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Sony HDR-TG3E review

Verdict:

Review Date: 18 May 2009

Price when reviewed: £399

Buy it now for: £758

Supplier: http://www.pixmania.co.uk

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

User Rating 5 stars out of 5

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The HDR-TG3E's sleek titanium body is bound to catch admiring looks, and the brown paintwork gives it a quirky 1970s appearance.

It feels solid and the pistol grip is comfortable to hold, but we found the battery compartment door popped open a little too easily. The zoom is controlled via a wheel around the record-pause button, so one-handed shooting is easy.

Inside, it's thoroughly modern, with 1,920x1,080-pixel AVCHD recording to memory cards and touchscreen control. A slow-motion capture function records four seconds of full-resolution video at 100fps and plays it back at 25fps. It's much more impressive than the Samsung VP-HMX20C's slow-motion mode, which captures at 300fps but only 448x336 pixels per frame.

We particularly like the spot focus and spot metering functions, which simply involve touching a part of the screen. Once either has been set, it remains locked until you touch the screen again. Standard manual focus, exposure and white balance controls are also available, and although more advanced users might bemoan the lack of shutter speed, aperture and progressive-scan options, this isn't really a camera for them.

Videos weren't as detailed as from the pricier Sony, Canon and Samsung models, and in bright light they weren't any better than from Panasonic's HDC-SD20. The HDR-TG3E fared much better than the HDC-SD20 indoors, though, keeping noise reasonably understated without trashing subtle textures and fine details. It still lagged behind the pricier cameras, but picture quality was on the right side of acceptable for the money.

The price of £399 is low for an AVCHD camera, and although the use of expensive Memory Stick Pro Duo cards offsets this, having a 4GB card in the box lessens the burden. The HDR-TG3E adds up to an attractive package for anyone who's torn between a high-end standard-definition and an entry-level high-definition camera.

Author: Ben Pitt

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User Reviews

Independent customer reviews from

Sony HDR-TG3E.CEH scored:
9.1 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 68 reviews:

15 May 2008 Anonymous confirmed purchaser

10

Good Points

Really easy to use and get on with - I was impressed with the speed at which it starts up - you can turn it on and get recording within seconds. It also seems fairly tough - it's already had 2 falls down the stairs but with no damage. Really good little bit of kit.

Bad Points

The manual is a bit rubbish and trying to understand the different recording formats takes a little attention. Just remember that you need mark II memory sticks to upgrade as the older ones don't seem to work as reliably.

11 May 2008 Shaun, Chesterfield

10

Good Points

Good image, great inbuilt microphone and solidly built.

Bad Points

Nothing bad. Would have been nice to have received a case included in the price.

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£758
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