Quick Review Camcorders: Sony DCR-PC1000

This camcorder is at the helm of the entire Sony 2005 line of MiniDV camcorders. The PC1000 has 3 CMOS chips with 790K gross pixels. CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) chips are an alternative to CCD chips. As head of the Sony MiniDV household, this camcorder stands apart from its smaller siblings with its imager, design, wealth of features, and manual control options. The PC1000 is Sony’s attempt at a truce between fashion and function. It is a very attractive MiniDV camcorder with sleek black lines, but the compact body makes for cumbersome button placement. At times, it is awkward to handle. Sony offers more manual controls in this model than on its lower-end MiniDVs, but accessing and implementing the controls is tricky.

CMOS cams have often fall under suspicion for producing video inferior to CCD cams. The technology seemed to be in perpetual limbo with manufacturers. Sony has however found a way to circumvent the significant noise and poor color representation tat plagud the technology in the past. The DCR-PC1000 was tested in bright light conditions, equivalent to a bright sunny day, and performed fairly well. The camcorder produced bright images with little noise and relatively good color representation. The images did, however, lack crispness. The video performance of this model is comparable to other camcorders with 3CCD chips like the JVC GZ-MC500 and the PV-GS400.

The CMOS chips did not serve the PC1000 well in dimmer settings. In various low light conditions the camcorder produced images that were too dark for what you shoudl expect in this price range (around $1000). The images exhibited less grain than those from previous models, like last year’s DCR-PC350. In dimmer setting the images were significantly blurry and dark, plagued by a lot of noise. This camcorder’s low light did not follow in the footsteps of its bright light showing. Its camcorder's low light scores are equivalent to that of the JVC GZ-MC500, and the Panasonic SDR-S100.

The DCR-PC1000 can capture stills at four resolutions: 640 x 480, 1600 x 1200, 1920 x 1440, and in widescreen at 1920 x 1080. The stills that were captured by this model are pretty respectable. The images are bright and crisp with vibrant colors. All quality control functions that are offered in video are accessible in still mode. There are some features that are exclusive to camcorder’s still mode. Expandable focus is a feature that zooms in when the camcorder is in focus for more accurate results. The camcorder’s flash can compensate for red-eye and offers three flash settings (Low, Normal, and High). These functions can be accessed through the menu system on the touch screen LCD.

Sony camcorders are outfitted with an Easy Handycam mode, which makes operating the camcorder relatively effortless. Easy Handycam mode relinquishes all image quality control decision over to the camcorder. This camcorder has great automatic controls; adjustments are made quickly and accurately. The camcorder’s touch screen menu system offers spot metering and spot focusing, which allows the user to make focal and metering adjustments to any specific point on the screen.

Compared to some of the lower-end Sonys, this camcorder offers an abundance of manual control, but the most significant and beneficial manual controls are still absent. The camcorder offers no shutter speed and no manual gain control options. These setting are vital to having authority over the quality of the image. The user will often shoot in unpredictable and undesirable conditions and it is important to have these controls at the ready, especially in a 3 CCD camcorder. Panasonic and JVC 3 CCD camcorders make at least one, if not all, of these options available. The DCR-PC1000 offers controls such as AE shift, White Balance Shift, and Zebra pattern. These features are neat, but the fundamentals should come first.

All of the camcorder’s features are accessed with the touch screen menu system. Navigating through the menu creates a handling issue. The user has to rummage through the touch screen in order to access and utilize these features. Without the Easy Handycam mode acting as an auto pilot, this camcorder becomes cumbersome to operate. The odd button placement and the bulky feel of the camcorder hinder ease of use as well.

The DCR-PC1000 offers a lot to its users, but it is missing some of the fundamentals. It provides style, but is partially lacking in functionality. The automatic controls and Easy Handycam mode makes it fairly easy to use, but any attempt made to control the quality of the images will only be met with frustration. The camcorder produces great video and still features but has mediocre low light performance. Ultimately it comes down to the user’s individual needs. For point-and-shooters whose priorities are convenience and comfort while capturing good video, this is the camera for you. If the user wants to be more than a co-pilot in the capturing process, you might want to keep shopping.

Sony DCR-PC1000: THE BOTTOM LINE... Rating: 215.38

Likes

-Automatic Control -Video Performance -Respectable Low Light Performance -Still Performance -Ease Of Use -LCD -Portability

Dislikes

-Manual Control -Handling -Closed Battery Port -Audio

Sony DCR-PC1000 Compared to the...

JVC GZ-MC500 Rating: 218.38	JVC GR-X5 Rating: 224.72	Panasonic PV-GS400 Rating: 134.50	Sony SDR-S100 Rating: 197.94	Canon Optura 600 Rating:
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
-Manual Control -Digital Still Capabiltiy -Portability -Audio -VCR Mode -Handling -Portability	-Low Light Performance -Video Performance -Manual Control -Audio -Navigation System -Still Capability -Wide Angle -VCR Mode -Ports -Battery	-Imager Specs -Optical Zoom Specs -Manual Control -Low Light Performance -Ports -Audio -Handling -Battery	-Manual Control -Portability -Handling -Navigation System -Digital Still Capability -Video Performance -VCR Mode -Battery
Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal
-Low Light Performance -Ports -Optical Zoom Specs -Closed Battery Port	-Fairly Equal Video Performance -Optical Zoom Specs	-Fairly Equal Video Performance	-Optical Zoom -No Microphone Input -Battery -Wide Angle	-Closed Battery Port -Optical Zoom Specs
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
-LCD -Video Performance -Automatic Control -Ease of Use -Widescreen	-Imager Specs -Automatic Controls -Ease Of use -Portability -LCD -Handling -Portability -Widescreen	-LCD -Automatic Control -Ease of Use -Portability	-Ports -Low Light Performance Automatic Control -Hot Accessory Shoe -LCD -Ease of Use -Audio -Widescreen	-LCD -Ease of Use -Navigation System -Automatic Control -Imager Specs -Accessory Shoe