Despite its small size, I find the DCR-PC9 a hassle to use. It requires frequent trips back to the manual. The USB driver is flakey to install. The MGI software has an awful user interface. The positioning of the strap and zoom button makes it hard to operate using one hand -- the contortions needed to move the zoom cause the camera to shake.

The DCR-PC9 is my first video camera, so I can't compare size or picture quality against the brands available for $200-300 less. But as a digital photo fan, I can't express a lot of enthusiasm for carrying the PC9 around. Chances are, the pictures will stay in the camera, either because of the balky USB driver for still pictures, or because movies can transfer only via Firewire rather than USB, or because of the unintuitive interface of MGI Videowave.

Recently, I had trouble finding the charger for the camera. (Yet another little black box...) I couldn't find the part number listed for purchase on Sony's replacement-part web site. There is a quick charger for the removable batteries, but that runs $150! Sony customer service is very responsive, in fact amazingly so (3 min. to send a sensible reply on a Sunday afternoon). However, the prices for replacement accessories seemed like highway robbery.

Pictures in pitch black work pretty well with Super Nightshot. Although they're monochrome green, they still look realistic. However, in low light situations where you just want a regular picture, there's no way to adjust and the pictures are way too dark. In mixed-light situations, I find myself shuttling between too-dark and washed out by constantly spot metering. Also, the spot metering setting is lost when the camera is shut off, so it's hard to conserve battery power yet be able to quickly set up a new shot -- you have to flip out the LCD screen and spot meter all over again.

In a sense, the PC9 reminds me of an early digital camera, before the still cameras worked out their teething problems with shutter lag and washout. So I would stick with something more middle-of-the-road pricewise until another generation or two has come and gone.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 950