Although most people only think of dubious objectives and espionage when they think of a spy camcorder, the devices are actually useful in a number of situations. Journalists, investigators, security personnel, and homeowners use them regularly to provide surveillance and to capture images that prove useful.

A portable camcorder of this nature can record weddings, sales floor and office activity, and capture tense moments in situations where a full-size camera would create suspicion or be less than practical. Modern devices are small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, making them ideal to take along anywhere you go.

The Sony Cybershot DSC W270 is a mid range digital camera. This is true both in terms of features and also in terms of price. At around 27mm wide by my measurements there are a lot of smaller cameras out there and while the Cybershot DSC W270 will fit into larger pockets it looks noticeably larger than the more slimline models.

Digital photography has become a popular hobby or vocation for many and connoisseurs have reasons to be happy in the contemporary scenario. Several new versions of digital camcorders have been introduced at the dawn of the New Year as a bonanza for them. Sanyo announced the introduction of two of their latest models of camcorders. The first one is VPC-CS1 which is a small full HD device with 10x optical zoom lens. The other one is VPC-SH1 with a 30x optical zoom lens and 10 mega pixel camera which is capable of shooting still images also. Another market leader Sony has also announced the introduction of their new products of the year namely HDR-CX550V and HDR-XR550V.

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Nice manual feature set, comfortable design.

Thumbs Down:

No optical image stabilization for the zoom lens, awkard interface, zoom rocker is hard to control, video quality is mediocre

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Samsung SC-MX20 has a 1/6″ optical sensor size, videos are stored in H.264 format, minimum shutter speed is 1/60 second, maximum shutter speed is 1/10000 second, images are stored in JPEG format, supported flash memory is SD Memory Card, MultiMedia Card. The camcorder has Zoom lens - 2.3 mm - 78.2 mm - F/1.6-4.3, with 2.3 mm - 78.2 mm focal length, lens aperture is F/1.6-4.3, optical zoom is 34x, minimum focal length is 2.3 mm, lens manufacturer is Schneider-Kreuznach, maximum focal length is 78.2 mm

A couple years ago (ok, more than a few), I became really interested in buying a digital camcorder. Like most people new to the trade, I wanted to purchase the latest digital camcorder that featured the best technology. I always enjoyed looking at the flashy camcorder magazines to check out pictures, and read articles and reviews on the latest camcorders.

However, once I became serious about wanting to buy one, it suddenly occurred to me, as I was reading the magazine reviews, that almost every single one had a positive slant. Virtually every review I read, discussed only the benefits and cool features of the camcorders.