10/24/2008: Bought a Sony DCR-PC7 Camcorder on eBay tonight. It supposedly has LANC capability. Now I'm shopping for an Xtreme Sony Helmet Cam kit.
DCR-PC7 Mini DV Camcorder
Sony
One Sony Drive
Park Ridge, NJ 07656
http://www.sony.com
The trend of miniaturization is certainly nothing new to the consumer camcorder marketplace. Even while Videomaker was busy publishing its first issue over a decade ago, consumer electronics firms were trying very hard to make their products smaller, lighter and easier to tote around.
Now, the tiniest tape format of them all--DV--offers unparalleled opportunities for miniaturization, and Sony has taken advantage of these realities to produce the DCR-PC7. Latest in a long line of "world's smallest" camcorders, the DCR-PC7 is an attempt to provide what was hitherto impossible: a truly pocket-sized unit with most of the bells and whistles that consumers look for in a camcorder. With 120:1 digital zoom, 400 lines of resolution, a lithium-ion battery, Super SteadyShot image stabilization, DV input/output and a 2.5-inch flip-out LCD monitor, the DCR-PC7 delivers features and performance that would give most full-size camcorders a run for their money.
Passport to Quality
The DCR-PC7 has a very distinctive look and feel. Modeled in familiar gunmetal gray and anodized silver tones, its metal and plastic casing feels solid and sturdy in the hand.
A permanently fixed hand strap on the right side of the unit adjusts to secure the camcorder to your palm while shooting. In this position, the thumb can easily access the four-position Power/Record switch, which includes settings for VTR mode, Camera mode, Photo mode and Off. Manipulating the power switch isn't as easy as it could be--toggling the various positions with your thumb takes a little bit of practice, and sometimes requires the assistance of the left hand.
Below the Power/Record toggle is a tiny Start/Stop Mode switch. This switch selects one of three different modes for the Record button: one selects the traditional push-once-to-record, push-again-to-stop mode; another sets the camera to record only while the button is depressed; a third enables the recording of video in 5-second intervals.
Two other controls found on the rear of the unit are the AE Lock and Fader buttons. The former is useful for controlling exposure, while the latter is the standard triggered fader found on many consumer models. (Push it before you hit record, and the image fades up from black when you start shooting; push it while the tape is rolling, and the image fades out when you stop recording.) These buttons are located in a somewhat awkward place on the camcorder body, where accidental triggering of their effects is all too easy. Actually, it's hard to imagine where else you might put them on such a small camera body.
Opening the 2.5-inch LCD monitor reveals a small speaker for audio playback and an array of membrane-type pushbutton controls for Volume, LCD Brightness, Display on/off, Menu controls and End Search. The latter function, End Search, is a handy way to locate the last bit of recorded material on the tape, thus avoiding loss of previously recorded material by accidentally taping over it.
When the unit is in Camera mode, the Menu controls offer easy access to the DCR-PC7's Autoexposure (Auto, Sports, Sunset/moon, Landscape), White Balance (Auto, Hold, Indoor, Outdoor), Digital Zoom (on/off), Super SteadyShot (on/off), Record Mode (SP/LP) and other camcorder functions.
In VTR mode, the menu controls include Audio Mixing (for balancing left and right channels recorded from the DCR-PC7's stereo microphone), LCD Color (saturation) and Data Code (for displaying the day of the year and/or various camcorder functions on playback, such as Time Code or Record mode).
The lens controls found on the right-hand side of the camcorder include a simple variable-speed zoom slider and a button that toggles between Automatic, Manual and Infinity focus settings. In Manual mode, focusing is accomplished by turning the focus ring on the front of the camcorder--a nice, simple feature that too many camcorder manufacturers have replaced with push-button focus systems.
Outputs on the camcorder body include an S-video connector and a 1/8-inch stereo phone plug headphone jack. This tiny connector also does double-duty as a composite video and stereo audio (RCA- style) output when you plug in the supplied proprietary A/V cable. Control-L and microphone connectors are also available, but only if you purchase an optional VMC-LM7 accessory ($50) that attaches to the bottom of the unit.
Though the DCR-PC7 has no analog inputs, it does have that one little connector that separates Sony's DV camcorders from all others currently available: a DV in/out jack. This allows lossless digital dubbing to or from another Sony DV Handycam, or even onto and off of a hard drive or RAID in an IEEE-1394- equipped DTV editing system.
Image is Everything
Images shot on the DCR-PC7 looked sharp and richly detailed, with only minimal color bleed. Playing back through the proprietary A/V connector introduced some noise, causing sharp edges to crawl and resolution to suffer a bit--not a great surprise for a system that sends composite video and stereo audio through a tiny mini-plug connector. S-video playback, however, provides images that surpass most anything a single-chip Hi8 or S-VHS unit can deliver.
All in all, the DCR-PC7 is a compact technological marvel, suitable for almost any video application from home or event videography on up to broadcast-level work. It's already seen plenty of use in the fields of surveillance and ENG (Electronic News Gathering); it's also found its way into plenty of the Christmas stockings of the well-to-do. Someday, perhaps, we'll see a version of this camcorder with a price tag that the rest of us can afford.
Tech Specs
Sony DCR-PC7 Mini DV Camcorder
Format
Mini DV
Lens
10:1 optical zoom, 4-40mm focal length, 120:1 digital zoom, continuously variable zoom control, f/1.8, inner focus, wide macro
Image sensor
0.33-inch, 680,000-pixel CCD
Viewfinder
0.5-inch color LCD; 2.5-inch flip-out LCD monitor
Focus
TTL auto, manual, infinity
Maximum shutter speed
1/4000th of a second
Exposure
Auto, 4 program AE modes, AE Lock
White balance
Auto, hold, interior, exterior
Digital effects
None
Audio
12-bit PCM stereo
Inputs
DV, microphone (1/8-inch mini; optional)
Outputs
DV, S-video, composite video and stereo audio (via 1/8-inch mini plug)
Edit interface
Control-L (optional)
Other features
LP recording, End Search, DV time code, Super SteadyShot image stabilization, 5-second record, InfoLithium battery readout (accurate to 1 minute), audio dub, built-in speaker
Dimensions
1.75 (width) by 4.25 (height) by 2.25 (depth) inches
Weight (sans tape and battery)
6.7 oz.
Video Performance (approx.)
Horizontal resolution (camera)
400 lines
Horizontal resolution (playback)
400 lines
Performance Times
Pause to Record
.5 seconds
Power-up to Record
3 seconds
Fast-forward/Rewind
(30 min. tape)
50 seconds
Strengths
Compact design
Excellent image quality
Manual focus ring
Weaknesses
No manual iris control
Accessory needed for Control-L and/or microphone jack
Expensive
Summary
Just the ticket for travelers, executives, private investigators and anyone else who wants both small size and excellent picture quality.
⚠️ Last edited by IDEFENDM on UTC; edited 1 time
