Sony HDR-PJ10 High Definition Handycam Camcorder (Black)

 

 

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Length:: 3:25 Mins

I put the Sony HDR-PJ10 through its paces to create this video review. See my ill-timed pimple in high definition! The buzz you hear in the audio is actually cicadas, not a problem with the camera. It's hard to find a quiet place to film at my house during the day. In fact, the wind noise reduction feature cut down the cicada buzz by an impressive amount. Just keep in mind that the picture quality had to be reduced significantly in order to fit within Amazon's file size guidelines.

Bottom line, it's a great camera.

SUMMARY
Delivers the quality and all the features you'd expect from Sony PLUS this has a built in projector for serious "Gee-Whiz" factor. Projector delivers decent functionality but comes at a significant size, weight, and cost.

There's all sorts of things I can talk about on this camcorder - we've had 6 video recorders including 2 Sony mini DV, one Flip, and one Sony Bloggie HD. I've also shot video on my phone and our various still cameras. I've been researching camcorders in the past few months to get up to HD and transition away from Mini DV, so the opportunity to review this camcorder came at an excellent time.

BUT... Before I get into any more detail, I'll get to the most important question you probably have if you are reading this review. HOW IS THE PROJECTOR AND IS IT WORTH IT?

The projector is a lot of fun to play with. If you like having envious friends drooling over your latest gadget, this is for you. Although it only puts out 10 ANSI lumens, it's reasonable for sharing videos. The overall experience reminds me of looking at vacation slides when I was young.

Sony claims that you can get up to a 60" (diagonal) image and you can actually get more, but the display gets to be very, very dim. I would say that in a lighted room, a 20-24" projected image is acceptable. Since brightness falls off as the square of the distance, it gets dim pretty fast and by the time you have a 30-40" display size you need to be in a very dark room for it to be viewable.

The focal length for the projector is fairly long - that 20" display requires 3 feet between projector and wall. At 5 feet you get a 33" diagonal display, and at 8 feet you get 53" diagonal. There's a focus slider on the top and the volume on the built in stereo speakers is surprisingly good, but you still will need people to keep quiet if you want to hear.

Is it worth it? The best estimate on cost of this feature is to compare it with the Sony HDR- CX160 which is the closest Sony camcorder without a projector. It costs about five bills while the PJ10 is 7, so it's about two Benjamins or 40% more for this feature. (Our gracious hosts here dislike us discussing price but I think it's a very valid point) If you look at the 3M Pocket Projector MPRO120--.33LBS, which costs around this much, it has 12 lumens and a resolution of 1280x800. I'm having a hard time confirming the resolution on the Sony projector but it is surprisingly sharp. There's something to be said for having the projector cleanly integrated into the camcorder.

In comparing the PJ10 to it's two bigger brothers and it's projectorless cousin, I'd note that they all appear to have the same sensor and image processor so image quality should be the same. Similarly they all carry the same 3" touch screen. The main difference is with the bells and whistles (and of course, the price). Interestingly enough, the two "lower" models have (IMO) the better optics (30x zoom)

Model.........Internal....Optical..Digital...35mm Lens Eq.
.................Memory......Zoom...Zoom....(16x9 Movie)
---------....----------..-----....-----....------------
HDR-PJ50V...220Gb HDD....12x...160x.....29.8mm - 357.6mm
HDR-PJ30V...32Gb Flash....12x...160x.....29.8mm - 357.6mm
HDR-PJ10.....16Gb Flash....30x....350x.....29.8mm - 894mm
HDR-CX160...16Gb Flash...30x...350x.....29.8mm - 894mm


A couple of key items the PJ10 is missing - It doesn't have a GPS Tag, built in video light ando it only shoots at 60i and 60p where the PJ30 and 50 can also do 24p. Should you care? The LED light would be nice - as far as 24p, if you don't know what a video pulldown ratio is, then trust me, you won't care. GPS - well, I'm not into Geotagging so I'd say no.

The 30V and 50V are actually about the same price - both a pretty big jump over the PJ10. My opinion is to stick with the PJ10, or if you don't need a projector, go with the CX160

Do note that the PJ30 takes still images at 7 MP instead of 3 MP. This makes the PJ30 a somewhat reasonable replacement for a P&S; still camera, but we have a DSLR so we certainly won't be replacing that.

Likes: Projector - super, super neat and convenient for sharing videos. "Highlight reel" feature makes it even more fun, though the music not my taste. "Golf Shot" works well for soccer and other action shots. WIDE angle lens from the get go makes shooting birthday gatherings, etc much more practical. STEREO speakers on playback give some serious volume

Annoyances: What's with the CR2025 in the remote? I always cram a CD2032 in these remotes - they actually fit, are easier to find, and have a lot more capacity. I wish I didn't need the remote to scroll through menus while in the projector mode.(where the touch screen is disabled)

CONCLUSION:
Wow your friends and family! The Sony HDR-PJ10 offers something I've never seen before - the ability to project movies built right in. The camcorder portion is comparable to the CX160 - a very capable, high quality HD Digital video camera. Shoot a video and share it the same day without having to worry about bringing extra cables or even a display! Execution of this concept is very competent. The cost size and weigh penalty is significant (24% more weight (2.1 oz) and 34% more volume (113 cc) than the CX160) but still delivered in a very reasonable package (See pictures)

If you have any comments, questions, or found this review helpful, please let me know!

Cool camera, solid hardware. Nice quality output. Easy to use.
Some amazing options.
Wish capture was not so hard on my wrist. But, this is a common issue.
Looking forward to hours/years of usage and Sony makes a great product so this is easy to imagine.

OUT OF THE BOX:
First of all unlike other electronics that I have purchased, this camera did not have a "Get Started" that jumped out at me. I had to find it on page 14 of the manual. That's okay, kinda.
I found it funny that their first step, was Turn off the camera by closing the LCD. Either they intuitively know people are just going to dive in, or they wrote the instructions for later usage.
Out of the box, the battery had enough charge to use, but predictably their first step was to install the battery and charge it by installing it in the camera. Took me a minute to figure out how to put the battery in, as it had a slider, so I tried to slide it. Apparently you drop in and then slide. But other than that, this step went seamless. You get a USB cable that can go into your computer, or the transformer that goes into the wall. One comment on the charging method: If you had a second battery, you would have to charge it right in the camera which means you have to plan ahead to have two batteries to use.

You also get component connectors to hook into your TV, so you have this ability right away. But you also have a mini HDMI connection in the camera(no cables) so this can be an option,if you can use it . You need an adapter to use the HDMI connection with a standard size HDMI cable, so we have not tried the HDMI hook up yet.

HARDWARE:
A solid well made camera. Hey it's a Sony, would you expect anything less? Yeah I have a bias, but I have had good luck with Sony.
Capture controls are a separate button for video and still capture and a zoom button. That's all you really need.
All other settings are in the menu.
Inside the LCD area, there is a separate Power button, Review button and Projector button. So once you open the LCD to turn it on you can see Live view (if you do nothing), look at Menus (control on the LCD), look at your pictures/videos (control on the camera or on the LCD) or Project (button on the camera). Under a flap inside the LCD there is the input and output stuff (head phones, microphones, HDMI and USB hook ups). On the opposite side you have your DC-in and your component hook ups inside a cute little door. Yeah, I know the guys are groaning, but this was well done. Seems weird that HDMI and component video connections are on opposite sides. Must be space related. The projector has a focus control on the top of the LCD. This works great.
On your handle you have a USB cable that is nested in that. That was really neat. Nice you don't have to haul out a cable to use to do this.
The one physical complaint I have on this camera, was that the handle and shape of the camera forces you to hold your hand straight up and down to capture. This is fatiguing. Since the barrel of the camera has to be held perpendicular to what you are capturing, not much you can do. But, it is uncomfortable. As this is my first video camera, this is the first time, I have noted this. Might be a common issue.

TAKING VIDEOS:
One thing I have always noticed is that video cameras seem to need less light than regular cameras. I have been in sporting events where I could not get a shot with a regular camera and next to me people were taking videos with no issue. Sony apparently is also known for this. I walked around my house in dusk deliberately seeing how this camera would perform and it was great. It had only a few issues with focusing on scene changing (very minor) and the picture quality was decent. If you can see it, apparently so can the camera. This camera has several modes. Besides the standard video you have golf shot mode, which can take a series of shots to evaluate a golf swing or any other fast moving action. When you figure the camera can take about 60 frames in one second you get action easily in 1/60 of a second intervals. We can't see that fast but this camera can. I've only dabbled with that, as I don't golf or something that would be a natural for that.
There is also a Smooth Slow record mode and this is a means of taking a shot of an event like making a goal, or something that can be anticipated. My son used it to take a shot of our cat jumping up on the bed and we captured her motion. It plays back in slo-mo, so that was cool. For us this is a novelty. But, it is one we plan to play with. I could have used it when my kids were younger and in sports. Now I get to use it on my grandkids.

TAKING STILL SHOTS:
This camera only has a 3.3 MP still camera capability. Comparing this to my cell phone which has an 8 MP sensor, this comes off as disappointing numbers wise. But, that is not what this camera's purpose is, now is it. At least you can capture stills if you need to. However, I don't know why you would ever put it in Still mode for this camera, since you have an external still button. Seems like you could add another fun video one. You need to also remember you can pull stills from your videos. Years ago, this was a waste of time, but that is no longer the case. Mind you, you might not be able to make poster size prints of them, but you could still print them smaller if you wanted to or use them in a photo book.

PROJECTOR
Except for really dark videos, this does a great job. I have used the projector on some white walls. It was cool. I have displayed as little as 1-2 feet diagonally to 6 feet diagonally and it impressed everyone that saw it. Really cool for sharing. The adjustment to the focus on the top of the LCD makes this easily possible.

VIEWING
You can look at your pictures on the LCD, a TV, or in Projector mode. The LCD touch screen allows navigation in the menu as well as the zoom button and still button. Zoom hops between controls, the still button allows selection. The ability to share makes viewing nearly seamless. The only complaint noted earlier, was the lack of mini to regular HDMI adapter connector in the box.
You can also automatically create a highlight version of all your videos/stills and display this in a playback sort of mode. This can be saved too as a scenario, so you don't have to recreate it. Music is selectable and apparently you can add your own music. If you are really into this, I'm sure you can go wild.

BUNDLED SOFTWARE:
Picture Motion Browser (PMB) is the provided software. This installed seamlessly. It also added a Sony commercial to my laptop. I thought it was suspicious when I had elephants show up in my home videos.
The Software allows you to capture stills from video and trim videos. There are also some still editing capabilities. You can share quite a few ways: DVD, online, email. But, overall it is pretty limited. If you wanted to create multiple clips from a single video, you would have to start from an original each time and save a new one. Pretty cumbersome, but at least possible.

Apparently the files can also be used by other Video software. My boyfriend altered some with Nero 9. That's a good thing because sometimes videos can be proprietary disallowing use with other manufacturers software. Not sure, why. Like I said I'm new at this.


I will update this review over time with more usage.

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