Sony DCR-TRV10

Purchased this camcorder back in the spring to get ready for our wedding and honeymoon (primarily). Decision to go with TRV-10 over PC-100 was two-fold: MUCH better design and handling (hate that upright PC-100 design) and the several hundred dollar price difference.
Used it a few times before heading off on honeymoon just to experiment with features. Shot almost 3 hours of tape on our 2-wk French Polynesia trip and the results are just incredible!!!! Took just a couple stills, but they aren't really worth wasting time on.
Overall, very satisfied with our decision. If buying today though, would go with TRV-20 since it's basically the same as the TRV-10 just with improved stills.

Fantastic video playback, especially on a digital TV. Great design to make it comfortable to work with!!

Still photo capability is less than acceptable, but can be used if needed

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I really like this camcorder. Its smallish size let me take it anywhere. I also use it as a digital camera so that separate memory stick really helped simplify loading my pictures to my PC. With this camcorder, I am able to perform 2 functions with a flick of my thumb when capturing important events for my son.

1. Size and weight makes it very portable.
2. Separate memory for its still images.

1. Resolution of still images is not in the megapixel arena.
2. No built-in video light for indoor shooting.

I bought this as a step up from my 10 year old Sony Hi8. As size was as important to me as image quality, I opted for MiniDV rather than Digital 8. I still have my Hi8 camera to view those tapes, so compatability was not crucial. I am very happy with this decision as this camera is SO much smaller than the Digital8 models. (I was also concerned about the fact that Sony is the ONLY manufacturer using the Digital8 format.)

The point and shoot factor of this video camera is outstanding. Nearly everyone who picks it up gets something interesting, which looks great. Kids love to ham it up while looking at themselves in the LCD monitor when opened and flipped. Its size makes it easy to take almost anywhere, and I prefer the traditional horizontal orientation (rather than models like the Sony PC100). Its great to have a decent color viewfinder, as it saves battery time (compared to the LCD) and the LCD is difficult to see in bright sunlight. The Electronic Image Stabilization works very well and since the camera is so light and tends to shake around a bit, I leave it on all the time. Some say that this degrades the image, but I say a shaky picture is degraded to the point of unwatchability in some cases. I even shot while riding a bike and it looked very good. The stock battery seems to hold up for over an hour of ON time; a bit less when using the LCD screen. Don't forget this is not actual RECORDING time, which also takes more juice. I prefer this smaller battery, so I bought another which I can stash anywhere and between the two, it's always been enough for me. The battery time indicator is convenient, though as the batteries have gotten older, the remaining time is inaccurate. (This could be because from time to time, I have charged the batteries and not used them - the old rechargable battery memory problem.)

I have to emphasize that I love this camera and the video looks phenomenal. I am about to talk about its drawbacks and though I may seem to be nitpicking on some points, its overall positives far outweigh the negatives. I just wanted to share my experience with the camera.

First of all, forget using this camera for stills. The resolution just isn't good enough. I have never gotten any usable stills. Maybe I'm spoiled by megapixel digital still cameras. Also, if you're a Mac user - forget using the Memory Stick as the reader only plugs into a PC's parallel port and the included software is only for Windows. (I know there are a lot more PCs out there, but with the success of the iMac, it's ludicrous that Sony doesn't make a USB Stick reader and include Mac software.) As I write this, the TRV20 is about to come out and I would warn anyone looking into this camera for its megapixel still capability to investigate this feature thouroughly; i.e. I doubt you will get megapixels stills from tape as the video resolution is still 640 x 480. If I had to do it over again, I would buy the TRV8. Until video is higher resolution than 640 x 480, I don't expect to get stills from my video camera.

The outer plastic casing of this camera is a bit too delicate for me. Due to the camera's size and my inclination to stuff it into small bags and such, it has become quite scratched up in a year. I usually take meticulous care of my stuff and am a bit bummed out that this thing is only a year old and it looks like it has been through a war. On the other hand, it hasn't actually broken and it is really small.

While we're on build quailty, the lens cap busted after one vacation, and since the other ones I got didn't have the tether, they have gotten lost.

At the time I bought it, there were not a lot of lens filters available in the 30mm thread, so I needed to get a 37-30mm adapter and then get 37 mm filters. This also means that I need to remove the UV filter (which I usually leave on all the time) if I used anything else, such as a wide angle lens. If I left on the UV, the outer ring of the wide angle lens became visible in the picture. By this time, all filters are probably available in 30mm.

This camera boasts 120x Digital Zoom! Big deal. The digital zoom is worthless. If you leave it in digital zoom mode, when the limit of the optical zoom is reached, the digital zoom kicks in, rendering images unwatchable, in my opinion. At least you can turn it off, and the optical zoom is usually sufficient, especially considering that as light as this camera is, the shaking at high zoom levels is too much anyway.

The microphone is okay, but not very wide stereo.

The automatic modes of the camera are usually all you need, though I prefer to set things manually from time to time. I wish you could set more parameters manually (like shutter speed), and I wish the ones that are adjustable were easier to get at. I'm not a big fan of the 'Menu' system that Sony uses, and I wish I could enter the 'Menu' without popping open the LCD screen.

Although this camera has a widescreen or 16 x 9 mode, I found it to be unusable. I own a 16 x 9 widescreen televsion, but found the images recorded in this mode to be of much lower quality than standard aspect ratio. And since images recorded in 16 x 9 mode appear squished on most other people's sets, I never use it.

That about covers it. Again, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses for me, though it is an expensive camera.

Beautiful looking, point and shoot video.

Unsuable stills, unusable digital zoom, cheap casing, clumsy menu system.

Great video quality, small in size and reasonable still image capabilities. I like the ergonomic design (much better than the exteem video vertical design such as the PC100). Very good package and price. I have used this camera for hours and hours, carried it everywhere and used it to film my baby wherever she goes.

Crystal clear video recording, with the great ability to pull any frame out of the video to the memory stick and from there to the computer (e-mail it or print it). The camera’s use of memory stick is really its highlight because you can delete photos from the stick if you do not like them. It is packed with features and has a very large and high quality LCD (3.5”) and a very good color viewfinder (to be used in bright light conditions). The camera has a laser link connection to the TV which is a blessing because you do not have to connect the cables to view your tapes, I use it a lot. In addition, you have the ability (at least in my European model) to have an analog input and so you can convert your analogue tapes to DV. I also taped some movies on the DV tapes and watch them during flights. (you can get 80minute tapes now – which in LP yields 120minutes). Ou have the ability to film in the dark and it is nice to shoot your wife snoring or your kid falling asleep… Battery life is OK (about 1 hour with LCD), but I’d recommend getting a larger capacity barratry.

A little grainy video in low light conditions, I suggest buying a video light for it and take advantage of the intelligent hot shoe. The wide angle is not enough and I would recommend getting a wide angle conversion lens – and make sure that it does not distort (I had to test a few to find the right one). The supplied 4MB memory stick is a joke, I bought a 64MB one (for a $100 – e-mail me for details). The memory stick interface to the computer is too slow, and I wish that Sony had a USB connection instead, or use the less proprietary compact flash media so I could exchange media with other gadgets such as my Cassiopea E-115 instead of having to download to the computer and upload to the CF in order to take my photos everywhere. Battery charger is large and bulky, and the remote control is ridiculously large and therefore not really usable. The still images only have a resolution of 640x480, which is not enough, and this is why I am on a waiting list for the TRV20 (1 Mega pixel).

Canon E50 (8mm); Panasonic MV1 (Mini DV); Sony TRV510

I asked for a manual and had to pay for it...

I am a 14 year old computer guru and I got this camera as a gift. I love it. The picture quality is awesome, and it can take digital pictures (1024x768 I think) on the INCLUDED 4 mb memory stick (A kinda slow memory stick serial port adapter is included also). If you buy this camera, make sure you get a IEEE 1394 card w/ editing software. It makes life so much easier.

- Really, Really cool case - 3.5 inch LCD - Great memory stick pictures - AMAZING video quality!!!! - LOTS of features - Small (can be bad if your hand shakes)

- Steep price ($1899) - Video/Picture quality looks poor on the LCD and viewfinder, but looks GREAT on TV or computer (CCD - 680K pixels; VF, LCD - 180k pixels)

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