It's still alive after six years and a LOT of use. I still use this frequently as my alternate-angle cam for multiple shots, but it was my primary camera for shooting stage shows before I went to more $$$ MiniDV and not-as-mini-DV. The video quality to 90% of the people watching my tapes is "absolutely gorgeous." (enthusiasts might find it a bit soft, particularly on a computer monitor, but hey) Functions as an Analog to DV/FireWire pass-thru WITHOUT hacking menus. Which means it real-time captures DV directly to your HDD from VHS or LaserDisc or whatever.. Does not detect or block macrovision encoded digital content in pass-through mode (with hack). Carl Zeiss lens, it's not bad for a video lens. 90min LP mode is plenty acceptable for NTSC video, and looks fine when converted to DVD. People STILL comment on how nice the video looks when I make DVDs with it. 8mm/Hi8 videotape is CHEAP. Timecoding is always present on D8, you don't have to buy special tapes. Nice big LCD with an excellent level of contrast (good for fine tuning shadows/highlights, not HARD killer bright contrast like the newest hotness TFTs are sometimes. Has an old-style CRT monochrome viewfinder for PRECISE contrast viewing. Manual exposure wheel is very useful, don't know why some cameras still don't have them (I use it combined with the "sunset" mode to film live stage productions. Batteries are still available and universal chargers still support them. (Jan 2006)

No progressive scan. Still "photo" frames max out at 640x480 full-frame interlaced. Limited to old-school 128MB memory stick (but these days those things are hand-me-downs) No manual white balance (W.ithout H.acking) No manual shutter control (again, W.H.) but "sports mode" locks it in high speed shutter, and you CAN tweak the gained-up slow shutter "candlelight" mode.

At this point (2006) you can get one of these for less than $200 on Ebay. (which is why I priced it thusly) It's worth that if you get one in good shape. Fun points: You can hack the camera BIOS with its serial cable to expose a full feature set from Sony's higher end DV cams of the time. The Infrared "nightshot" filter can be removed with a little minor surgery allowing fully controllable iris, gain, and shutter functions in full-time infrared mode.

Customer Service

Never needed it.

Similar Products Used:

Canon Optura 100MC MiniDV.. It's old too, but still going! Canon big shot 3CCD camera one of those X model numbers.. a similar SONY.. again, can't remember which ones, they're not mine..