Sony HDR-TG3 AVCHD Camcorder review

Sony's impressive new HDR-TG3 is a slim, highly portable camcorder that uses flash memory cards to record and replay high-definition movies and stills.

Dubbed by its maker as 'the perfect partner for nights our or weekends away', it's not difficult to work out who this titanium-bodied solid-state camera is aimed at. It's small enough to fit into a smallish pocket or bag, yet comes with a range of features that would be hard to find on comparably small standard-definition models.

The TG3 employs an Mpeg-4-based AVCHD compression system to write full-specification, 1920 x 1080i high-definition video clips to Sony's proprietary Memory Stick Pro Duo memory cards - a 4GB card is supplied with the camera. It can also record and replay standard definition movies using Mpeg-2 - the compression system used by standard DVD.

The camera uses a 1/5in, 4-megapixel, ClearVid Cmos image sensor to produce 1.43-megapixel widescreen 16:9 pictures, and if you want to shoot in the traditional 4:3 ratio, the effective resolution is 1.08 megapixels. Although not the resolution you'd expect from a comparable digital stills camera, the TG3 allocates 1.99MP for 16:9 images. It's possible to shoot stills while simultaneously recording movie clips, too.

Four high-definition recording modes are available, the highest of which is HD FH which, at 16Mbits/s, is slightly less than that used by the Panasonic HDC-SD9 and the Canon HF100. However, there's no doubt that in good light the images are exceptional, and more than acceptable even in mid-range lighting conditions.

The Sony features an F1.8-2.3 Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 10x optical zoom lens, with a 120x digital zoom that's not so high it's impossible to see what's being pictured. We like the Face Detection feature, in which the camera identifies human faces in order to optimise the image processing of skin tones, too. As an antidote to handheld wobbliness, the TG3 utilises Super Electronic Image Stabilisation rather than the optical stabilisation of its bigger cousins. However, given the target usage, this succeeds in doing its job and we were able to grab some reasonably smooth shots even when shooting at the long end of the 10x optical zoom.

Unlike several of its counterparts, the TG3 doesn't offer a 25P Cinema Mode for progressive frame recording. Instead, it relies on a Progressive Shutter digital effect that isn't quite the same thing. Its 1080-line interlaced field recordings looked good when we connected the TG3 by the HDMI and component connectors to two HD monitors, though.

In order to recharge its Li-ion battery and also to connect to other devices, it slots comfortably and easily into a Handycam docking station that can be left permanently connected to a TV display and AC mains supply. Other connections on the camera itself include a combined component/AV composite video/audio outlet (cable supplied), mini-HDMI socket and a USB 2 outlet. The Sony can be connected to a Mac with a USB cable which, when using iMovie 08 running on an Intel Mac OS X Leopard machine, will facilitate import, editing and the sharing of the AVCHD video clips after first performing an initial conversion to QuickTime .mov files using the excellent Apple Intermediate Codec.

The HDR-TG3 is further proof of Sony's continued commitment to the radical AVCHD format that facilitates high quality HD video recording using solid-state media, and for a small, compact device to provide such fabulous full-HD pictures is a feat in itself. On the negative side, we found the rear-mounted rotating zoom control a bit awkward to use when actually recording, and mucky fingers smeared the LCD touchscreen very quickly. However, the TG3 lived up to expectations by enabling us to shoot some excellent quality clips which, when edited in iMovie 08, looked fabulous on a large LCD display. Even though it's quite a bit more expensive than its nearest competitor, the Panasonic SD9, it's well worth a look and highly recommended.