Sony Handycam HDR-PJ10E review

Enthusiasts may miss an accessory shoe, but there are mic and headphone minijacks. There’s no video light for movies or flash for photos, either. Although the menus provide some manual control including spot metering and focus, there’s a general exposure setting rather than shutter speed and aperture controls.

Audio is recorded using a 5.1 surround microphone, but audio separation will never equal a professionally recorded movie, of course. Sound quality was very good in general, though. A handy built-in USB cable makes it possible to charge the PJ10E from your computer as well as easily transfer movies from the 16GB of internal memory, a Memory Stick or an SD card.

Since the projector is a novelty rather than a genuinely useful feature, plus the fact that footage is slightly soft, the PJ10E can’t match the quality and value of the £370 Panasonic HDC-SD90. That camcorder doesn’t have any built-in storage, but then a 16GB SD card costs only £15.