Sony Japan announces DCR-PC300 camcorder

Sony Japan has announced the DCR-PC300K, a 3.3 Megapixel horizontal matchbox style MiniDV camcorder.

According to Sony Japan, the three Megapixel CCD is the highest resolution CCD ever included on a camcorder producing the highest resolution stills of any camcorder on the market. The CCD is also a large 1/3 in. which will likely result in very good low light performance.

The DCR-PC300K includes an impressively large 1/3 in. 3.3 Megapixel CCD. This is the largest resolution and physical size CCD that has been included on a consumer camcorder in a while. It surpasses the Sony DCR-PC105 for single CCD resolution, and the Panasonic PV-DV953 which achieve 3 Megapixel stills by combining three CCDs. Currently, no camcorder under $1,500 includes a CCD larger than 1/3.6 in. The CCD produce 305K effective pixels for stills and 205K effective pixels for video – an incredibly large number. It is likely that the very large CCD, combined with the large number of effective pixels for video will result in super high quality video under normal and low light conditions.

The DCR-PC300K appears to be the replacement for the DCR-PC120BT. It includes a 10x optical zoom, a focus ring, and a new 3D touch screen navigation system. According to the press release, the camcorder includes an RGB color filter which is apparently new to Sony camcorders – what effect the filter has on video quality is unknown.

The 2.5 in. LCD on the DCR-PC300K is hybrid, like that of the DCR-PC105. The hybrid LCD is designed to work well in both sunny and dark light situations. It also appears that Sony has brought back the Bluetooth feature. The DCR-PC300K includes Bluetooth wireless networking capability enabling the camcorder to communicate with a printer wirelessly for printing digital stills.

The 3.3 Megapixel CCD can produce stills up to 2,016 x 1,512 pixels. The camcorder also includes Sony’s ”enhanced” 16:9 aspect ratio recording system which maximizes the resolution recorded to tape in 16:9 aspect ratio mode.

The DCR-PC300K will be available in Japan September 8th for 198,000 yen – or about $1,648.63. When the camcorder will be available in US, what features it will have and what price it will be is unknown. However, Sony is very good about eventually bringing Japanese models over to the US.

Source: Sony Japan and Camcorderinfo.com

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