Sony DCR-HC85E Vs Sony DCR-HC90E

[swilks]

I've had a quick look through the forums trying to decide on which camcorder to buy from not knowing much about any of them. From what I'd seen from another recent thread from someone in the same position as me, the Sony DCR-HC90E came out pretty well but a bit out of my price range at £500+.

Well today I went into the local Comet store to have a look and try some for size and they had the HC90E (£700!) and it's superceded model the HC85E at special offer of £370.

Now the question is, I know I can get the HC90E for £520 online, but is the HC85E a better buy at £150 less as it is discontinued?

 

[cathruocco]

one of those threads just might have been mine. I've spent days trawling through reviews trying to decide what camcorder buy. In the end I have decided to buy a HC90E, which I was going to get from Jessops (£700), but have now seen it on Amazon for £545, which means that I can buy some accessories too, like a decent case, microphone, tapes......! The only thing that was pulling me to jessops was they had a good insurance deal which covered you for 3 years for stuff like accidental damage, wear and tear etc., not that I'm planning to bounce it off the walls etc.

I have decided to buy the HC90E but can anyone tell me whether you can adjust the white balance manually on it. I have looked at the tech details on the sony website and it just says "auto/indoor/outdoor/one push". Does this mean yes or no!!!!!

 

[laser]

Check out this review if you haven't already:

http://www.dvspot.com/reviews/sony/hc90-review/index.shtml

 

[MarkE19]

If you would rather buy the camcorder from Jessops then get a printout of the cheapest UK based web site selling it and Jessops 'should' pricematch them (at the managers discression). You then have the option of taking out their insurance, but IMO these are an expensive waiste of time.

"auto/indoor/outdoor/one push" will be white balance presets. By the sounds of it the cam does not have full manual settings, but this is often more of a pain to use than it is worth. Just avoid useing 'auto' whenever possible.

Mark.