sony DCR-PC3E digital handycam video camera recorder

Sony PC3E Digital Camcorder is a great value for money product. Weighing in very light, it fits snugly in the palm of your hand. Using Mini DV tapes, 60 mins @, the recordings are of high quality and the unit is robust and easy to use. The camcorder also doubles up as a digital camera, using Sony Memory Sticks to store 640x480 images when in photo mode - up to 1500 photos on the 64MB stick.

It has a great flip-out LCD viewing panel, like many Sony camcorders, about 2" by 2". The majority of the feature controls are found within the LCD panel, which doubles up as a touch screen. You get two options for viewfinding - the LCD panel which uses more battery, and then a traditional eyepiece viewfinder, which you can use in place of the panel. The viewfinder becomes very useful in high sunlight conditions.

A last point about the LCD touch panel. Packed as it is with effects, fades, expsoure settings, captions etc. I find I don't use them very much. When you're handling this tiny unit, keeping it steady becomes your main concern and any pressing of LCD panel features causes the camera to jog a bit. The digital steadycam feature is only so good and th only way to guarantee a steady shot is to use a surface or a tripod.

Autofocus is good, night shot works quite well and the photo feature is handy also. The photos are not of the highest resolution, as this really is a supplementary feature - the PC100 has improved photo resolution over this model. Neither this, nor the PC100, compare to the quality of images taken using dedicated digital cameras.

The camcorder comes with SVideo, DV and AV outputs. With the supplied cable its very easy to record the DV onto a video tape, SCART or AV direct, and you might even be able to do a little editing in the process. Officially there' is no input facility, though widgets exist that switch on the input part of the DV port. Battery life depends on the battery, which come in 60, 120, 240 minute configurations. The battery lifetime reporting is accurate, as is the tape length remaining reporting - both provide ample warning of impending run out.

Finally I found that the accessories were really quite sparse. In contrast to the PC100 which possesses a whole range of bolt on lenses, and other items, there only exist about five accessories. Wide angle lens, Telefocus, waterproof housing (good to a depth of 3 ft), some other lens kit and microphone. The lens fitting is a standard 30mm size, but non-Sony filters and other items very rarely get that small. You'll probably end up using a step up ring if you want to use a circular polariser or warm up filter.

All in all a good purchase for myself, a product i like a lot and which i'll keep. That said, the day will come when this goes on the shelf having replaced it with something bigger and more flexible.

For the average user interested mainly in home, holiday or general recording its a great camera. If you start to want to do more creative things, it quickly shows its limitations.

PACKAGE INCLUDES:

PC3E PAL VIEDEO CAMERA

2* LION BATTERIES 

BATTERY CHARGER

A/V CABLE

ILINK 1394 FIREWIRE CABLE

SHOULDER STRAP

RMT-831 REMOTE CONTROL