Sharp Viewcam VL-NZ50U Mini DV Camcorder

Pros: Small camera, big screen, swivel design is cool
Cons: No tripod use with battery, no way to protect screen on back, motor noise

The Sharp NZ-50 is pretty cool. I got it from Circuit City with the intention of abusing their no-questions-asked return policy so I could get familiar with the DV format.

The video produced is pretty good, but not amazing. It's what...

Pros: Better than expected results in low light, quiet, 3" screen, easy to use, good value.
Cons: No viewfinder, accessory shoe, or analog inputs; minimal features due to low price.

I bought this unit after fussing with several more expensive units that did not seem to offer good value for the money. I fully expected not to like stepping down to this model after using mid-priced Panasonic and Sony models for several weeks. But,...

Pros: Intense Zoom, Quality Capture, Good Playback, can Hook up to the PC.
Cons: Maybe a little too much zoom? Unless you are sightseeing...

Hello again, moderately long time no see... I've got a review for you all today, about the Sharp ViewCam VL-NZ50 Digital Camcorder. I recently recieved this camera as gift from the holidays, and it led me to great things. Let's start off with the ...

Pros: very cheap
Cons: terrible video noise and crawl

I bought this sharp for 299 us. This was a great deal I thought. After all it is digital. My sony 8mm takes better videos and it's 11 years old. The first one i picked up had a spot on the videos that was inside the camcorder. They gave me a new one and...

Pros: Cool looking design, great image quality, light and quiet.
Cons: No protection for the LCD, limited optical zoom.

I was waiting to get a mini DV camera that would work with my limited budget, and the Sharp Viewcam fit the bill. I paid $299.00 at Walmart and I believe I got a great camera at this price. I used the camera for the first time at my sisters wedding in...

Pros: Small, Compact, Inexpensive
Cons: Broke after 1 USE!!!

Okay, I've never posted anything about a product before, but felt that I should in this case. I used my ViewCam a total of 1 time before it broke! Yes, 1 time. I got an estimate on fixing it today, and the estimate is equal the price of the camera- right at $200. My camera could be the minority- but for my very first camcorder purchase- the fact that I got to use it one time before it TOTALLY malfunctioned is very disappointing and frustrating. The people with customer service were not very helpful either. Good Luck.

Pros: SIZE, QUALITY, RELYABILITY, ETC
Cons: NO MIC INPUT

This is a great camea I've had one for 4 years I would not use this camera for a profesional project, however I do use it as a deck to edit with and there is no quality loss at all.
By the way, one of the only reasons i would not use this camera for a professional shoot is be cause it has no mic input, when i do use it for myself, I sync the sound with a minidisc recorder. works beautifully.
OUTSTANDING

Pros: Inexpensive, easy to use, fun
Cons: low light

My wife and I were looking for an inexpensive camcorder. We came across this one an were not let down.

Considering this is about the cheapest camcorder you can buy, it has served us well.

It is easy to use. My wife started using it without reading the manual.

The battery life is about an hour, which is average.

10x optical zoom is all most people need. There is an option to turn off the digital zoom, which I do.

The low light aspect of this camera is just OK. Don't expect too much from the NZ50U in that area.

There is a still picture feature, but I don't bother. Most still pictures should be about 4MP if you want quality. You can't get 4MP from a camcorder yet.

There is a widescreen option as well. This is nothing more than the regular 4:3 ratio cropped down to widescreen. If you want true widescreen, then you need to shop for cameras with 3 CCDs - which are way out of this camera's budget.

Learning to operate camera is not all that easy. Menus are not that easy to understand and move around in. The price of the recording tape is still too high. I've found that support is not that good(I can't even buy a larger capacity battery, which is almost a neccesity).