Disappointing unit -- do not buy!
Written: Oct 23 '03
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Pros: Swivel body design makes recording at differing positions very easy to do
Cons: Shrill motor noise is recorded on the tape, dumb menu system and small battery
The Bottom Line: Avoid this generation of Sharp camcorders. Too many negatives make it a poor choice. Let's hope Sharp will correct their design flaws in the next generation of camcorders.
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| famousdavis's Full Review: Sharp Viewcam VL-Z7U Mini DV Digital Camcorder |
I really wanted to like this new Sharp digital camcorder. I’ve been using a Sharp 8mm camcorder for five years, but the battery life is so bad on my 8mm camcorder, I thought I’d upgrade to something newer, smaller, and something that could upload images onto a PC for DVD burning.
I bought the Sharp VL-Z7U model after extensive research (which was hard, as this isn't a best seller item). I knew the main limitations of the device: small battery that is only recharged when installed (eg, no separate battery recharger), poor still pictures, no accessories except a zoom microphone, poor low light performance, confusing and unintuitive menu system. I also didn’t like that the new design moved the zoom control from the thumb position to the pointer finger position (and placed in such a way that I found it hard to control with my pointer finger).
Still, I was willing to go with Sharp because the video filming was supposed to be very good (especially outside and in bright light conditions), and the physical design of the Sharp is superior (the swivel middle), especially when you want to record children at their eye level. I've also had good performance from my Sharp 8mm camcorder. And I knew that many of the features and terminology I was familiar with in my 8mm camcorder would carry over to the new Sharp digital camcorder.
When I got my new Sharp VL-Z7U camcorder and tried using it, however, I was shocked at its horrible outdoor performance! The blue skies turned yellow! All the other colors were skewed horribly!
I assumed it was a unit malfunction, so I returned it for an exchange. Sure enough, the first unit was faulty, and my second unit recorded outdoor scenes with faithful colors. Whew!
I did find that using this new Sharp model required using more manual adjustments to get a good picture...I had hoped that its “Auto” setting wouldn’t have required any adjustments. The indoor pictures were best only after I manipulated some of the unit’s settings.
But the deal-breaker for me came when I uploaded my recording to my computer. The motor noise was shrill and loud – very loud! Quiet indoor scenes were ruined by a constant shrill of the motor that was picked up by the unit’s microphone.
Since I hadn’t read of any complaints about motor noise, I thought maybe the second unit was defective, too. So I uploaded some recording done with the first unit I bought, and it, too, had the same loud, whining, shrill motor noise when replayed through the computer. I'm concluding that shrill motor noise is characteristic of Sharp digital camcorders.
By way of contrast, I had borrowed a friend’s Sony model (the TRV38) and it did not exhibit any loud motor noise when replaying a recording on my computer.
So there are just too many negatives to use this generation of Sharp recorders. I still like their swivel-middle design, so I guess I’ll wait for the next generation of Sharp camcorders and see if they correct the deficiencies noted above.
In short, don’t buy this camcorder, even if you’re an avid fan of Sharp camcorders.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 468
Recommended for: Home and Families - Keep Memories of Family Vacations
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Epinions.com ID:
famousdavis
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Member: William Davis
Location: Boca Raton, FL
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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