The best in its class!. Review on Sony PD150

This broadcast quality camera is one of the most versatile and rugged video recorders available on the market. I have owned mine for three years, and keep it in a drink cooler bag where it has been treated terribly. It is easy to use and the only time it gave me any problems was after I dropped it on a concrete floor. It still worked, though the contacts in it were weak and after about 6 months it required repair. Sony repaired it quite quickly and it is as good as new. It has the advantage of being small enough not to attract too much attention than the larger Sony DSR 250. You will see it used at most news conferences and by TV reporters in the field. It is available in either PAL or NTSC. The PAL cameras (~$3,000 US) are available for almost half the price in North America as the NTSC (~$5,000 US)model, so if you are travelling to the US, buy a PAL recorder there. The only weak spot is the microphone which extends too far forward. I eventually changed mine so the microphone didn't stick forward, but packing and unpacking the camera from my bag, the microphone is always getting caught and I ripped the rubber mount from it. I also don't like the viwefinder eyepiece as it sticks too far out the back, and I rarely use it. The camera takes mini DV cassettes. Though I used the DVCAM settings on the camera, the video quality between miniDV-SP settings and DVCAM settings is not noticable, so I use the DV-SP settings as I rarely use the time code features of the DVCAM. This allows 1 hour of recording instead of 40 minutes for the DVCAM. However, If you are travelling and require high quality video, this is the model to use!