Sony Handycam DCR-SR85

At only 14 ounces with battery and 3.1 inches high by 3 inches wide by 4.5 inches deep, the silver and black SR85 is compact and lightweight. Sony improved the body design over its predecessor's, the DCR-SR82. Instead of separate mode and record controls, the power, movie or still dial for the SR85 sits naturally under your thumb, while the dead center record button lets you start fast without much thought.

Above it are power and activity lights topped by a Quick On button that takes the camcorder quickly in and out of a standby mode. On top sit the camera shutter button for taking stills (though you'll probably get better pictures from newer cell phones) and the rocker switch for the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 25x zoom lens. The switch operates smoothly as does the zoom, allowing for stutter free close ups.

However, since it lacks optical image stabilization, those extreme close ups will require a tripod.

At the front above the lens sits a stereo zoom microphone it attenuates with the lens to better capture the audio coming from the subject that performed much better than expected.

Just behind it is an accessory shoe for Sony lights and microphones. Under the lens is a switch to open and close the built in lens cover.

There are no mic or headphone jacks, which would be welcome, but manufacturers tend to jettison them for budget models.

What you will find under a sliding door on the right side is a mini USB port and an AV out designed for use with the included cable. (A Handycam docking station is part of the package, too, featuring the same connections and a DC in for charging.) Another sliding door on top hides a Memory Stick Pro Duo card slot, while a flip down door below the main control dial hides the jack for the power cable. All the cover ups make for a clean appearance.

Also, hidden in plain sight off on the inside of the grip is the switch for the camcorder's Nightshot Plus infrared light, which lets you capture creepy night vision video of people sleeping or whatever else you choose to shoot in complete darkness. You access all menus through the 2.7 inch wide aspect touch panel LCD. Despite the use of tiny on screen icons to navigate settings, the screen was very responsive and accurate to tapping.

There are two menu systems a Home menu to get to all feature settings and an Options menu to get directly to the available functions for video and still images, such as focus, white balance, and recording modes. It might take awhile to remember when and how to use the menus, but again the screen is so responsive that flying through the menus to find what you need goes fairly fast. There's also a set of four buttons lining the left LCD bezel that come in handy when recording overhead or at a low angle home, zoom in, zoom out, and start/stop recording.