video, Left Channel Audio, and Right Channel Audio breakout plug which connects to the camcorder through a u-type port. In addtion, the DCR-HC85 includes a microphone in jack, headphone out jack, and Control-L / Lanc jack.

Other Features
Super Night Shot Plus Sony has improved their 0 Lux Night Shot mode with an enhanced version which uses and of the color information available to the camcorder combined with the existing night shot mode to give the user an image with some color. Although I didn't get to to comprehensively evalutate it, what little I did see was impressive.

Analog-to-Digital Pass Through The analog-to-digital pass through mode on the DCR-HC85 allows you to hook the camcorder up to an analog video source and convert the video on the fly to a digital signal for transfer to your computer.

Battery Information Sony's battery information feature allows you to display the remaining battery time on any battery attached to the camcorder with the touch of one button, without having to fully power up the camcorder.

PicturePerfect Software With all of Sony's 2004 digital camcorder's the company is including video editing software called PicturePerfect. The software is powered through an automatic video editing engine designed by Muvee tehcnologies which will 'edit' your video with the touch of one button - though the results are questionable at best. The sofware does include a slightly more advanced mode which is still very simple to use but gives the user more control.

Easy Record Mode Sony is clearly targeting begining users who want simplicity in their camcorders - and the flagship of this simplicty is the Easy Handycam function. Pressing the Easy Handycam button puts the camcorder into full automatic mode, enlrages the onscreen icons, and simplifies the menu.

USB Streaming Using the USB streaming mode, you can hook the DCR-HC85 up to a camcorder and have it act as a webcam.

Conclusions
If I was to say what 2004 Sony camcorder I am the most excited with, it would unquestionably be the DCR-HC85. While Sony shrunk the CCD size on every other model, a move that will likely reduce video and low light quality, they enlraged it on the DCR-HC85 when compared to last year's similarily priced model. The other way to look at is it that they dropped the price on last year's model by $300. Not only have they dropped the price, they've upgraded it by putting a better menu system on it. Although I don't like the touch screen control and would much rather prefer a jog dial, the 3D menu navigation system is far superior to what was on the 2003 models. If the video and low light performance stays the same as last year's DCR-TRV70, the DCR-HC85 may turn out to be a great buy delievering outstanding video and low light quality at a low price - despite it's manual control shortcomings.