Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Review – Sony HDR-PJ50V – Sony Projector handycam


Earlier people used to feel on cloud 9 when they used to have handycam. However technology never stops from reinventing and finding new horizons for itself. Also the speed of technology change is massive. If you remember, we used to have CD’s which was replaced with DVD’s. Similarly TV is replaced by HDTV now. Same is the case with video camera. Now Video camera has become HD video camera. HD movie camera gives you clarity same as commercial camera that too with easy handling. On old days people used to have photo albums now people have video albums.

Everyone carries video camera while going for an outing and picnic. People prefer video cameras more than photo cameras as it has moving visuals in it. But the problem with video camera is, small LCD screen. 

Although you can view the video, it is not convenient especially when you are large group of friends and everyone willing to see it. Sony has found this business gap camera and came up with fantastic option in HD video camera market with their new model – Sony HDR-PJ 50V.

Let’s look at some salient features of Sony HDR PJ 50V projector handycam – 
Projector is unique selling point – 

The speciality of this Sony HDR PJ 50V lies in its name itself. Sony HDR PJ 50V has inbuilt “Projector”. In HDR PJ 50V projector is provided on the opposite side of LCD screen with resolution 1920 x 1080. Projector can show you picture in 60 inches wide screen on the front wall. The better picture quality the distance must be of 3 meters between handycam and wall. So with Sony HDR PJ 50V customers don’t have to wait till the download of video and customers can view it immediately after video shoot. This is really cool stuff provided by Sony in its new HDR PJ 50V model. It has 12x optical zoom and you can take even photographs with still camera mounted on it. 



7.1 mega pixels for Photographs – 

The camera to be used for taking photos is of 7.1 megapixels. The challenging part in any video camera is about memory. Sony has solved this major problem of memory by providing huge 220GB hard drive. Moreover an extra slot for memory extension is also provided.

220GB Hard Drive – 

220GB hard drive in HDR PJ 50V is the strongest point in this Sony’s projector handycam. No other HD projector handycam in market has such a huge memory storage space available. Also sony is known for quality and you can experience in its HD recording. HDR PJ 50V recording is extremely good in quality.

Disappointment in zooming facility – 

Apart from these high end features mentioned above, 70x zoom is a little bit of disappointment along with 7.1 mega pixels. Because in market 10 megapixels has become a regular standard now and in coming days it will definitely reach to 15 or 16 megapixels. Therefore it would have been better if Sony would have provided more optical zoom and mega pixels facility.

The optical zoom n Sony HDR PJ 50V reaches to 12x whereas digital zoom reaches only till 60x. Digital zoom should have been of minimum 120. Now you have to go very closer to picture and shoot. We normally shoot animals and birds and they don’t like if we go very closer to them. This is where limitations of Sony HDR PJ 50V come into limelight.



Spectacular video quality in lesser light - 

In camcorder 3 things plays an important role –
  •  Lux Rating
  • Racording speed
  • Focal length
Sony HDR PJ 50V has luz rating of 3. It means you can shoot even if the light intensity is less. If you review it the outcomes are really good and lux rating of 3 gives you stunning clarity. The recording speed if of 28MBPS.For continuous shooting this recording speed is more than sufficient. Also its focal length is of 2.9-34.8 mm in size.

Small size, user friendly – 

Size and usage always plays a vital role in success of any video camera. Sony HDR PJ 50V camcorder supersedes other video cameras. The height of HDR PJ 50V is 2.5 inches, width is 2.5 inches and length is 5.1 inches. It is very easy to hold in hand and very light weight. Ofcourse facility of projector is cooles thing Sony has offered in it which makes it very exciting.



Conclusion about Sony HDR PJ 50V – 

  • 7.1 megapixels is OK to take photographs so you don’t need to carry separate camera for the purpose of photo shoot. HDR PJ 50V will work for video and still photo shoot. 
  • Zooming facility is a big disappointment. When you want to shoot without letting others to know your presence then this camcorder disappoints you.
  •  Fantastic LCD touch screen. However more options in touch screen could have been given.
  • Extremely strong point – 220 GB Hard Drive.
  • Supports upto 90 hours of continuous recording.
  • Extremely strong point – Projector.
  • India Price – 59990 ruppes.
 Cheers...

Happy Shooting!!!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this review. Very insightful. Actually im about to buy this handcyam, particualry for the projector feature. I have a research project going on and I can use it for shooting my subject videos and showing them to examiners and their people immediately. I saw sony is also talking a lot these handycam and their uses on their website etc. i have asked them some feature on their user forum at https://www.facebook.com/SonyIndia/app_104098299713273 And lot of people have also suggested some other uses of handycam.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ok vidisha,
    That was good piece of information. All the best for your research project!! :)

    ReplyDelete