Sony Webbie MHS-PM1 HD Camcorder (Silver) by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony Webbie MHS-PM1 HD Camcorder (Silver)
Digital camera Review: 30 minutes of recording time is not enough for me.
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought a refurbished MHS-PM1 (webbie HD) camcorder on 9/20/2010 from sony.
We record about one hour worth of video every week.
However, after failing to record the full 60 minutes, i looked for information in FAQ and found out that it can only record 25 minutes at a time.
The problem is that we cannot access the camcorder during the one-hour recording session.
So, 25 minutes of recording would not work for us.
The product description page listed many specs for this camera, but never mentions this short-coming.
Who would've thought that this camera could only record 25 minutes at a time?
It's not the battery nor the storage capacity (4GB card recording in VGA mode 640x480).
Now, i have to pay for the return shipping as well as the original shipping fee.
Digital camera Review: A good idea but poorly done
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought one of these to use as a simple and versatile camera/camcorder for everyday family events. I like the basic design and I love the simplicity of its operation. It has shown really good battery life compared with my more traditional style Evio digital camcorder. Unfortunately, that's where the positive comments end.
The problems I have with the unit is that it has no flash, and it takes extremely blurry pictures about 75% of the time. I know it's my own fault for not noticing it had no flash. I just assumed a modern CAMERA would have a flash, but no. As far as the blurry pictures go... I don't think I have unusually unsteady hands, and I'm not jumping around at all, but if I don't hold my breath and focus like a sniper taking a shot then it will usually come out horribly blurry and worthless. I've gotten into the habit of trying to take 3 or 4 copies of every shot hoping that 1 will look good.
I have also had problems with corrupted memory. I don't think it's the camera's fault necessarily, but I've lost 2 irreplaceable events because the memory card was corrupted and had to be reformatted. All in all, I'm shopping for another new camera.
Digital camera Review: All Good Except for Low-Light Performance
Summary: 4 Stars
So I bought the Sony a couple months ago and overall I'm pretty happy with my purchase. I use it mostly just to take pictures of my friends and I, every now and then to make a video for fun.
Cons:
-Like others have stated, there's no image stabilization for video, which sucks for me because my hands shake a lot, but oh well, from what I understand neither the Flip nor the Vado have image stabilization either. Buy a tripod.
-Low-light performance is not great. Images turn out blurred if you set light settings to Low Light or some other setting, but I found out that if you set the light setting to Automatic, your image will come out dark but clear. I prefer dark and clear over light and extremely blurred, so I tend to go with the Automatic setting.
Pros:
-Image quality in sunlight is EXCELLENT. Crystal clear. In indoor lighting, you have to keep your hands still, and the image doesn't come out CRYSTAL clear, but it's not bad.
-Definitely fits in my pocket.
-Battery life is excellent. Took this thing with me on my trip to Chicago over Thanksgiving Break from Wednesday to Saturday. Took over 200 photos and a couple videos, didn't have to charge the battery once.
-Rotating lens is great for taking pictures of yourself if your into that kinda thing. Also was great for me because I didn't have to ask random strangers to take pictures of us while we were in Chicago.
-Turns on automatically when you rotate the lens out, turns off automatically when you rotate the lens back in. Definitely convenient.
-Controls are easy to figure out.
-The included software is not really necessary in my opinion, but it's convenient for downloading and editing images and videos, not a burden or frustrating at all. It has some cool features where you can add pre-made filters and such with one click. You can also sort your photos by "Smiles," "People," or "Landscape."
Other stuff:
-Don't know if you would consider this a pro or con but it films pretty up close. You have to stand kinda far away to fit a bigger picture into the frame.
-Not many options: image quality, video quality, light settings, other settings, that's pretty much it. Personally I don't mind because I mainly use the Sony for personal, not professional, purposes. I don't need anything fancy.
Digital camera Review: Better than I expected...
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this so that I could share video of my newborn son with family via the internet. As an Apple person, I chose the Webbie because it was compatible. What I did not know was how easy it would be. All I have to do is plug it in my computer and it pretty much takes care of itself. My only negative is that the menu on the camera, to delete photos and such is not easy to navigate. But otherwise, this is a great camera, small, light, takes great photos and movies that turn into home movies easily. I even carry it in an old cell phone holder I had and wear it on my hip for easy access!Digital camera Review: Cany-bar format Sony Webbie HD
Summary: 4 Stars
This camera is basically the original Sony Webbie HD (MHS-CM1) camera shaped into a candy-bar format to more directly compete with the Flip Mino HD. In doing so you lose the optical zoom and the LED light. If you discount comments about the optical zoom (including complaints about motor noise) and the usefulness of the LED light, the rest of the features are pretty much the same and you can use the reviews for the original Webbie HD. I knew going in that this would be mainly an outdoor-only camera, but thats exactly what I wanted a smaller second camera for. I have a Canon HV20 HDV camera for indoor and more demanding use, but wanted something similar to a Flip to keep in my pocket when doing activities outside (walking the dogs, going to a bar-b-que, etc. where I am not consciously thinking of taping the event but something comes up that is worth capturing) that has a removable battery and flash memory. I've either been at work or the weather has been grey since getting this so I can't put it through its paces where it will really shine, but have taken some indoor 720p footage and stills. Enough to verify the camera is natively supported in iLife '09 (iMovie and iPhoto) and that other's comments about it being kind of weak in low light and when panning shots around are right. It isn't totally unusable, but you can see a yellowing of footage that can be compensated somewhat through iMovie or iPhoto in dark shots and you have to pan slower than even what is needed when using a consumer full-sized HD camera. Would I sell my Canon HDV camera and use only this? no. Will I keep this for on the spot captures in settings that match up to its strengths? yes.