Review of the Sony DCR-IP55 Digital Camcorder The good: Stylish and amazingly compact; innovative design; built-in flash and low-power video light; flexible low-light shooting. The bad: Limited choice in editing apps for MicroMV video format; lens has fairly narrow angle of view; no accessory shoe or external microphone jack. The bottom line: A tiny, handsome, very cool camcorder for the well-heeled video hobbyist who doesn't mind some compatibility limitations. Sony's innovative new DCR-IP55 camcorder is amazingly small, and its swing-down handle, reminiscent of old-school 8mm movie cameras, is way retro-cool—you can easily imagine James Bond using it to film Dr. No's secret island fortress. The camera uses Sony's tiny, proprietary MicroMV videotapes and sports a 1-megapixel CCD and a 10X zoom lens. Sadly, the MicroMV video format is incompatible with nearly all video editing programs, a big drawback. Serious filmmakers should skip the DCR-IP55, but if you've got a license to kill and $1,500 to burn, this Sony is one nifty gadget. The DCR-IP55's high cool quotient is a function of its small size, stylish contours, handsome matte gray finish, and that swing-down handle, which also carries the camera's battery. Though it's a tad heavier than you might expect, at 1.1 pounds with battery and tape installed, the camcorder is smaller than many point-and-shoot still cameras. It also feels solidly constructed, and its controls operate crisply. Tapes, unfortunately, load from the bottom, so you can't change them when the camera is mounted on a tripod. The DCR-IP55's zoom, record, and still capture buttons are located on the camera body, not the handle. Reaching them—and controlling all of them with just your forefinger—takes some getting used to. You manage nearly all of the camera's features and functions by using the touch-screen LCD to access the menu system. The menus are easy to learn and use, but some important settings—exposure program and exposure compensation, notably—are too hard to access. The secret to the DCR-IP55's size is its MicroMV tapes, which are 70% smaller than miniDV tapes but still hold 60 minutes of footage. The tapes can also store thumbnail pictures of the first frame of each of your recorded clips. This nice feature, though a bit time-consuming to use, allows direct access to specific scenes on your tape for playback or transfer to your PC. Now for the inevitable downside: the MicroMV system uses its own proprietary video file format, which is "based on MPEG-2" but not exactly the same. (Why, Sony, why?) As of this writing, only one well-regarded video editing program, Pinnacle Studio 8, supports the MicroMV format. Sony's own video editor, which goes by the snappy name of MovieShaker 3.1, ships free with the camera. It's a decent entry-level editor but it will disappoint serious videographers. The DCR-IP55's basic camcorder features, too, are best suited to gadget-loving video hobbyists. The 1.1-megapixel CCD has an effective video resolution of 690,000 pixels. A 24-step exposure compensation function is paired with seven programmed exposure modes, but there are no manual exposure settings. There's also no accessory shoe for video lights or microphones. The DCR-IP55 can capture still photos at 1152 x 864 resolution and save them to a Memory Stick, and there's a handy built-in flash for low-light stills. The camera can also capture MPEG-1 format video to the Memory Stick or send it to your computer for videoconferencing or storing on your hard drive. As if that weren't enough, the DCR-IP55 is also a Bluetooth compatible network device. With the optional modem adapter [price TK], you can use this camcorder to upload video clips to Sony's ImageStation photo/video sharing web site, surf the Internet, or send and receive e-mail. But we're holding out for a toaster that gets satellite TV. Though its autofocus speed is just average, the DCR-IP55's overall performance is otherwise quick and responsive. The focal length of the 10X zoom lens is very heavily weighted towards the telephoto end (50-500mm in 35mm equivalent terms), but it will accept screw-on wide-angle adapters (Sony makes at least two). Top zoom speed is very fast; in fact, it's tricky to keep the speed under control. The camcorder's electronic image stabilization does a good job counteracting camera shake without noticeably hurting image quality. The DCR-IP55's 2.5-inch LCD is sharp and works fairly well in outdoor light. The color viewfinder also gives a crisp, bright image. Both the LCD and the viewfinder are sharp enough for effective manual focusing, which is controlled by a smoothly operating ring on the lens. We recorded clear audio with the DCR-IP55's omni-directional stereo microphone, but there's no external microphone jack for more sophisticated sound recording strategies. The camera's battery is quite small, but it's still good for about 60 minutes of recording. Our test footage from the DCR-IP55 was sharp and colorful—comparable to other single-chip digital video cameras. We did see a tad more noise and video artifacting than average, but the difference was not dramatic. Our exposures were generally accurate, though we noticed an occasional tendency toward mild underexpose. With three different low light modes, the DCR-IP55 does well in near or total darkness. We got grainy but still decent footage in very low light levels, and Super Nightshot can shoot in total darkness, though the video has a heavy greenish cast. The DCR-IP55's still photos are about average for a 1-megapixel camcorder—that is, more or less usable for e-mail or web posting but noisy and not very sharp. © 2003 CNET, Inc.
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