Sony Handycam DCR-PC9 Mini DV Camcorder

Built around the fairly recent MiniDV tapes, which are about the same size as mini-cassette audio tapes, the Sony DCR-PC9 is extremely compact and lightweight, taking up somewhat more room than a package of cigarettes and weighing slightly more than one pound. This camcorder would appeal to travelers, secret agents, and anybody else who needs to keep weight and size at a minimum.



Price

While the PC9 is quite diminutive, its price more than compensates for its size, listing at $1,399.00. You may find it selling at a discount (though watch out for retailers who ADVERTISE it at a very low price as authorized Sony dealers are not allowed to do so).



Matters of Size

If you're not specifically looking for a compact camcorder, you can get equal picture quality from many models selling for quite a bit less. Of course, they're not as tiny. But they're really not significantly larger either. A typical camcorder has WHD of about 4 by 4 by 8 inches. Not something you could easily fit in a jacket pocket, but also not all that much larger than the PC9 which measures about (WHD) 3 by 4 by 4 inches. As for weight, most camcorders are about 2 pounds, versus 1.0625 pounds for the PC9.



Image Quality

The video quality is decent, a little bit better than you would get with one-chip camcorders of competing formats such as Hi8 or S-VHS. The MiniDV format can record up to 500 lines of resolution, though the single CCD chip in the PC9 won't necessarily create a single of that resolution. Since this is a single-chip (CCD) camcorder, it won't have the near-broadcast-quality color depth and signal-to-noise ratio which you'd get with a 3-chip camcorder such as the Sony DCR-TRV900 or the DCR-VX2000. The single CCD chip in the PC9 is a 0.25-inch unit with 680k pixels though Sony states that only 340k pixels are used in the motion video mode and 340k pixels are used in the still mode.



Ergonomics

The ergonomics of the PC9 are similar to those of most camcorders. For handheld shooting, you put your fingers through the strap on the right side of the camcorder while your thumb operates the record start/stop button and VTR/camera mode switch and your index finger controls the zoom wide/tight (wide angle and zoom) slider switch.



Still, MemoryStick Capability

The camcorder records digital stills at VGA resolution (640 by 480) onto either a MiniDV tape or a MemoryStick RAM card. A 4 Meg MemoryStick comes with the camcorder. You can also record low-resolution MPEG movies to the MemoryStick or to tape. The supplied 4 Meg MemoryStick lets you record approximately 2 minutes 40 seconds at the lowest MPEG resolution, which Sony calls "e-mail mode," of 160 by 112.

With the largest available optional MemoryStick, 128 Megabytes, you could record over 85 minutes in e-mail mode or over 21 minutes at the higher "presentation mode" (320 by 240). The MPEG recording features should be of interest to people who want video for streaming to a Web site. Video recorded to tape can be converted to MPEG mode and recorded onto a MemoryStick.



Optics

The PC9's 30mm lens is made by Carl Zeiss. Sharpness is generally not a problem with Sony lenses, whether OEM or with a third-party brand name. Compared to a 35mm camera lens, the PC9 goes from a moderate wide-angle measurement of 42mm to an extreme zoom of 420mm. Since 42mm is only a slightly wide-angle lens size (50mm is neutral), you would likely end up wanting a wide-angle adapter if you, let's say, want to record subjects from closer than six feet and want to get more than one person in the shot.

Because of the camera's tiny filter ring size of 30mm, it's tough to find a third-party company, such as Kenko, selling adapter lenses which will fit the PC9. However, Sony makes 30mm adapters, such as the VCL-0630S 0.6x wide-angle conversion lens. In fact, one of the nice things about Sony camcorders, in general, is the wide range of reasonably-priced accessories, such as lights, flash units, adapter lenses, microphones, heavy-duty replacement batteries, and more, all made specifically to work with Sony models.

On the other end of the scale from the PC9's 42mm wide-angle maximum, the 420mm extreme zoom will let you read street signs from two city blocks away. In fact, you would need a tripod to shoot at that zoom level. Shooting handheld at the extreme end of the zoom range would mean the image would pick up the tiniest movement of your hand that's holding the camera. This tendency is magnified on a small, light camcorder such as the PC9. The optical zoom has a 10x ratio. The digital zoom electronically magnifies that up to 120x.



Controls

There's an auto-focus feature for folks who like to "set-it and forget-it" (in the immortal words of Ron Popeil), or a manual focus ring around the lens. You can also manually set shutter speed (down to 1/4 second) and exposure. White balance settings include: "auto, indoor, outdoor, hold."



Viewfinder/LCD

There's a 180,000pixel 0.5-inch color viewfinder and a 2.5-inch 211,000pixel color LCD screen. The LCD screen burns slightly more juice than the viewfinder and running both notches up power consumption further. These are the levels of power consumption, in watts, for running just the viewfinder, for running just the LCD, and for running both simultaneously 2.7/3.5/3.8.



Edit Controller

A built-in edit controller let's you choose in and out points for up to 20 scenes. Once you have picked the 20 segments you want, the edit controller turns the playback function of the PC9 on and off at the appropriate points and will then control a target deck for recording. This is also known as assemble editing. The target deck can be either another camcorder or VTR which, like the PC9, has an IEEE-1394 (a.k.a., Firewire, iLink) jack or any camcorder or VCR with an infrared remote-control sensor. It's a nice feature, and will actually allow quite precise editing with an IEEE-1394-equipped target recorder, but if you're just using it with a standard camcorder or VCR you can replicate the function through two-handed remote-control operation.



Image Stabilization

Sony makes rather audacious claims for the efficacy of the picture stabilization system in the PC9. The problem with small and light camcorders like the PC9 is that they are very sensitive to even the slightest movements of your hand. The picture stabilization system may slightly reduce the effect of these movements on the video image, but I found the PC9 to pass on hand movement just as efficiently as most other small camcorders, with or without the stabilization being turned on.



Accessory Shoe

The accessory shoe, oddly enough for such a pricey Sony, is not one of their "intelligent" units. The intelligent accessory shoes have connection points which allow various Sony accessories to be controlled by the camcorder. For example, an intelligent video light might have its level set according to the light-readings and exposure/shutter settings in the camcorder. In fact, the shoe doesn't even supply DC voltage, so any accessory attached to it will merely have a mechanical attachment and will need its own power source.



Connections

As well as the IEEE-1394 connection, which allows you to send data and control signals to and from any other IEEE-1394 device, such as another MiniDV VTR or a video card in a computer for non-linear editing, there is an analog I/O jack set with R/L audio connections and composite and S-Video connections. You can input analog video from another device and the PC9 will convert it to digital and record it to MiniDV tape or output it in real time through the IEEE-1394 connection.

Other connections include one for an external mic (stereo 3.5-mm miniplug), one for headphones (stereo 3.5-mm miniplug), one for LANC signals (3.5-mm miniplug), Sony's proprietary two-way edit control format, and a USB jack.



Shooting Effects

The PC9 includes a range of picture effects as well as Sony's NightShot feature, which allows recording of monochrome images in very low light levels (at extremely low light levels, the level of grain is relatively high with NightShot).



Accessories

The camcorder includes an AC adaptor/batter charger, an NP30 InfoLithium battery, remote, A/V cable, lens cap, 4 Meg MemoryStick, USB cable, and photo/video software from MGI. Available options include MemorySticks at sizes up to 128 Megs.



Conclusion

With a camcorder like the PC9, you're getting into a situation of shaving ounces off the total weight. It's a good deal for anybody willing to pay about double for a single-chip camcorder that's very compact. If price is important to you, know that you can get a single-chip Sony camcorder (the TRV240, for example) that will give you equal image quality and features for about half the price of the PC9. If quality is your bag, then spending a couple of hundred dollars more, and going with a full-size camcorder (which in reality is not all that much bigger and heavier than the PC9), will get you a 3-chip TRV900 with its near-broadcast image quality. But if you're going on the road as a secret agent, the PC9 might be just the deal for you.