CamcorderInfo has posted their Sony DCR-SR80 review. The SR80 did not perform as well as it could have. The 1/5.5″ CCD sensor allowed for a nicely saturated image, consistent with what we have come to expect from Sony. Unfortunately, the DCR-SR80 fell far short when it came to sharpness and noise, performing especially poorly when stacked up against the DCR-SR100, Sony’s upper-end HDD camcorder.

At the same time, the Sony DCR-SR80 is one of the easiest camcorders to use, according to CCInfo. The touch screen negates the need for almost any buttons on the outside of the camcorder, which should make it much less cumbersome to the technophobes.

One of the ways in which Sony camcorders usually excel is in low-light situations, but the DCR-SR80 also fared poorly here. The image looks bad, and the reviewers also had trouble focusing the camcorder at low light levels.

Because of this poor performance, CCInfo suggests taking a look at the Sony DCR-SR100 or just “abandoning HDD altogether.”