'You press and hold the center button to select the dial's operation: manual focus, exposure compensation, aperture or shutter, mic level and automatic gain control limit--which caps the signal boosting in low light to minimize visual noise. '
'The new touchscreen system is intuitive and good for beginners, but we did find it a bit frustrating for navigating the camcorder's long menu system.'
'the display is clear and viewable even in quite bright conditions.'
'Ultimately it's slow to scroll through menus and all-too easy to 'select' items when you mean to sweep them.
'
', unfortunately, the camera uses Sony's tiny, proprietary MicroMV videotapes, which are incompatible with nearly all video-editing programs--a big drawback.'
'The ultra-compact design of the DCR-IP55 includes a new swing-down handgrip that makes it even easier and more comfortable to take video and high quality 1.0 megapixel still images.'
eamonhickey.com
'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.'
'With Instant AF enabled, the autofocus works quickly, and the Push AF, which activates an Instant AF override in manual-focus mode, speeds manual focus considerably.'
'The XL2 utilizes its 4:3 chip in a way that is unique among 16:9 modes.'
'anon's new XL2 camcorder offers an evolutionary design and new professional features - including a choice of 60i, 24p or 30p frame rates, 4:3 or high resolution 16:9 aspect ratio, new 680,000 pixel progressive scan CCDs, and a full line of customizable controls for cine-looking results'