Sharp VL-NZ100U. (DV Camcorders).

 
$700 
 
Sharp Electronics 
Sharp Plaza 
Mahwah, NJ 07430-2135 
(800) BE-SHARP 
www.sharp-usa.com 

If you're new to the world of making your own video, Sharp offers you its new VL-NZ100U Mini DV camcorder. It has a straightforward, unintimidating design and a wide complement of automatic features to get you started making video right away. It doesn't leave intermediate users behind, either. There are just enough manual settings to whet your appetite. And if you were also thinking about a digital still camera, the NZ100U has you covered, and includes an 8MB SD (Secure Digital) card.

Getting to Know You

With its new family of camcorders, Sharp has gone back to its previous Viewcam format, with the tape mechanism and screen attached to the swiveling camera section. Indeed, this camcorder would be difficult to distinguish from the VL-NZ10U we reviewed in March 2002 if it wasn't for the extra "0" in the model name.

Following the recent trend in ultra-small camcorders, the tape transport is the largest part of the whole camcorder. It's designed to be held with both hands, with your thumbs performing all of the video control functions. The exception is the Still-Shot button, which was easily triggered with the right index finger. We had no problems actuating the zoom control, Start/Stop button or menu controls, but users with smaller hands or limited thumb motion may have a little trouble accessing everything.

The unit has no viewfinder, which we found awkward at first, but didn't miss after awhile. The 3-inch color viewscreen was quite clear, even in bright sunlight.

A small, spartan remote control was provided, and handled transport controls, start/stop, zoom and volume controls.