Sony DCR-DVD610 DVD Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom
by Sony
Our Price: $498.88
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $139.98 (click here)
Category: Digital Camera
See more product details
Customers in the UK,
buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: SonyRelease Date: 2008-01-31
Model: DCR-DVD610
Color: Silver
Product features:
- Uniquely powerful 40x optical zoom/2000x digital zoom
- Professional-quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens
- 2.7-inch wide (16:9) touch panel LCD
- Hybrid recording with Memory Stick PRO Duo media slot
- Super SteadyShot image stabilization system
- Pinnacle Studio HD V14 [OLD VERSION]
- Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 [OLD VERSION]
- Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Collection V14 [OLD VERSION]
- Nero 9 [OLD VERSION]
- Roxio Creator 2010 [OLD VERSION]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony DCR-DVD610 DVD Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom
Customer Review: For the price, excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this camcorder a few days ago for my dad, I must say I am quite impressed with it. I compared the Canon DC310/320, Panasonic VDR50, and the Sony 610/710. I went to the store biased in favour of the Canon based on the specifications alone. But what a huge disappointment the canon cameras were. They look cheap, the plastic is cheap, the buttons are flimsy, the buttons next to the screen were tiny and the on screen info was not clear at all. Canon's design department needs to wake up, I have tried quite a few canon entry level/mid range products in the recent past and have come up very disappointing with design and build quality. To make things worse, there was noise all over the place, indoor light wasnt great, but the dark carpet had light green and red spots all over on the LCD. The zoom action was quick. The one aspect where Canon trumps is that it has optical image stabilization, not found on the sony. This is a huge help when you go closer to the telephoto end of things, its impossible to keep the sony still at telephoto.
The Panasonic looked much sleeker than the Canon, had a nice feel to it, felt a tad heavier as well though, some might find it a bit heavy for its size. The screen looked sharp, the menu system was ok, everything seemed just about fine. But the colors seemed a tad unnatural, and slightly over saturated. I tried to go fiddle with the settings, but I could never get the colors to look natural.
The Sony has a very appealing design, the materials look of high quality, the fit and finish is excellent. Power up is quick, the touch screen is very responsive and so much easier to use compared to the dot sized rocker switch on the Canon. The LCD was sharper, the colors were natural although a tad dull looking (never a bad thing, you can always add saturation later depending on your subject). The camera gains up and down really quickly based on the lighting conditions. Indoor focussing speed is not very good, but it gets there. Quick movements can lead the video to just get out of focus. Nightshot plus is useful only when there is very little light, otherwise it over exposes like crazy. Even if you have bulbs or stuff indoors, you can manage without nightshot plus.
Outdoors video is fantastic, I couldnt see many compression artifacts, details were there, I could make out the leaves on the tree clearly, the colors werent bleeding (A major issue with a previous samsung dvd camcorder i tried). I tried the Memorex DVD-RW format disc and it worked fine. Format takes 6-8 seconds (which is quite fantastic IMO). Finalizing the disc took more than 6 minutes. Not sure if this was because of the media. I will try other discs and see if I see any improvement. One annoying thing with this camera is the pop up message that shows up with you insert a non-sony disc. This can be very misleading since its pretty much just blatant advertising on sony's part saying "Use Sony Media". But it goes away in a few seconds. Ppl might think its an error or that other brand discs are unusable. Another thing is the clever marketting of battery life on the box stating "9 hrs" in a big font and below that in ultra tiny fonts it says "Using F__100 battery, with LCD off). The battery that comes with the camera is the F__50 that manages about 90 minutes of recording time. These sort of marketting schemes are sometimes why I get irritated with Sony. But nevertheless, the product is good. If you are looking for a DVD camcorder in the 300$ range, this is the one to get. If you want a marginal improvement in video quality, the 710 offers a slightly boosted pixel count. I didnt get to see both on a television screen so I cant tell you how much of a difference there is, but on the LCD screen I couldnt tell the difference, which is why I settled for the 610.
Description of Sony DCR-DVD610 DVD Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom
V4) SONY DCR-DVD610 DVD CAMCORDERCamcorders
Digital Cameras and Photo Categories
Bestsellers in Camcorders
Panansonic PV-L671 VHS-C Camcorder with 3.0" LCDPanasonic; Digital Camera
Sharp VLWD255U MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5'' Viewscreen, Smart Media Slot and Built-in Digital Still ModeSharp; Windows NT; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Panasonic PV-L751 VHS-C Camcorder with 4" LCD and PhotoShot Built-in Digital Still CameraPanasonic; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
JVC GRDVL805U MiniDV Digital Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still ModeJVC; Windows NT; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
RCA CC6373 VHS-C AutoShot CamcorderRCA; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
JVC GR-DVM50U Digital CybercamJVC; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
RCA PRO854 Hi8 CamcorderRCA; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Sony DCRTRV310 Handycam Digital CamcorderSony; Windows NT; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Hitachi Hi8 Video CamcorderHitachi; Digital Camera
Hitachi 8mm Camcorder with 2 1/ 2" LCDHitachi; Digital Camera
Similar digital cameras and accessories
Sony Handycam Soft Carrying Case for DCR-DVD 203, 403, 105, 205, 305, 405 & 505 and HDR-XR520V, HDR-XR500V, HDR-XR200V, HDR-SR12, HDR-SR11, HDR-SR10, HDR-XR100, HDR-HC9, HDR-CX12, HDR-CX100, HDR-UX20, HDR-UX10, HDR-TG1, DCR-SR220, DCR-SR85, DCR-SR65, DCR-SR45, DCR-SR87, DCR-SR67, DCR-SR47, DCR-DVD910, DCR-DVD810, DCR-DVD710, DCR-DVD610, DCR-DVD850, DCR-DVD650, DCR-SX60, DCR-SX41, DCR-SX40, DCR-HC62 & DCR-HC52DCR-TRV230, DCR-TRV240, DCR-TRV250, DCR-TRV260, DCR-TRV280CR-TRV140 / DCR-TRV17 / DCR-TRV18 / DCR-TRV19 / DCR-TRV22 / DCR-TRV240 / DCR-TRV25 / DCR-TRV250 / DCR-TRV260 / DCR-TRV27 / DCR-TRV30 / DCR-TRV33 / DCR-TRV330 / DCR-TRV340 / DCR-TRV350 / DCR-TRV360 / DCR-TRV38 / DCR-TRV39 sR220, SR85, SR65, SR45, SR42, SR10, UX20, UX10, HC62, & HC52 CR-DVD108, DCR-DVD308, DCR-HC48, DCR-SR42, DCR-SR42A, DCR-SR62, DCR-SR82, DCR-SR82C, DCR-SR300,DCR-SR300C, HDR-CX7, HDR-SR5C, HDR-UX5, HDR-UX7, DCR-HC28, DCR-HC38, DCR-HC96, HDR-TG1, HDR-HC9, HDR-SR12, HDR-SR11, HDR-SR10D, HDR-SR10, HDR-UX20, HDR-UX10, DCR-SR85, DCR-SR65, DCR-SR45, HDR-SR12, HDR-SR11, HDR-SR10, HDR-SR10D, DCR-SR220D, DCR-SR220,CamcordersSONY; Digital Camera
Best price: $18.99
Price in other shops:
PROFESSIONAL 57 Inch Tripod with Carrying Case For The Sony DCR-DVD103, DVD108, DVD308, DVD408, DVD508, DVD610, DVD650, DVD703, DVD705, DVD708, DVD710 DVD Camcorders with Clearmax Exclusive Designed Red Bendy Flexpod Plus FREE Complimentary Super Deal Micro Fiber Lens Cleaning ClothSuper Deal; Digital Camera
Best price: $17.99
Sony NPFH70 H Series Actiforce Hybrid InfoLithium Battery for most Sony CamcordersSony; Release date: 2007-02-15; Digital Camera
Best price: $16.50
Price in other shops:
Sony 10DMW30RS2H 8cm DVD-RW (10-Pack Spindle Skin Pack)Sony Electronics Inc. - Media; CE
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops:
Sony 8 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Flash Memory Card MSMT8GSony; CE
Best price: $19.02
Price in other shops:
Sony LCS-X20 Soft Carrying Case for most Sony CamcordersSony; Release date: 2009-11-30; Digital Camera
Price in other shops:
Sony 4 GB Memory Stick ProDuo MSMT4G/ TQ1 (Black)Sony; Release date: 2012-01-31; Windows; CE
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Sony 8cm DVD-R with Hangtab (5 Pack)Sony; CE
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops:
Sony 8cm DVD+RW with Hangtab (3 Pack)Sony; CE
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Sony DCR-DVD650 DVD CamcorderSony; Digital Camera
Best price: $370.00