Fantastic Upgrade!

I have been shooting and editing movies for some time with a Sony mini-dv camcorder. I use a Mac with iMovie for editing and I can say that the Sony HDR-HC3 is compatible and works just by plugging in the firewire. Downloading video is an absolute no-brainer.

It is a little annoying that you have to use a different cable to download photographs from the Memory Stick Duo, but I don't think that's any different from any other camcorder.

I personally prefer the tape to a hard drive, because I like option of shooting tons of video without worrying about running out of space on an internal hard drive. The only real downside of this camera is that it takes around 3 or 4 seconds to initialize when you switch it on before recording. If you leave your camera off and want to switch it on to catch someone impromptu, you'll miss it.

The camera feels sturdy and all of the parts look very dependable (much like my last camcorder which didn't break down until I shot an hour of video directly into the sun--that is NOT recommended without a special filter).

The image quality is stunning. I can't believe how much better it is than my old mini-dv camcorder. The image stabilization is good, but still not great. I am told I'd need an optical image stabilizer for the best results, but I don't want to sacrifice the portability of the smaller size camcorder.

I especially like the manual focus option. It's easy to toggle on and off and allows me to focus where I want. I once tried to film a tiny lobster swimming in a tank and couldn't get my old camcorder to stop focussing on the back of the wall. With this feature, I can simply hit a button on the body of the camcorder (placed enough out of the way that you don't accidentally toggle it), and I can focus manually with a little dial.

Photographs are pretty good, although again, image stabilization could be better. The 4 megapixels are enough to be able to crop the photograph without too much loss of detail. It's good enough that I feel comfortable carrying leaving my camera at home.

I think the internal microphone is better than my last camcorder as well, but you still have the option of purchasing an external mike for better sound.

In summary, I feel this is a GREAT camera for the money.