Sony DCR-PC5: Good camera and great size

Author's Rating:

Pros: Size, video picture quality

Cons: Resolution of memory stick photos; battery life

The Bottom Line: 
The DCR-PC5 is an excellent video camera, but a poor digital one. Its small size is its best feature. I have had no problems in over a year.

Author's Review
I purchased a Sony DCR-PC5 Digital Video camera from a local store for a trip I was taking to the never boring Middle East in October-November, 2000.

Size: Its small size was what first attracted me and what I still like most about it. With my larger cameras I found myself not even taking them traveling because of their size. The PC5 fit easily into my pocket which is great. Its size requires me to be more steady and strictly follow the basic rules: Never (or hardly ever) pan or zoom. Of course I still violated these rules.

Its size was very useful when I was trying to get pictures or film in various locations. For example in the Valley of the Kings, our guide explained that the rule was if you could smuggle your video camera past the gate guards, you could use it by paying a still camera fee of a dollar or so per tomb. My cousin had a larger camcorder and the guards promptly confiscated it until he left. I had mine in my pocket and I sailed through. Once inside there was no problem about using it.

The camera is actually two cameras: video and digital still. The video is quite good quality on its mini-DV format. As with many other video cameras, it has a hard time with some oranges and reds. (A piece of amber turned red in the picture.) The digital still picture resolution is like a poor quality television picture. The colors can be good to poor. Ideally, I would like a much higher resolution capability for printing the memory stick photos.

Sound: Although there have been complaints about the sound, I found it satisfactory. For me, sound however is not high on my list of priorities when doing travel and home videos. The microphone is on top of the camera, but it picked up my voice without any problem. The PC5 has a microphone input so if I wanted higher quality sound, I could use an external microphone.

Touch Screen: I had not used a touch screen camcorder before. I found this one easy to use; it was quite responsive and held up fine.

Night Shot: The night shot is grainy and lacks much color however is better than not having it.

Memory cassette: Despite the additional expense, the memory cassette is handy for labeling the cassette and scenes within the cassette. For labeling, the screen displays telephone style buttons and you press the "ABC" button three times for a "C", etc.

There are no neck strap attachment points for the camera however I did not find the lack of a neck strap to be an annoyance I usually kept the camera in my pocket or in a camera case attached to my belt.

Still Photo Memory Stick: You can take still photos onto the memory stick by putting the camera into memory mode or by pushing the photo button while in video playback. The memory stick photos are JPG pictures which are compressed to between 68,000 to 97,000 bytes in the camera's best (though poor) resolution. I bought a 64MB stick and was able to put over 600 photos onto it (and evidently around 900 in the lower resolution). The camera has a good "slide show" presentation which can be attached to a television and brings up the next picture at 5 second intervals.
Battery: The PC5 comes with a Sony FS11 battery. The manual is fairly accurate with its estimated recording times - about 30 minutes of typical time with the FS11. I would recommend buying a larger battery such as the FS31 which they state will run for 90-130 minutes. I purchased an extra FS11 and regretted not buying the larger one for extended periods when I am not near a power source.

I am pleased with the camera and its performance.