Using the DCR-DVD101 to shoot home movies is easy — and fun!

Meeting the family
Since I could count on one hand the number of times I?ve used a camcorder in my life, it took me a minute or two to locate the most significant controls on the ?DVD101. I?ll admit that I got a little impatient — probably due in part to the mood swings that notoriously accompany my condition. Also, it didn?t help that I was learning how to use the camcorder at the very moment that I wanted to record important footage. This taught me an important lesson: always take the time to acquaint yourself with your gear. (My husband, on the other hand, seems to have a sixth sense about these things. When he picked up the cam, he immediately found the Power, Record, and Zoom controls that it took me several seconds to locate.)

For both of us, using this camcorder was nothing but fun. We filmed our pets, friends who were visiting, and relatives with whom we celebrated Mother?s Day. In fact, my eight-year-old niece fell in love with the ?DVD101, and insisted on holding it and even filming footage of her own! I had to work the controls, but the cam was so lightweight and compact that she had no problem carrying it (attended by my very watchful eye, of course).

One of our favorite features was the cam's 10X optical zoom. Sony places it within easy reach, so you can use it at any point while you film. Also, the ?DVD101 tended to zoom pretty smoothly, avoiding the drastically quick, dizzying in-and-out effect I've seen on some home movies. The optical zoom was really useful for getting close, candid shots of unsuspecting pets and people.

Snapping digital photos
The DCR-DVD101's digital photo mode is a handy perk. It's easy to use — even without consulting the manual, I was able to figure out that you switch to photo mode simply by turning the camcorder's "mode" dial to select the camera icon. The ?DVD101 doesn't come with a flash, but you can connect a separate one via the Intelligent Accessory Shoe. And if you plan to take lots of still photos, you'll want to — I snapped several evening shots, and concluded that flash-less shooting is best done in broad daylight or indoors with lots of lighting. (Can you tell I'm really getting to be an expert now?)

You can choose between "fine" and "standard" photo quality levels. I assume that a standard-quality photo is simply more compressed, since both are 640 x 480 resolution. But considering that you can fit over 5,000 fine-quality photos on a disc, I can't imagine opting to compress the pics just so I could squeeze in another 3,000! Needless to say, I left the ?DVD101 in "fine" mode for photos.

One cool benefit of the ?DVD101 is that the camcorder automatically creates a slideshow of your photos (or "photomovie") during disc finalization, which can be played back on your DVD player. Sure, the 640 x 480 shots don't look fabulous on a TV screen, but it's really fun to be able to use your TV to show shots to friends and family. (If I planned to use my camcorder as my primary still camera, too, I'd opt to get the ?DVD101's big brother, the DCR-DVD201. Its megapixel CCD would yield better-looking, higher-resolution photos.)

The pros and cons of disc-based recording
Finalizing the disc. Before the disc containing your precious home video can go from the ?DVD101 to a DVD player, it must be "finalized" in-camera. This step took longer than I expected — about 15 minutes for a disc containing 15 minutes of footage.

Locating scenes. Once that was done, we popped the DVD-R in our DVD player and were greeted by thumbnail images of each scene we had recorded. Instead of rewinding or fast-forwarding to the segment we wanted to see, a couple clicks of the remote got us there. We loved this easy navigation — it?s not something you get with any tape-based format.

Automatic "end search." The Advisor?s review of last year?s DCR-DVD300 mentioned an unexpected bonus: when you hit Record, that camcorder automatically captured new footage to the unused part of the disc. Well, happily, Sony hasn?t changed that feature for this year?s models. We were relieved to find that the earlier scenes we?d captured were still on the disc, even though we hadn?t cued it up in any way. As a fan of audio recording who has inadvertently overwritten many a beloved performance, I think this feature?s a godsend.