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: Not the greatest camera out there but it suits my needs
Summary: 3 Stars
This camera looks/feels a bit outdated. Its digital still camera is not great and the video camera is okay. Camera's motor can be heard while filming (once you extract the videos and see them on TV or computer). The zooming is slow. Still images come out blurry if there is not enough light or if there is some vibration. All in all, it is a mediocre item. Suits my needs but I don't recommend it.Digital camera Review: Nota Bene: Max Record Time Only 25 Minutes!
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this from Amazon a couple of weeks ago for the features and small footprint compared to alternative pocket camcorders. I've owned several camcorders and a LOT of other photo equipment and was realistic in my expectations for the Sony Candy Bar. I won't reiterate the other reviews - they are pretty accurate.
However...there are three big disappointments I have:
= No external mic input (this I knew going in.)
= Completely unusable LCD screen on a sunny beach. Most are terrible, but this one is completely useless. I live right on the beach, so this is a bigger deal to me than it will be for most.
= The worst thing is that Sony has hard clamped the record time to a max of 25 minutes! This is irrespective of whether battery or A/C adapter is used.
This last limitation is not disclosed anywhere in the manual - or any other Sony propaganda. While this is probably not a limitation for most, I do time lapse movies of sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico, etc. and this means I can't just set and forget it.
Why constrain users this way? And, if you are going to do it, disclose it. Caveat Emptor if this may be a deal-killer for you and your intended use of this Sony MHS-PM1.
Digital camera Review: OK but there's a surprise
Summary: 4 Stars
The camera does everything advertised until you find out it has no AC power supply. The manual said if the unit had been purchased in the UK it would have an external power supply. A call to Sony yielded no help. They kept telling me to use the battery charger but it can't power the unit. Then I called B&H and found the part number for the AC supply. I ordered it and it worked. The Sony part number is AC-LS5. I'd have given it another star were it not for this snag. The camera is what you'd expect for the price. It does the job and in good light makes amazing HD 1080i pictures. It's also quite small.Digital camera Review: Portability: 5 stars Quality of picture & sound: 2 stars
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this camera on Amazon after my local camera store said that they sold 10 of them in one week. I didn't get to see the quality of the picture and sound. Had I been able to do that, I would not have purchased the camera. In terms of portability, the camera is great and I give it 5 stars. It's a little larger than my cell phone. In terms of the quality of the video image and sound - it's a completely different story. Granted, it doesn't cost 10 times as much as you'd be paying for a good HDV camera, but it was a big disappointment to see the image and hear the awful sound. I get better quality video and sound on my Sony V3 and Nikon P5100 cameras - both are not "HD size" (they're 640 x 480) but what's the point of getting an extremely poor quality HD video? I returned the Webbie for a refund.Digital camera Review: Rotating Lense Makes It Ideal For Hobbyists
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the only mini HD video camera on the market at present with a rotating head and that's the reason I use it. If you don't need the rotating head, there are better mini cams on the market and I recommend you seek them out.
I knocked off a star because during continuous recording, you have to re-press the record button every 25 minutes - that's the max clip length. Non of the other so called drawbacks concerned me: no on-board battery charging, slightly soft 1080i, the fact that you need to buy a memory card, lousy low light recording, etc etc etc. It is what it is folks - a fairly inexpensive high definition recorder.
For all you hobbyists out there, I've been using this for about a month now and I've got to say, for the price it's a keeper. I've attached it to an rc helicopter and sent it up a couple of hundred feet, strapped it to the handlebars of a bike and velrco'd it to the bill of my baseball hat. In each of these situations, the rotating head allows the lense to be pointed correctly regardless of mounting constraints.
The camera has no image stabilization (not unusual for a mini) so I shoot in "sports" mode which gives a little faster shutter speed (no good for indoors, though) and then run it through the anti-shake filter (set on low) in Cyberlink Power Director 7. I shoot in 720P mode and the quality is somewhere between dvd and blue ray when played back on a decent set.
Hope that helps you make up your mind!