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When I was traveling throughout Asia 15 years ago, I was constantly searching for a small, lightweight camcorder that could deliver broadcast quality video. Not only was my search futile, but it left a bitter taste. Why? Because repeatedly I was told professionals would never use a lightweight camera, so there was no market for a tiny camcorder that delivered high-quality images.
Well that was then. And this is now. With foreign newsgathering of vital importance, pros seem quite happy to work with a lightweight camcorder. Sony's DSR-PDX10 is the smaller brother of the very popular DSR-PD150. Weighing about 2.4lbs. with a lithium-ion battery and tape, the Sony DSR-PDX10's can shoot either DV or DVCAM. The PDX10 has an MSRP of $2,395.
The 12x optical, (24x or 48x digital) zoom range is from f=3.6mm (F1.6) to 43.2mm (F2.8) with a variable-speed, motorized zoom but no manual control. (The lens is equivalent to a 49mm to 580mm lens on a 35mm camera.) The PDX10 accepts 37mm diameter filters and converters. The DSR-PDX10's camera section features three 0.21in. 1,070,000-pixel Advanced HAD CCD chips that Sony specs at providing 530 lines of horizontal luminance resolution. The camera has a 14-bit A/D converter and employs 14-bit digital signal processing.
The PDX10 is rated at 7 lux, which is poorer than the 2-lux rated PD150. The lower sensitivity is to be expected because the PD150 has three 0.33in. CCDs, each with only 380,000 elements. I found that with 500W of illumination the PDX10 captured images with excellent color fidelity and no noise with +9dB gain. In a less well-lit room, the required gain increased to +18dB with very little noise. I did note that as illumination decreased, chroma level decreased. Conversely, under stronger illumination the chroma level often seemed too high.
Thankfully, the PDX10 has a Custom Picture function that allows you to preset five aspects of the image prior to recording. Color Level: Adjusts chroma saturation thereby allowing you to create a special look or to match the saturation of another camcorder. Sharpness: Increases or decreases apparent sharpness. WB Shift: Lets you bias all the white balance modes so that flesh is recorded with the tone you prefer. AE Shift: Enables you to bias the AE system so...