Review on 📷 Sony DCRTRV230 Digital8 Camcorder: Discontinued by Manufacturer, Limited Stock Available! by Jermaine Krishnamoorthy

I read all the negative reviews and whined in the reviews of the Sony TRV-230 Digital 8 camcorder and bought it anyway Link to Live action for my animation projects. In any case, I didn't need outstanding image quality, so the claims didn't apply to me. I was surprised when I received this item. The picture quality is amazing! It has natural colors, excellent sound reproduction for the built-in microphone and is razor sharp. While it's true that you can have some grain indoors, it's not a disadvantage as people here believe. I lit the objects evenly and brightly, and the graininess disappeared. Fix an issue. If you have good lighting there is no grain. Very easy. But if you don't have consistent, bright lighting, it can get very grainy. The camera has an amazing array of effects, all of which can be good if used in moderation. One effect I particularly like is the "Flash" effect. Scale it down to a single bar and you get a nice cinematic look that looks a lot like 35mm film at 26 fps. The lens is very good, but objects can be blinded in very bright light. However, all cameras do this to some extent. So if you shoot outdoors a lot, Sony has a couple of lens filters you can screw on. Strike out another complaint. I particularly liked the fact that almost everything is under the thumb. Recording mode, playback mode, zoom. The zoom is amazing, but forget about the 700x zoom. It gets blurry by a factor of 400 or 500, but as someone at Revain said, who needs that kind of zoom anyway? If you really want to shoot something, stand back [from behind] and shoot it. The remote control is also handy, especially when working with time-lapse/steadicam. It might seem like a toy, but when it's on a tripod you don't want to shake the camera when you're shooting time-lapse. It has most of the features of the camera itself. One complaint I have is the tape loading mechanism. Most 8mm camcorders have a simple door: insert a cassette and slam the door shut, just like a cassette deck. Not this one. It has a fancy motor that rolls out the cassette like in a sci-fi movie. It sure looks cool, but if it breaks, how do you stick the tape in place? there is a minus for Sony. I did like the bottom tape loading mechanism, however, because most of the 8mm door is where your palm is, so you have to stick your hand out. Not here. A tripod can be an issue, but the display tells you how much ribbon you've used and how much ribbon is left, so it doesn't matter because you'll have more than enough notifications to change ribbon anyway. This is a simple moment. and record with a camcorder that does a good job. It also suits me well for professional use as it works with all other Cogeco broadcast cameras. This camera outperforms every other Cogeco studio camera before or after. It takes some photographic skill and a real artistic eye to achieve professional quality with this camera, but it certainly can be achieved.