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April 28, 2008

Sony HDR-TG3 review

The stylish, petite Sony HDR-TG3 is an HD camcorder that ships with a generous 4GB memory card, enough for about half an hour of footage recorded at full high-definition quality.

Sony is promoting the HDR-TG3 as: "the world's smallest and lightest high definition camcorder". Measuring a scant 63x32x132mm and weighing in at just 240g, the dinky Sony HDR-TG3 lives up to that claim.

The Sony HDR-TG3 achieves its diminutive stature by eschewing the more traditional MiniDV tape for a miniscule Memory Stick Pro DUO card. Solid state as a storage medium has really come into its own in recent months and the Sony HDR-TG3 acts as a showcase for the advantages solid-state has to offer.

The Sony HDR-TG3 ships with a generous 4GB memory card, enough for about half an hour of footage recorded at full high-definition quality.

It's not just small; the Sony HDR-TG3 is good looking too. The vertical form factor is made out of scratch-resistent titanium in a gun-metal styling and sports a flip out 2.7in LCD touchscreen. This takes care of most of the menu options leaving the body of the camera free relatively clutter-free, sporting just a record button and zoom ring.

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Although it keeps controls to a minimum, the Sony HDR-TG3 houses plenty of sockets tucked away under various flaps: USB, audio out, S-Video out, Component video out; it even has a built-in HDMI output socket so you can hook it up directly to a high-defintion television. A dock is also provided so you can easily hook it up to your computer.

The Sony HDR-TG3 records 1920x1080 full HD video (also know as 1080p). It also acts as a 4Mp stills camera, and is capable of taking 2.3Mp stills while you are recording video footage.

The optical system is a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar with a 1.8-2.3 F and 10x optical zoom.

Although the small form factor ensures that the recorded footage is no match for a larger, more professional model (such as the Sony HDR-FX1) we have to admit to being impressed by the quality of the Sony HDR-TG3. This is all the more remarkable because no other upright camcorder has truly impressed us in terms of image quality before.

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Independent customer reviews from

Sony HDR-TG3 scored:
9.1 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 66 reviews:

15 May 2008 Anonymous verified 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.

See more Sony HDR-TG3 reviews on Reevoo.com

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