A really good camera for a wide range of users
Written: Oct 10 '02 (Updated Oct 11 '02)
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Pros: *Small, light weight *Nightshot mode *Great LCD *Good video quality *Shows time left on battery
Cons: *Some silly digital effects *Small memory stick included *Camera bad in low light without nightshot
The Bottom Line: This camera is really excellent. It includes enough features and extras to make most "prosumers" happy while not putting a huge dent in your wallet.
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| aricpedersen's Full Review: Sony Handycam DCR-TRV17 Mini DV Digital Camcorder |
Notes About Review
I bought this in December 2001 because I was looking for a good quality MiniDV video camera under $1,000 that I could use with my Macintosh and iMovie.
This model has been replaced by the TRV18, but you can still find this camera for sale.
So far as I can tell, the only major difference between the 17 and 18 is video streaming via USB, but this feature only works in Windows, so keep that in mind if you have a Mac. Also the 17 has a 1 inch LARGER LCD screen than the newer 18 model. Otherwise, you could use my comments to help you with your purchase of either the 17 or 18.
What this Camera is NOT:
Let's be clear about this from the start:
If you want a digital still camera, GO BUY A REAL DIGITAL STILL CAMERA. It will be cheaper and offer far better portability, image quality and a more appropriate feature set (not to mention a flash). You do not want this digital video camera if you want to take still photographs with it. The pictures are small (640x480), grainy and the camera does not have a flash.
What did you expect from a digital VIDEO camera? ;-)
As Steve Jobs once said (rightfully so): Let the device be true to itself.
So let's see how this camera is up to the task it was designed for...
The Hardware:
The Sony DCR-TRV17 is solidly designed and lightweight. I find that I can hold this camera comfortably for hours and not get sore muscles. Most features are easy to reach and use, but you really need two hands to operate all the features on the camera (although you can turn the camera on and off with your thumb).
I'm left-handed, and of course this camera is designed for right-handed people. I'm used to using things with my right hand, though, so I didn't find this to be a problem. If you feel you need to use this camera in your left hand, however... Good luck! You're better off getting a tripod.
The camera is designed with a hand strap that allows you to support the camera with the bottom part of the palm of your right hand and thumb. The camera only weighs about 1.5 lbs. with a tape, so you only really need one hand to hold it.
The hand strap is adjustable and should fit almost any hand. Only one side of the strap is adjustable, however, so if you have really large hands, some of your fingers might feel slightly pinched.
The LCD screen on this camera is gorgeous! At 3.5 inches, it is larger than many more expensive cameras and that extra inch really makes a difference. The LCD is very clear and easy to see, even if you end up having to hold the camera over your head to shoot over a crowd.
Speaking of that, the LCD screen is located on a flip-out panel. The screen can be rotated in several directions to make it easy to see no matter how you have the camera itself oriented. If you are holding the camera up over your head, the LCD screen can be faced straight down so you can always see what you are shooting. Also, if you want to put the camera on a tripod and you want to be IN the picture and yet still see what the camera is shooting, the LCD screen can be rotated around 180 degrees so it faces outwards. The LCD automatically switches the orientation of the video on the screen so that it looks right-side up while you are viewing it from that direction.
It is also possible to use the LCD screen and still use the eyepiece to see what you are shooting.
If you put the camera into VCR mode (so it plays back video that you have shot) and you open the LCD screen panel, a speaker built-in to the body of the camera kicks on so you can hear the audio track. While this speaker won't win any awards and it is not stereo it is good for the purposes for which it is designed. The speaker is loud enough that you can easily hear it even if there is a lot of background noise. Further, and probably more important, is that the speaker doesn't distort even at higher volume levels.
Behind the LCD panel (when closed) is all of the "VCR" type controls you might need to view, playback or do minor editing of your video. The only problem with this arrangement is that you have to flip open the LCD panel (and thus turn it on) to access those controls. If you're low on battery power, turning on the big LCD will drain that battery power even quicker.
Battery power. The battery that comes with this camera has the smallest charge time of any of the InfoLithium line of batteries (NP-FM50). You can buy several others if you wish. Here is the breakdown:
Model; Price; Typical Battery Life, LCD on (mins); Time to Recharge (mins)
NP-FM50; $60; 75; 50
NP-FM70; $100; 165; 240
NP-FM91; $150; 290; 360
This information was taken from posted on-line ratings of these batteries.
The NP-FM50 and FM70 are the same physical size, but the FM91 is larger, so it sticks out from the camera further. Sony designed the viewfinder so that you can slide it out far enough so that even when you install the FM91 the viewfinder is still easily accessible.
I have the FM50 and FM70 batteries. I find the FM70 to be a worthwhile purchase (though it cost me less than the quoted $100 price). It's nice to have a battery that can record a full 60 or 90 minute tape with the LCD running and still have time to shoot more video or watch some of what you just shot. Plus, you can buy an extra battery charger that can charge 2 batteries at one time, so you always have a fresh battery.
Sony's claim of 11-hour battery life is only when using the FM91 with the LCD off under ideal conditions. Most people would probably not get anywhere near that amount of usable camera time out of the FM91. Still, the point is, that if you want to, you can really go a long time before needing to change batteries.
Sony's proprietary InfoLithium batteries are more expensive than your standard camcorder batteries, but in this case, I don't mind spending a bit extra since the camera shows you exactly how much time you currently have left before the battery drains completely. While charging the battery, the display will show you how much time the battery has at the current charge level.
When you charge the battery, keep in mind that there is a difference between a "quick charge" and a "full" charge. A quick charge tops off the battery and the battery indicator graphic shows a "full" battery. To fully charge the battery, it takes a good bit longer than the quick charge. The display will actually display the word FULL when the battery is fully charged.
You can use the camera while it is plugged in and charging, but of course you'll be tethered to the wall. :)
On-Screen Menu System: The menu system that allows you to change the many features (and exposure options) of the camera. I personally find the menu system easy to use. All you have to do is flip out the LCD panel, press the menu button near the fader button on the left side of the camera and then use a small thumb wheel located on the left side of the camera towards the back. You can use this one wheel to scroll through the menu AND select options (pushing the wheel selects the current item or feature, similar to how you can use a scroll wheel on a mouse (if your mouse has one).
You can set the on-screen menu to give audible feedback when you select or scroll through options in the menu. Different sounds play when you do different things. This might be somewhat handy for a person who has limited vision, but I found it mostly annoying, so I turned that feature off.
Thankfully, you don't have to navigate the on-screen menu if you want to add a fade-in or fade out effect (and the camera comes with several to choose from). There is a separate "fader" button located on the left side of the camera at the very bottom. The only problem is that there are several similar sized and shaped buttons in that area, so it is easy in the heat of filming to accidentally press the wrong button. The fader button doesn't actually turn on a fading effect. You use that button to select (or turn off) the fader that you want. You will see the name of the kind of fader that you have chosen appear at the bottom of the LCD screen or view finder. Pressing the record button (which is on the back of the camera, at the upper right side (it is not labeled)) applies the fading effect and then stops recording.
All of the various connectors (other than the power connector which is on the back of the camera and the hot shoe which is on the top of the camera towards the front) are under a black cover on the right side of the camera near the front. It is here that you can connect your camera to your TV; connect the camera to your computer (to edit DV video) via a 4-pin Firewire (or as Sony calls it, iLink) connector, or USB (to access anything saved on the Memory Stick, either MPEG movies or small JPEG files); or plug in a microphone to allow you to do in-camera audio dubs over the existing audio track.
The camera records video to tiny MiniDV video tapes. These tapes can hold 60 minutes of high quality video or 90 minutes of slightly lower quality video. Both modes are far better than VHS tape recording.
Sony also sells special MiniDV tapes with a special memory chip so that the camera can record information about the video on the tape. You can use cheaper "generic" tapes if you want, though.
The tape goes into the bottom of the camera. I've seen a lot of people complain about this set up, but I never found it to be a problem.
You flip over the camera, press a button and half of the bottom and the side of the camera lift up and away. The lid clicks into place when open. The camera then automatically ejects the tape by raising the whole tape mechanism and then popping out the tape like the earliest VCRs. You can now put in a new tape and/or just push down the part that ejected the tape until it clicks and then the whole mechanism will retract into the body of the camera, then you can close the top.
The camera also comes with an infrared remote so that you can control most of the functions on the camera while actually _remaining_ in the video yourself. :) This is where the flip-out LCD with "mirror mode" comes in handy, so you can see what the camera is recording while you remain part of the action.
Of course, this feature is most useful if you have a tripod or, even better, a motorized tripod so you can pan and tilt the camera by remote as well.
The camera comes with most of the cables and software you might need. If you are using a Mac, though, you will need a 6-pin-to-4-pin Firewire cable to be able to attach the camera to your computer.
Editing Functions:
Just a few words on the editing features built-in to the camera. In this day and age of inexpensive (or free) consumer level desktop video applications (like iMovie for the Mac) and ultra-cheap huge hard drives, I'm not sure why anyone would want to struggle with doing editing in the camera. However, if you want to do some basic editing without using a computer (perhaps you are on the road), you do have that option with this camera.
You won't be able to do as much as you would using a computer, but you do have the option. The camera includes several effects that you can apply to video in the camera. From sepia tone video to basic cromakey effects (green or blue screen effects), cuts, fades, overlays, titles, etc.
The camera comes with a tiny 4 MB memory stick (which is more of a tease than a real feature) to store still shots and MPEG1 movies. The card has several backgrounds/borders that you can use with the camera's built-in effects. If you're really serious about using backgrounds or borders with your video, you'll probably want more options than the card gives you. This means you have to use the included USB 1.1 cable to connect the camera to your computer so that you can put more of your own custom-made backgrounds and borders on the memory stick.
The camera defaults to recording 12-bit audio, which is fine for most purposes, but unless you think you are going to add another audio track to the movie in-camera (as opposed to editing or adding audio tracks to the movie with your computer) you are better off setting the audio to record in CD quality (16 bit). Of course, the small microphone that is built in to the camera won't really do the audio justice. If you are really serious about good audio, you can buy a separate microphone that plugs into the hotshoe attachment.
I've never really bothered to do more than play with the in-camera editing features because I can do everything better and easier in iMovie, but in a pinch the in-camera effects would be better than nothing.
Interesting Features and Video/Audio Quality:
I'm not going to discuss every feature this camera has because that would make this review about the size of War and Peace. ;-)
One of the neat features (if you do a lot of shooting in very low light conditions) is Nightshot. This allows you to shoot video in complete darkness. How does this work? The camera reads infrared wavelengths of light and transfers the resulting image into the visible wavelength spectrum. To make things easier to see, the camera includes a small infrared "light" that illuminates whatever you point the camera at out to a radius of about 10 or so feet. Using nightshot turns your video gray-green. If you want to take nightshot video of things that are further away, you can buy a special nightshot light that attaches to the hotshoe of the camera. In nightshot mode you can continue to shoot full motion video just as you would without nightshot.
There is also a mode called "super" nightshot. This allows you to take video in the very darkest places. The camera accomplishes this by changing exposure times to allow more light to enter the camera. The camera also processes the incoming video to make it lighter. The problem with this is that you can not take full motion video with super nightshot on. It is almost as if you a viewing a series of still frames taken every few seconds (this doesn't affect the audio).
Still, if you really need it, choppy video is better than none at all.
Nightshot is a great idea (so long as you don't mind gray-green video) but what if you want to take color video in low-light situations? Unfortunately, this camera isn't as good as some others in this respect.
The camera can take regular video down to about 5 lux (I gather this is a dimly lit room), after that then most detail is lost. You can change the exposure to allow more light into the camera, but then you get choppy video similar to super nightshot.
So what about regular light levels? How does this camera perform?
Video is clear and clean with not a lot of "artifacts" (visual "noise" in an image). Audio is very nice (particular in 16-bit mode). Unfortunately, the camera doesn't include filters to automatically filter out wind noises, so if you are shooting outside on a windy day, you might want to shelter the camera from the wind.
The camera does have electronic image stabilization, which helps to reduce camera shaking especially if you zoom in on an object.
Unlike most electronic image stabilization features, Sony has come up with one that does not degrade the video quality.
The auto focus functions and auto contrast features do a pretty good job, but if you don't find the results acceptable, you can always adjust the focus manually (just twisting the ring around the camera lens automatically puts the camera in manual focus mode). Plus there are other exposure options you can set for many common situations.
Documentation:
The documentation that comes with this camera is horrible. It is impossible to find what you are looking for because the manual is divided up into sections and so the SAME FEATURE may be discussed in 2-3 different sections. Only by reading them all do you really learn about that feature. The manual does come with an index, but it is not all that complete, and I found myself trying to guess what Sony might call a feature that I wanted to look up.
This is a shame, because this camera has a lot of great features that allow the average person to shoot video that looks semi-professional.
Cool Add-On:
Sony sells an add-on called the Super Laserlink Receiver ($50) which I find pretty handy.
http://www.sonystyle.com/home/item.jsp?itemid=650&hierc=9682x7078x9042&catid=
(that link should be all on one line)
You hook this small box up to your TV or other video display and it will allow you to display video directly from the camera on your TV or video display without having to hook the camera up to any wires. It uses the camera's built-in infrared port to send video to the SLL and it gets displayed on your television.
If you have a Sony TV (which I do), you can set the SLL to automatically turn on your TV and switch to video input mode whenever it detects video coming from the camera.
The only drawback to this is that you need more-or-less direct line of site access from the camera to the SLL. If you walk between the two, you will cut off the video as you pass through the infrared data stream.
I've not found this to be a big problem. I have space above the TV, so I set the camera and SLL on top of the TV itself, facing one another. This works great.
I highly recommend springing for the SLL if you have a large TV or if it is difficult or awkward to plug wires into your TV. With the SLL, you plug in the box one time and you are ready to go whenever the urge hits to watch the video from your camera.
The Final Word:
This camera is really excellent. It includes enough features and extras to make most "prosumers" happy while not putting a huge dent in your wallet.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 700
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Epinions.com ID:
aricpedersen
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Member: Aric Pedersen
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
"He's just this guy. You know?" - Currently on sabatical
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