Sony DCRTRV310 Handycam Digital Camcorder

The Sony TRV310 Handycam has a nifty status screen on the outside of the LCD screen module that lets you know how many minutes you've recorded or how far you've played a tape. It also tells you if there's a tape in the camcorder. This screen is backlit for maximum visibility.

The LCD screen swivels 210 degrees, which lets you record above your head or put yourself in the picture. The optical viewfinder is black and white, which is not a real drawback since we ended up using the LCD screen for most of our shooting. The unit's playback buttons are backlit, making it easier to use the Sony TRV310 Handycam as a VCR. This video camera also comes with a remote control unit.

The Sony TRV310 Handycam lets you manually adjust focus and exposure; it also includes seven programmed exposure modes, plus backlight compensation, to help optimize your video under different shooting conditions. It provides three recording modes--normal, hold-down, and five-second--to help you take short, lively video segments. The TRV310 also lets you record still photos. It features a high-powered 360x digital zoom, great for getting closeups and recording faraway events. This Handycam also provides electronic image stabilization to minimize camera shake, which is especially useful when using the zoom or during fast-action events.

We enjoyed Sony's full range of special effects, including the distinctive pastel, slim, and stretch picture modes. The TRV310 provides widescreen, black-and-white, sepia, negative, and solarized modes. We also liked the range of fade options, which include fade to black, mosaic, monotone, overlap, and a bounce-image effect. The camera includes digital effects for playback, including still, flash, lumi, slow shutter, old movie, and trail modes. You can even insert a scene in the middle of a recording.

The camcorder includes Sony's exclusive NightShot capability, which lets you shoot video in total darkness. The camcorder emits an invisible infrared beam to light the scene. The resulting video is basically black and white and lower quality than normal, but being able to get decent images in complete darkness is nonetheless pretty amazing. The TRV310 also comes with a mount for an external standard light.

This camcorder uses the Digital 8 format, which lets you record digital video on a standard Hi8 tape. Digital video gives you extraordinary video quality--up to 500 lines of resolution and CD-quality sound; it's the top-of-the-line format. The digital format allows you to take digital still pictures, just like a digital camera. If you want to download and edit your digital still images and video on a computer, however, you have to purchase a separate video capture card first. You can also use this camcorder to play back analog 8mm and Hi8 tapes--a handy feature if you have previously recorded video in these formats.

Pros:

• Large 3.5-inch LCD screen
• Super-powerful zoom
• Still photo capability
• High-quality digital format
• Great selection of special effects
• Image stabilization

Cons:

• Optical viewfinder is black and white