This camera is literally the camera of my dreams. I got it after watching your review and many others but it really does hit the spot. Got a mini death lens too but tbh, you really can't beat those home movie zooms. It's incredible.
Thank you for an in depth review! So helpful. I am not a skateboarder at all. I did order this camcorder recently online and can't wait to start filming. I'm aiming to use this camcorder for making vlogs in short films style.
@@brandoncameracollection it still looks good! just depends on the look you are going for. id stay away from opteka as they are simply price gouging the same glass from other manufactures.
@@Eva_unit01 The flex cable which goes to the cassette compartment door on the 110 and 120 does not bend sharply when the door is opened and closed, it more slides out from and back into the body (I've never found one of these cables break on a 110 and 120). The only things which the cassette compartment door has connections to are the headphone socket, reset button and flash switch/indicator; as these are not too critical you'd not have such a problem if the flex cable did break and you could not access these features. If the flex cable breaks on the 100, then you loose all the many features which have switches located in the cassette compartment door.
I think they learned it from JVC because JVC had this form factor since 1996. Said to be the first consumer DV camcorder. I have a DV Handycam in this form factor. I don't remember the model name but I think was released to market in 2002.
Yeah I heard that too. I thought the Sony vx700 was the first consumer mini DV camcorder because it was supposed to be the consumer version of the vx1000 and they came out in 1995
Thanks for this review i bought a DCR-PC110 year 2001 (I think), it was expensive at the time but I used it up to 2017, still working without any service, impressive quality (well the LCD screen and play back buttons doesn´t work but I can use the remote control :) ). Anyways, I am now in the process of moving my 66 pcs of 90 min DV cassettes to the computer and read your clearclick recommendation which seems much more convinient than the quicktime recording I tried yesterday... But, what quality does it result in? Do you get the full pixel range with the 3-1 cable, i thought I needed to use the fire-wire for that? I had a lot of problems (and still have) to find right format and comprimation in quick time...
So if you want the best quality with a true digital signal I would find a way to use FireWire. The ClearClick devices only record from the av or s-video signal which are analog signals. Therefore the video and audio won’t be as good as FireWire. The clearclick devices are a great choice if you are wanting a quick and easy way to capture your footage.
i got a PC100 that's basically perfect except the cable that runs between the tape door and the main camcorder body has snapped so it's basically useless and that makes me mad
@@fernandoleal3461 tapeless is the only other solution, but it’s expensive if you want an direct copy of the footage since you can only do firewire capture or a/v / analogue method the firewire capture devices are insanely expensive
@@brandoncameracollection ohhhh okay, thanks so much! Also I have 2 more questions why does it say no file, and also once I’m done taking photos or videos how do I look at from like a gallery view
@jaylalynn I’m not exactly sure I’ve never used this camera with a memory stick. I know if you can only take photos to the memory stick though. Also this camera might only be compatible up to a certain size of memory stick. So if the memory stick is a fairly high capacity the camera may not recognize it
Just got bought one off eBay right now and super excited for it. But I looked into getting the fisheye for it and the one you have linked isn’t available anymore. Are there any other good alternatives?
I have this camera and the motor on the DV stopped working - do you by any chance know of any place that can fix it? I love the form factor of this camcorder, super impressed by the quality of it too!!
@@brandoncameracollection Thanks for the swift reply! I thought the same too which is how I ended up stumbling across your channel! Fr fr your reviews are 🔥🔥🔥 awesome content all around, I couldn't believe your story about the sony Hdr-f7x $12 thrift store find hahaha. I'm trying to look for a minidv or sd camera for interviews/documentary/home video stuff- currently have that sony model and the gl2 on my radar
So do you need DV tapes to record or can you use a SD card to record on the camera & dump the footage ? cause buying DV tapes all the time can be a lot just to use the camera
No you definitely have to use tapes. The memory stick is only for pictures. Although you can make a tapeless rig that can record straight to sd card ua-cam.com/video/r9z6AhqssLI/v-deo.html
Well I call it a 3-1 av cable I’ll leave a link so you can see what I’m talking about and I’ll leave a link to a video of mine on a nice tapeless setup. You can also use s-video but you would have to use the audio cables from the av cable with it. 3-1 av cable: amzn.to/3venMxG How to go tapeless with any camcorder: ua-cam.com/video/r9z6AhqssLI/v-deo.html
@@brandoncameracollection Thank you for your answer man Is there something to do on the camera? because by connecting the jack to av I always have a blue screen on clearclick, I even tried with an svideo cable (and by changing the mode in clearclick) and I still have no image and no signal thanks for your help
Hmmm that’s strange I haven’t ran into that problem before. I think that there might be some trouble shooting pointers in the manual if you still have it. If not you can always email clearclick they are a super cool company and they will always email you back. They might be able to help you with your issue more than me 😅 I’m not sure if it’s a problem with you converter or your pc100
It’s called a Sony intelligent light www.ebay.com/itm/115265519376?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=R6XDl3UsSsW&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=ufmp3m6wrmi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Hello friendly camera folks. I would appreciate any help to move my mini DV tapes to computer or disk. I have over 25 which contain the only Video of my husband of 25 years & father of our 3 children. He died from Cancer all too soon. The only recordings I have of him & my children when they were young are on these tapes. so you could see that this is extremely important to me to transfer them safely to computer . I have bought 3 JVC GRD mini DV cams. The 2 replacements for the original, did not work at all. I don't want to send all my tapes out in the mail for fear something will happen to them. This last Camera I bought used, is a Sony Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar Super Steady Shot 120 x Does anyone know how I could maybe replace the battery for this camera as it looks to be in great shape and it may just be a matter of a bad battery in a lack of being able to charge it back up? Honestly, any help/advice would be so very much appreciated. I have been working on this for 9 years, so if anyone has advice, I would appreciate hearing it so much.
I just got mine in the mail and I’ve been playing around with it for a bit. Main issues I’m having with it are I dont know if it’s functionally correctly or I’m doing it wrong. Whenever I put it in playback mode it rarely ever shows the video. Just a blue screen. I try to rewind and fast forward and it signifies on screen that it’s doing that. But like I said It’s rare that I ever see the video in playback mode. I have the tapes set to record and NOT save. I’m not really sure what I’m doing wrong. Also idk if this is normal either but whenever I try to look into the view finder it’s lit up but it just looks like tv static or like a glitch or something. I very much hope that I am just doing something wrong and that this thing isn’t broken 😅
Also another thing I get an Elgato video transfer. And I don’t think it’s working. If you’re familiar with this product : is it not compatible with the pc100?
So my guess is if you have a blue screen in playback your tape heads are dirty. Since it can’t read the tape it doesn’t show an image. I would get a cleaning tape and a new tape to use after using a cleaning tape.
I got a Sony DCR-PC100E myself recently, I'm in love with the little thing! I just have an issue with both my batteries; When fully charged, the camera will display that I have 120 minutes of battery left and two minutes later, the battery dies. I then leave the camera off for 5 minutes, turn it on again and I'll be back at 120-118 minutes. I have the same problem with both batteries, are they maybe both too old? Should I get a new battery just to be sure? a lot
This camera is literally the camera of my dreams. I got it after watching your review and many others but it really does hit the spot. Got a mini death lens too but tbh, you really can't beat those home movie zooms. It's incredible.
Is your nightshot dim too?
Not that I have noticed@@Josuerobles11202
Thank you for an in depth review! So helpful. I am not a skateboarder at all. I did order this camcorder recently online and can't wait to start filming. I'm aiming to use this camcorder for making vlogs in short films style.
If I may, id recommend the Kapkur 37mm .3x fisheye. Can't beat the price. Looks extremely good as well.
Yeah for sure would look a lot better I definitely need to invest in a couple different sizes
@@brandoncameracollection it still looks good! just depends on the look you are going for. id stay away from opteka as they are simply price gouging the same glass from other manufactures.
Yeah I’ve had this opteka fisheye since about 2017-2018 so sounds like the glass has changed since then.
Well there are always spacer rings
@@dovid729 slap 10 of them bad boys on and have an extendo fisheye, hell yeah
loving your camera review vid!! keep it up!
PC100 very often has the ribbon cable to the tape compartment door fracture and lose connection. The PC110 and the PC120 last many times longer.
Yes I had a pc100 I gay after this one and I ended up breaking the ribbon cable when trying to clean the tape heads. I was so mad
Hey! Wanted to ask about this. What changed in the 110 and 120 that fixes this failure?
@@Eva_unit01 The flex cable which goes to the cassette compartment door on the 110 and 120 does not bend sharply when the door is opened and closed, it more slides out from and back into the body (I've never found one of these cables break on a 110 and 120). The only things which the cassette compartment door has connections to are the headphone socket, reset button and flash switch/indicator; as these are not too critical you'd not have such a problem if the flex cable did break and you could not access these features. If the flex cable breaks on the 100, then you loose all the many features which have switches located in the cassette compartment door.
I think they learned it from JVC because JVC had this form factor since 1996. Said to be the first consumer DV camcorder.
I have a DV Handycam in this form factor. I don't remember the model name but I think was released to market in 2002.
Yeah I heard that too. I thought the Sony vx700 was the first consumer mini DV camcorder because it was supposed to be the consumer version of the vx1000 and they came out in 1995
just been getting into filming, ur channel has helped a fuckton thanks!!
That’s what I’m here for 😊
i have the Sony DCR-PC110 from the year 2000
That must be the model after the 100. It seems to have more feature on it
Great video! Super informative, I just had 1 question. Did you transfer your footage using QuickTime?
No I used a recorder called the clearclick video 2 digital 2.0
hi my charging s found missing..can you tell me how can i recharge its battery?
I have a link in the description of the video for batteries and chargers that are compatible 😁
kinda cool mini skateboard camcorder under budget..
l'll like to try out in SD mirco card recording.. lol
Does it shoot 4:3? Or 16:9 only?
Difference between this and the pc101?
I’m not exactly sure it looks to be a slightly different model
Thanks for this review i bought a DCR-PC110 year 2001 (I think), it was expensive at the time but I used it up to 2017, still working without any service, impressive quality (well the LCD screen and play back buttons doesn´t work but I can use the remote control :) ). Anyways, I am now in the process of moving my 66 pcs of 90 min DV cassettes to the computer and read your clearclick recommendation which seems much more convinient than the quicktime recording I tried yesterday... But, what quality does it result in? Do you get the full pixel range with the 3-1 cable, i thought I needed to use the fire-wire for that? I had a lot of problems (and still have) to find right format and comprimation in quick time...
So if you want the best quality with a true digital signal I would find a way to use FireWire. The ClearClick devices only record from the av or s-video signal which are analog signals. Therefore the video and audio won’t be as good as FireWire. The clearclick devices are a great choice if you are wanting a quick and easy way to capture your footage.
i got a PC100 that's basically perfect except the cable that runs between the tape door and the main camcorder body has snapped
so it's basically useless and that makes me mad
I wonder if you can find another pc100 for parts and take the cable from it and replace it
Try tapelesss recording !
I’ll take you up on that offer haha
@@fernandoleal3461 tapeless is the only other solution, but it’s expensive if you want an direct copy of the footage since you can only do firewire capture or a/v / analogue method
the firewire capture devices are insanely expensive
How do I transfer the Video from the camera to my PC as it uses a cassete and not a sd card
I use these converters.
Clearclick video 2 digital 2.0: amzn.to/3xh845L
Clearclick video 2 digital 3.0: amzn.to/3Y4LbOE
How do I delete videos off of the camera, to free up space ?
Well you can’t delete videos from the tape you have to rewind the tape and record over the footage.
@@brandoncameracollection ohhhh okay, thanks so much! Also I have 2 more questions why does it say no file, and also once I’m done taking photos or videos how do I look at from like a gallery view
@jaylalynn I’m not exactly sure I’ve never used this camera with a memory stick. I know if you can only take photos to the memory stick though. Also this camera might only be compatible up to a certain size of memory stick. So if the memory stick is a fairly high capacity the camera may not recognize it
Just got bought one off eBay right now and super excited for it. But I looked into getting the fisheye for it and the one you have linked isn’t available anymore. Are there any other good alternatives?
Yes there is another company called veledge they look identical to opteka ones: amzn.to/3HAPyKs
@@brandoncameracollection Thank you so much dude
I have this camera and the motor on the DV stopped working - do you by any chance know of any place that can fix it? I love the form factor of this camcorder, super impressed by the quality of it too!!
I don’t know any places that can repair it for a reasonable price. I think it would be better to just order yourself another one in working condition
@@brandoncameracollection Thanks for the swift reply! I thought the same too which is how I ended up stumbling across your channel! Fr fr your reviews are 🔥🔥🔥 awesome content all around, I couldn't believe your story about the sony Hdr-f7x $12 thrift store find hahaha. I'm trying to look for a minidv or sd camera for interviews/documentary/home video stuff- currently have that sony model and the gl2 on my radar
An underrated camera in my opinion is the Panasonic dvc30. I think that would work great for what you are looking to film
So do you need DV tapes to record or can you use a SD card to record on the camera & dump the footage ? cause buying DV tapes all the time can be a lot just to use the camera
No you definitely have to use tapes. The memory stick is only for pictures. Although you can make a tapeless rig that can record straight to sd card ua-cam.com/video/r9z6AhqssLI/v-deo.html
Hey hello !
I’ve Got a pc100e and just buy a clearclick 2.0 and a powerbank to use it tapeless
What kind of cable do you use? Thank for your work
Well I call it a 3-1 av cable I’ll leave a link so you can see what I’m talking about and I’ll leave a link to a video of mine on a nice tapeless setup. You can also use s-video but you would have to use the audio cables from the av cable with it.
3-1 av cable: amzn.to/3venMxG
How to go tapeless with any camcorder: ua-cam.com/video/r9z6AhqssLI/v-deo.html
@@brandoncameracollection Thank you for your answer man
Is there something to do on the camera? because by connecting the jack to av I always have a blue screen on clearclick, I even tried with an svideo cable (and by changing the mode in clearclick) and I still have no image and no signal
thanks for your help
Hmmm that’s strange I haven’t ran into that problem before. I think that there might be some trouble shooting pointers in the manual if you still have it. If not you can always email clearclick they are a super cool company and they will always email you back. They might be able to help you with your issue more than me 😅 I’m not sure if it’s a problem with you converter or your pc100
@@brandoncameracollection thanks a lot ! :) love your channel
You’re welcome ☺️ and I’m glad you are enjoying😊 got a new video coming out today👀
hi! I am looking for the light that I can use for this cam. Do you know what it is called?
It’s called a Sony intelligent light www.ebay.com/itm/115265519376?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=R6XDl3UsSsW&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=ufmp3m6wrmi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Hello friends, which lenses could I adapt to this camera? Could anyone recommend it to me? I would like to adapt 16mm and 35mm lenses, is it possible?
Does it have date and time ?
Hello friendly camera folks. I would appreciate any help to move my mini DV tapes to computer or disk. I have over 25 which contain the only Video of my husband of 25 years & father of our 3 children. He died from Cancer all too soon. The only recordings I have of him & my children when they were young are on these tapes. so you could see that this is extremely important to me to transfer them safely to computer . I have bought 3 JVC GRD mini DV cams. The 2 replacements for the original, did not work at all. I don't want to send all my tapes out in the mail for fear something will happen to them. This last Camera I bought used, is a Sony Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar Super Steady Shot 120 x Does anyone know how I could maybe replace the battery for this camera as it looks to be in great shape and it may just be a matter of a bad battery in a lack of being able to charge it back up? Honestly, any help/advice would be so very much appreciated. I have been working on this for 9 years, so if anyone has advice, I would appreciate hearing it so much.
I have a playlist on ways I have captured footage.
How To Capture Your Video Footage
ua-cam.com/play/PLLCeXl20RsPbMMZhUAIdi5C3HPpPviZ07.html
@@brandoncameracollection thank you so much for replying I'll be sure to check it out this evening
I just got mine in the mail and I’ve been playing around with it for a bit. Main issues I’m having with it are I dont know if it’s functionally correctly or I’m doing it wrong. Whenever I put it in playback mode it rarely ever shows the video. Just a blue screen. I try to rewind and fast forward and it signifies on screen that it’s doing that. But like I said It’s rare that I ever see the video in playback mode. I have the tapes set to record and NOT save. I’m not really sure what I’m doing wrong. Also idk if this is normal either but whenever I try to look into the view finder it’s lit up but it just looks like tv static or like a glitch or something. I very much hope that I am just doing something wrong and that this thing isn’t broken 😅
Also another thing I get an Elgato video transfer. And I don’t think it’s working. If you’re familiar with this product : is it not compatible with the pc100?
So my guess is if you have a blue screen in playback your tape heads are dirty. Since it can’t read the tape it doesn’t show an image. I would get a cleaning tape and a new tape to use after using a cleaning tape.
@@brandoncameracollection word. I’ll try that. Also thank you so much for the quick replies. Youre the fucking best
I got a Sony DCR-PC100E myself recently, I'm in love with the little thing!
I just have an issue with both my batteries; When fully charged, the camera will display that I have 120 minutes of battery left and two minutes later, the battery dies. I then leave the camera off for 5 minutes, turn it on again and I'll be back at 120-118 minutes.
I have the same problem with both batteries, are they maybe both too old? Should I get a new battery just to be sure?
a lot
Yeah I would definitely try a new battery the ones you have definitely seem like the they are a little old
how do you convert in to video format in computer?
So I use a video converter called the clearclick video 2 digital 2.0 it transfer your footage to an sd card or usb drive
amzn.to/3E4ffAR
@@brandoncameracollectionthanks
I use iMovie 06. I am then able to move into iMovie10 or other editors.
Black dog -L.Z.
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