Sony Handycam DCR-SX40 (Silver)

• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 12 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 7 stars

  Quick and easy to use

  by dg64 on October 7, 2009

  Pros: light, easy to use, touch screen is great. Easily learned to record and playback in about 2 minutes without the book. Battery life seemed fine - used it all day with no problems after charging all night.

  Cons: The still pictures come out a little blurry and low-res. I realize this is mainly for video, but I expected the still photos to at least be better then they were. Might be a setting I missed somewhere for higher res...

  Summary: My wife bought the camera for me to take to an event. I hate that as I like to buy my own stuff and research it well. But I took ...

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  Summary: My wife bought the camera for me to take to an event. I hate that as I like to buy my own stuff and research it well. But I took it with me and took video all day at the event and then used my 1-year old laptop with Vista and WMM to create cool video clips. Unlike others here I had no problems on the computer side at all. No software downloads, no updates, didn't even install the software that came with the camera. just plugged it in and worked fine.
  It is very lightweight and I carried it in my palm most of the day. I mainly took small clips. Probably none more then a minute or two. I never came close to running out of my battery life or room on the flash memory. Splicing the videos and editing with WMM was easy too.
  Bottom line: If you want high-grade studio quality you need to spend more. If videos of the kids and grandma's birthday, it is great. Takes very good quality video, easy to use, adn lightweight. Touchscreen is a must for any camera for me from now on. Wish the stills were better as I might have to still carry a small digital camera for those. So it's not the greatest but worth the money for a very good, very small, Sony digital camcorder. I'd buy it again.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 3 stars

  Very disappointed...

  by dmjenkinsfl on January 9, 2011

  Pros: Very lightweight, compact, touchscreen, easy to use

  Cons: Breaks very easy, error code e61:10 very common. No flash, not wasy to switch from camera to camcorder.

  Summary: For years I have trusted the Sony name, which is the main reason for the purchase. I have not even had this camera a year, and already it is inoperable. ...

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  Summary: For years I have trusted the Sony name, which is the main reason for the purchase. I have not even had this camera a year, and already it is inoperable. On Christmas day, of course, the camera broke, I got an error code "e61:10". This error code is very common with this camera. Also, there is no flash for the pictures. I would recommend something besides this.

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• 10 stars

  this is the Best Camcorder I have ever Owned.

  by BlueGrassmusicrules on July 5, 2010

  Pros: Light Weight, Amazing Video Quality,Sound & Very Good in Low-Light.

  Cons: Still Pictures aren't very good. But i use my digital camera for that anyways.

  Summary: I Love this Camcorder & I Use It EveryDay, I got this cause The Flip Video Ultra HD Camcorders don't pick up to good in Low Light. & it ...

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  Summary: I Love this Camcorder & I Use It EveryDay, I got this cause The Flip Video Ultra HD Camcorders don't pick up to good in Low Light. & it only have a 2x Zoom & this has a 60X Optical. I can Transfer My Recordings To VHS Tapes. Any one out there thats looking for a great Camcorder This is the one

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• 8 stars

  Easy to use, excellent in HQ, intuitive touchscreen.

  by tpgugliotta on April 8, 2010

  Pros: Intuitive touch screen, doesn't take much effor to take a basic video. I think to really get the most out of this camera, I will read the entire manual. Shot a lot of outdoors video at the Grand Canyon in HQ mode. Clarity and exposure was good.

  Cons: I had some autofocus problems in a semi-low light situation. I find the LCD hard to use in the bright daylight. But that is not a problem with this camera, that is just the way they are now. See my bottom line for further explanation.

  Summary: OK, don't laugh, but this was an upgrade from an analog Sony Handycam 8mm vintage 1998, that cost nearly $600. I loved that camera. Big, heavy and easy to ...

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  Summary: OK, don't laugh, but this was an upgrade from an analog Sony Handycam 8mm vintage 1998, that cost nearly $600. I loved that camera. Big, heavy and easy to handle. You held the thing up to your head and looked through a B&W CRT viewfinder. The videos were always well framed and steady, supported by my right hand and head. This little thing has the crummy LCD that is useless in bright light and results in jerky distracting videos. But like I said above, that is not this model's fault. I like a big camera with a viewfinder.
  
  Software and connectivity: After reading some of the complaints here, all I can say is read the directions or learn to how to use your computer before you bash the camera or take it back to the store. MPG files loaded readily into Windows Movie Maker. All videos played fine on the computer using PMB, they will not play directly in Media Player until they are converted to the DVD. Best quality was seen after an effortless burn to DVD. It then looked great on my computer and my old-fashioned CRT TV.
  
  Also, why complain about still picture quality, IT IS A VIDEO CAMERA! I heard the same complaints about my Nikon D90, which had the first DSLR video capabilities, that the video quality was limited and the camera got hot and would only shoot for five minutes. Goodness, get real, look at the size of the CMOS sensor of a 12MP DSLR. It takes some power to run a huge sensor like that. Conversely, a digital camercorder has a small sensor, it cannot take a high-resolution photograph. Buy a camera for its intended purpose. Take pictures with a camera, take videos with a camcorder.
  
  Shoot in HQ mode. It has 16GB of internal memory. Use it up. I added an 8GB memory stick for extra insurance. Also, get a spare battery for it. I had no trouble with battery life, but it is best to always have a spare on hand.
  
  Bottom line. For the price, it does what it is supposed to. I just have to get used to a new paradigm of video cameras. I do wish I had shopped around a little more as this was an impulse buy, as I wanted to get it before our Grand Canyon trip.

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• 10 stars

  Intuitive, zooming is good and can store heaps of vids

  by skinhat666 on March 30, 2010

  Pros: Intuitive. Never had a camcorder before and could get it all working without looking at manuals. Videos quality is good. Can shoot in dark room. Zooming seems to go very far.

  Cons: I was hoping I could use it as a digital camera aswell but the resoultion of still photos is only 640x480 which is pretty low.

  Summary: I liked it because I could get everything working with no hassles. No driver installs. The graphical interface is easy to understand. Can't say anything bad except I thought ...

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  Summary: I liked it because I could get everything working with no hassles. No driver installs. The graphical interface is easy to understand. Can't say anything bad except I thought the 640x480 resolution was too low.

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• 8 stars

  Nice Picture clarity ,Handy and User friendly

  by anilgodfrey on October 22, 2009

  Pros: Handy with nice picture quality and Trendy Silver Colour

  Cons: Nothing to be said bad about this product and only thing which is not there is only the light option for night use which i dont need.

  Summary: i like this product because it is easy to carry and oprate even to my Kid.This set which i got in a good rate from Gitex yesterday from Dubai.

  Summary: i like this product because it is easy to carry and oprate even to my Kid.This set which i got in a good rate from Gitex yesterday from Dubai.

• 1 stars

  Don't Waste your Time

  by isellporta on September 13, 2009

  Pros: Lightweight

  Cons: Cannot load the videos into WMM. The videos are in the MPEG2 format with WMM does not support. Why sell a camera that 90% of the worlds computer cannot use. Makes no sense to me.

  Summary: Waste of time trying to find the MPEG2 codec and then hoping the WMP or WMM will be able to play or read the files.

  Summary: Waste of time trying to find the MPEG2 codec and then hoping the WMP or WMM will be able to play or read the files.

• 3 stars

  Too much trouble to download to computer

  by Azcountrygirl on August 30, 2009

  Pros: Nice and lightweight, easy to use, loved the touchscreen.

  Cons: I couldn't get the videos to play on my computer. Even with the softwear it would freeze up my computer. I also like to use Windows Movie Maker to edit videos, however Windows Movie Maker would not recognize the file type.

  Summary: I bought this camera to have something that I could easily download to my computer, edit and burn DVD's faster. I needed the zoom capabilities to catch certain moments ...

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  Summary: I bought this camera to have something that I could easily download to my computer, edit and burn DVD's faster. I needed the zoom capabilities to catch certain moments in our horse training, but the softwear locks up my computer.
  
  I tried to uninstalll the softwear and just download the videos directly to my computer, but again, when I tried to play the videos in Windows Media Player it would lock up. Also the quality of the videos were not as good as my little digital camera that also takes videos. I will be returning this camera this week and trying the JVC camera for the same price. It's a shame about this camera, because I really ldid like how easy it was to use. But it all goes downhill when you try to connect to your computer.

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• 1 stars

  Pain in the yoou know what

  by snagnet on July 24, 2009

  Pros: Intuitive and user friendly screen. You can upload mpg to Youtube. Small

  Cons: WMP or Realplayer cant open Sony MPG file, even after updating. Sony software will not play it either. Downloaded AVS Converter. Painfully slow to convert files. Returning product.

  Summary: The video camera works great until it is plugged into your USB port. Form there it does not work.

  Summary: The video camera works great until it is plugged into your USB port. Form there it does not work.

• 7 stars

  Impulse buy - fell in love

  by patrickhunt on June 12, 2009

  Pros: Good quality; easy to use; good video; good battery good recording time

  Cons: No light or flash for photos.

  Summary: I love this little guy. I bought in on an impulse at a charity golf outing auction. Thing works great. Fits in my pants pocket. Easy and quick. I used ...

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  Summary: I love this little guy. I bought in on an impulse at a charity golf outing auction. Thing works great. Fits in my pants pocket. Easy and quick. I used it to video the kids game and them at the pool. Once the software was installed (which was a bit of a PIA) was able to publish a movie to the internet. This is NOT plug and play. you have to use the software provided and follow the instructions implicitly. overall I love the product. Works very well for me and I'm by no means a tech guru. I need simple and plain. Haven't used all the features yet, so I can't speak to that. Will try this weekend in low light.

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