Sony Handycam DSR-PD170 Camcorder - Black

The video camera is light-weight, thus easy to handle. In addition, the picture quality is very good. The great price of the camera made it affordable for me to purchase it. I am very happy with my purchase.

This is a somewhat large camera, but which films easily from tripod. The manual control is excellent. This camera can operate in low light settings; and as I am filming dance performances, that is a help. The spotlight feature turns out to be very useful for a stage performance so highlights are not bleached out. With colored lights changing the white balance works best on auto. If lighting stays consistent you can get a good reading focussing on a page of white paper. The batteries last a long time; but the cassettes are relatively short, so you need to be prepared to switch cassettes. Sound is excellent.
The paricular auction had a relatively new camera, a wide angle lens, a tripod and a solid carrying case which were the accessories I wanted. As mentioned I needed the low light capability and manual control.

The Sony PD170 is a public access favorite because it is easy to handle, sturdy and only as complicated as it really needs to be to give you the control you need. I took footage from a public access camera to a local tv station and the engineer checked it and said the quality was good enough for their broadcast, so I bought the camera.
It has good manual focus which I really like, being able to manually zoom in quick, as well as creatively zoom in at the speed you like. And I like that the lens can be grabbed and zoomed by one ring and focused by an adjacent ring just like my film and old fashioned video cameras were before everything got automatic.
The audio setting and microphone plug ins and settings are not for the stupid; you should have someone explain it to you. I haven't seen the manual so I have no idea how clear it explains things. It has two audio inputs with good sturdy XLR jacks, and you can set Input one to record to one or both tracks. You can set the audio sensitivity. But if you set your mics or audio wrong you won't have sound. It does have its own speaker so you can play it back after a test recording.
If your local public access channel uses these cameras you can take their training course on how to use them and then do some volunteer work for them.
It has three, count 'em, three record buttons, conveniently placed for the different ways you might hand hold a camera. The viewfinder and fold out view screen are clear.

What I don't like is the tiny finger switch to turn it on to VCR/Camera/Memory. It is hard to press a finger to compress the little center button and twist it to just the right position. If I had a man's large fingers or were in dim light and could not see the tiny lettering it would be easy to mis-position it or not be able to move it at all. It does have a nice little, though unmarked, blocking lever to prevent yourself from going to memory instead of camera.
And the power jack it hidden at the lower rear of the camera behind a smooth rubber flap just the same color as the camera body. I searched for 10 minutes before I found it even though I knew it was at the back rear.
I'm not too familiar with the menu so I can't talk on that or its special effects. I am a simple operator, interested more in good signal and camerawork. But I recommend it.

Sony DSR-PD170 is an ideal professional camcorder for those who demand great color tones and the flexibility of videotaping in places where lighting would be a challenge. Dimly lit meetings or interviews where supplemental light setup would be a hassle is remarkably adequate for the PD170 delivering broadcast quality color saturation and tones that should please any field footage producer. Any professional would find this camcorder to be quick to setup, easy to integrate in a multi-camera shoot, and auditorium sound system connection friendly right out of the box. If portability and quality are the need, you will be very pleased with this camera’s value.

The PD170 is the evolution of Sony’s previous run-and-gun favorite of news professionals the DSR-PD150. Optically, these two cameras produce a resulting picture that is almost identical and could mix well in a multi-camera shoot, both do very well in low light, although the PD170 can work with slightly less. A comfortable new feature that the PD170 has over the 150 is a thumb-rocker zoom control on the carry handle in addition to the one on the side of the body shared by both cameras’ similar design.

I purchased this camera and I am amazed at it low-light capabilities. I currently shoot with a Canon XH-A1 and I have found the PD-170 to be more useful because of it's ability to turn a low light environment into a useful video. The PD 170 is standard definition and has an amazing picture. I am very happy with this camera. I should have bought two of these for the price of one XH-A1. Most people I work with just want a standard definition DVD anyway! I also really like my Canon, it's an amazing camera too, but when the light is low and I can't use it, the PD 170 saves the day. If I use the Canon XH A1 in low light at 6DB I have to be at 1/30 of a second. The PD 170 can be at 9DB and 1/100 of a second, this produces similar video results in both cameras.