Sony DCRPC110 Digital HandyCam Camcorder with Builtin Digital Still Mode

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [4.51mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005A3MC
• Item model number: DCRPC110
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,359 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1999

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The Sony DCR-PC110 Mini DV camcorder is loaded with more goodies than a piñata, and in a package smaller than a box of Pop-Tarts. Its novel-length owner's manual is 166 pages of tiny type with, thankfully, dozens of instructive illustrations with circles and arrows. To control all these features, the PC110 is covered with buttons, switches, and toggles that would intimidate even the most seasoned techno-geek. But damn if this digital camcorder isn't fun to use, despite a couple of ergonomic hiccups, plus it stores great images thanks to its Carl Zeiss lens, and, more importantly, it will elicit many oohs and aahs from the techno-envious.

Like most Mini DV models, the PC110 can take still pictures and store them either on tape or on a flash media card--in this case, Sony's proprietary Memory Stick. Unlike most DV camcorders, the PC110 also can record 15- and 60-second MPEGs, saving you the trouble of having to convert your footage to this e-mail-friendly format in your PC. The camcorder comes with a 4 MB Stick, which holds just six high-resolution stills, and is useless unless you have a Memory Stick-equipped Sony VAIO, a Memory Stick accessory drive, or a built-in USB port.

The PC110 also enables you to spice up your recorded video with an array of picture and digital effects, such as negative, sepia tone, or black and white. You also can zoom in during playback of a recorded image. These extra effects are for those folks who do in-camera editing and can be output only through the camcorder's analog outputs, not via i.Link/FireWire. If you've got video-editing software, you can add many of these effects and more on your PC.

The PC110 also includes in-camera digital-editing compiling capabilities--choose in-and-out edit points for particular scenes, set the scene sequence (up to 20 scenes), and the camera automatically goes back and forth to output the image to whatever tape player you've connected the camcorder to. This program editing is a bit convoluted, but it's better than doing it manually.

The biggest problem is the placement of frequently accessed control buttons and jacks. For instance, the zoom and still-photo shutter release buttons are located at the front of the camcorder, vaguely where your pinky is supposed to be. But the pinky isn't the most dexterous digit, and the hand-strap further limits the little finger's angular movement necessary to manipulate either switch.

The PC110's stocky design also necessitates the scattering of the various inputs and outputs. The microphone, headphone, and DC power inputs are located on upper-right side; the i.Link (FireWire), USB, and AC power are on the front below the lens; the S-Video output is on the lower-right side under the hand strap; and the analog A/V minijack is located to the right of the power/standby/record switch.

And being that this is a tiny camcorder, the 2.5-inch LCD viewscreen also makes it difficult to make out the details in a crowded frame. The menu does include two sets of LCD brightness controls to ameliorate the lack of LCD area. --Stewart Wolpin

Pros:

• 1-megapixel still-shot capability
• Fun to use
• Records 15- and 60-second MPEGs onto Memory Stick
• Informative illustrated manual
• Quality Carl Zeiss lens

Cons:

• Bundled Memory Stick is only 4 MB
• Expensive
• Controls can be difficult to use

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent camcorder from Sony, but not a home run, May 9, 2001

By 

Mary Jo Sminkey "dog trainer and web programmer" (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sony DCRPC110 Digital HandyCam Camcorder with Builtin Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

I recently decided to get this camera and sell off my TRV900 because I really found I needed something smaller to carry around. It was a tough choice, as the image quality and stills from the TRV900 were decidedly better. But I just couldn't pass up the size. This one is so small for the features you get. It has many, many well thought out features. For instance, it has a little swing-down handle to make filming easier (always an issue with these little digicams). You can hook the camera directly to your computer through USB, no need to get a card reader. Pop-up flash is nice for doing indoor shots. Easy to use menus. Fairly high resolution stills for a digital camcorder. I love the Sony batteries that tell you how much time you have left...same for the tapes and memory cards. Plenty of features that a camera at this level should have.

Now, for the negatives. No progressive scan. Let me say that again. NO PROGRESSIVE SCAN!! Heaven knows why Sony continues to leave this feature off. It was so noticeable between this camera and the TRV900 which does have progressive scan, when you capture stills off of video. The ones from this camera are nowhere near as good. Not even close. If the subject is moving at all (which is usually the whole point of trying to capture a still from video), without progressive scan it is just not as clear, sharp, colorful, etc. Why Sony does not put progressive scan on their cameras is beyond me. Most of the other gripes I have with this camera are fairly minimal. Some of the buttons are fairly hard to locate, the zoom is hard to use and rather touchy, the photo button is right next to it so I often hit the wrong one, etc. Fairly typical problems for a camera of this size. Were it not for progressive scan being missing though, this would definitely be a 5-star camcorder. Without it, sorry Sony. You blew it again.

70 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Personal Camcorder/Digital Camera on the Market, September 18, 2001

By 

"naomiii" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony DCRPC110 Digital HandyCam Camcorder with Builtin Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

If you are considering buying the Sony DC-PC110 Camcorder, you should ask yourself, "What am I looking for in a camcorder?". I spent a long time debating between buying this camera, the Sony PC9, and the Canon Elura 2 (all great camcorders). My final conclusion is that the PC110 is the best all around... but if you don't need to extras, you needn't spend all the extra money. The PC110 functions perfectly as a camcorder for movies AND as a quality digital camera, something that other camcorders can't boast. It also includes in-camera editing and special effects controls, image-stabilization (hands naturally shake, and this makes movies more smooth), night-shot (for recording in total darkness), and intuitive ergonomics (contrary to what other reviewers have said, the pinky doesn't belong on the controls, the index finger does...), and the camera is very easy to operate (once you get the hang of it). The 120X Zoom is very good (even at extreme closeness, the quality of the image does not suffer). Hooking it up to your computer for editing is easy (cables & free software are included).

As a digital camera, it's perfect. You can take pictures ("stills") while recording by pressing the "photo" button while in recording ("camera") mode, or you can take a series of pictures & delete the ones you don't want in digital memory ("memory") mode. You can play back your movies on your camorder (or hooked up to your TV) while in "VCR" mode. The camera charges quickly while off & plugged into an AC adapter, but the battery that it comes with only lasts around an hour, so you'd probably want to buy a bigger one for vacations.

The bottom line is, if you don't want to use your camera as an all-purpose two-in-one, you needn't spend the extra money (if you buy the camera as-is, you will need to buy an extra battery, a filter, a bag, digital tapes to record movies, and a 64MB memory stick for digital photos, which adds up to quite a lot of money). However, I recommend this camera as a long-term investment for all your camera needs... it is sturdy, takes quality movies, is easy to use, easily hooks up to PCs & Macs to edit (or to TVs to view), and doubles as a great digital camera. It also helps that it's very small and light (and looks very sleek...) If you don't want to use it as a digital camera, I'd recommend the Sony PC9 instead, which is basically the same as the PC110, but a bit smaller & takes lower quality digital pictures. Overall, I highly recommend the PC-110 -- it's the best personal camcorder on the market.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PC-Orietned DV Camera, July 22, 2001

By 

William W. Smith (Bridgewater, NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sony DCRPC110 Digital HandyCam Camcorder with Builtin Digital Still Mode (Electronics)

The PC110 appears to be a slight re-working of the PC100 with the aim of making it a better still camera and integrating it more closely with Sony's other video imaging products. It takes true megapixel stills, and also will store very short MPEG videos on its memory stick card. Viewing these requires a PC.

Unfortunately, the way this is implemented makes this device more like two cameras than one. You are either in "Memory" mode or "Camera" mode when recording, "Memory" mode or "VCR" mode when playing back. Stills and MPEG are transferred through the USB port, DV video through the FireWire. It all makes sense, when you realize that this camera does not consider MPEG to be a tape format. But it does take some time to get used to. And after you get used to it, you can move on to tricky little things like transferring small portions of your DV video onto the memory stick as MPEG etc. I think you can even transfer stills from memory stick to tape if you'd ever want to do that.

The message here is: this is the camera for people who want to do something with their images other than just watch them as is. It has a lot of features for in-camera editing and effects, though as has been pointed out in the editorial review, you can do this more easily on a PC than in the camera.

Finally, ignore the comments about the ergonomics. The author was holding the camera the wrong way. Your pinky should be nowhere near the focus or still photo controls. A closer reading of the manual and some experimentation would have put him straight.