SONY HANDYCAM DCR-SR68E

SONY HANDYCAM 
DCR-SR68E

FOR: Good reproduction of colors, 80 GB hard drive, responsive touch screen.

AGAINST: Reflective LCD screen, focusing issues under low light, IS not effective

at full zoom.

In terms of build quality, the Sony DCRSR68E
leaves very little to complain
about. The video capture button is
placed towards the rear while the still
image capture button is placed just behind
the zoom rocker. The placement of the
image capture button feels a little out
of place though, making you stretch the
index fi nger to reach it. The major plus
points are the camcorder’s massive 60x
optical zoom and 80 GB of recording
space. It also features an SD card slot
that supports an additional 32 GB of
memory. Being a mid-range camcorder,
the SR68E does not support recording
in HD, but off ers three recording modes
— high (20 hours), standard (29 hours)
and low (61 hours). The Sony SR68E has
eight scene modes, plus an auto mode.
The camcorder also features an integrated
LED that allows you to capture video
even in pitch darkness. The SR68E has
a responsive 2.7-inch touch screen that’s
quite vivid and crisp, but only under the
shade or indoors. View it under direct
sunlight and the screen almost turns into
a mirror. The camcorder performs quite
well and delivers a decent blend of color
and contrast. Unlike other camcorders
that we have tested, the SR68E does a
very good job at maintaining the overall
saturation of blue and red tones. Skin
tones were also close to perfect and the
captured videos were quite sharp and
detailed. There isn’t much noticeable
color fringing, except when the video
is shot under direct sunlight. However,
the fringing does amplify when you
zoom into the subject. Even though the
camcorder features 60x optical zoom,
it cannot be considered as one of the
best because the image stabilizer really
struggles to maintain a steady frame
when shooting at high zoom ratios. The
camcorder performs well under low light,
but it struggles to focus when zoomed
quickly. Apart from a few minor issues, the
camcorder does a good job overall, and at
Rs 19,990, the SR26E is a decent buy.

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs. 19,990
www.sony.com
Dimensions (WxHxD): 56 x 65 x 115 mm; Weight: 300g;
Video format: MPEG-2; Sensor size: 1/8 in; Focal length:
1.8–108 mm; Optical/Digital zoom: 60x/2000x; Still
image resolution: 0.8 megapixel; Storage media: 80
GB HDD.