Sony DCR-PC55

Performance

A small camera means a small battery; expect about an hour of recording time. Because the battery is mounted inside the camera, larger, extended-capacity batteries aren't available.

The Sony Handycam DCR-PC55's automatic modes perform well in most shooting conditions. Auto white balance and autoexposure are very quick, autofocus is snappy, and the camera quickly adjusts to fast changes in lighting conditions. The digital image stabilizer fares worse, with very noticeable camera shake when using the zoom. This is probably more a result of the camera's awkward-to-hold-steady shape making the stabilizer work extra hard than any deficiency with the stabilizer itself.

Manual controls are a mixed bag. Manual focus is time-consuming and imprecise using the touch screen, but the spot-metering and focus functions that let you touch the portion of the frame you want to use as a reference work very well.

The LCD provides a clear, bright picture and, at three inches, is quite large for such a tiny camcorder. It works well in bright light, which is good, since there's no viewfinder to fall back on.

The stereo microphone worked well, picking up subtle noises without recording the sound of the camera motor. Its placement on top of the camera makes it more sensitive to the shooter's voice than the subject's, however, and the lack of a wind-filter function made for some noisy outdoor shots in our testing on a breezy day.

Image Quality
While Sony didn't compromise many features in making the Handycam DCR-PC55 small, we unfortunately can't say the same about image quality. The video quality is among the poorest we've seen for a model in this price class. No matter how good the lighting, we saw noticeable video noise in our shots, indoors and out. There's also a noticeable lack of resolution. Footage lacks detail, and objects such as rooflines have a very noticeable stair-step effect.

Color on our bright, outdoor shots looked accurate and saturated, but both indoors and in dimly lit situations, color faded out very noticeably while video noise increased dramatically. This camcorder is definitely best suited for outdoor shooting. The Color Slow Shutter mode brings colors out a bit more in dark situations but at the expense of a very slow frame rate and blurry panning shots. Furthermore, in situations with extremes of exposure--say, a lamp in a very dim room--the lighted area blows out while the dark areas remain underexposed.

Still pictures are merely VGA resolution and thus lack detail. Brightly lit outdoor images are OK for basic Web or e-mail use, but indoor shots are very muddy. This definitely isn't a viable substitute for a dedicated still camera.

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