I’ve always liked the idea of tiny direct-to-flash video recorders and bought one of the first Antec video recorders available. The optical quality sucked, and I wound up giving it to the kids because it was basically useless. Every direct-to-flash camera I’ve seen since then has reminded me of a toy poor optics, poor video quality, and VGA or lower resolution. Unfortunately, the traditional video camera makers were slow to give up other formats with Sony being amongst the slowest. Sony’s first forays into direct flash recording were very expensive, and for HD they recorded in the AVCHD, which has received very little support amongst software vendors (including Sony) and remains painful to work with still today.
That has all changed with the Sony Webbie HD. This slick little camera costs $199 (the cheapest product from Sony I think I’ve ever seen), records in full HD, and has by far the best optics I’ve seen in video camera in this price range. The Auto white-balance, autofocus times, and color balance, while clearly not on part with my $1500 Sony HD camcorder, are far better than anything I’ve seen at the low end of the market. They’re better across the board than the JVC HDD camcorder I paid over $600 for. My only real complaint with the optics is the occasionally long auto-focus times. It can take a few seconds for the camera to find focus when aimed at distant shots with few clean-edged objects, like the ocean or distant mountains. White balance can occasionally be a little washed out in strong daylight, but again, compared to the other $200 offerings the optics are outstanding.
The construction is noticeably cheaper than a typical Sony product, but in-line with my expectations for the price point. It comes in silver, purple, and orange. It fits entirely in the palm of your hand facing away from your thumb, which can be somewhat awkward. The button placement is reminiscent of larger camcorders and is a bit awkward for a camera this small. I have large hands and it worked well for me, but my wife didn’t like the button placement. The camera comes with almost no internal flash (just enough to demo the camera) so you have to supply a Sony Memory Stick Duo, which come in sizes up to 16GB at the time of this writing. You can plan on using about 4GB/hr. for full HD, 2GB for 720p, and 1GB for VGA resolution.
The camera records in your choice of full 1920x1080p HD, 720p HD, or 640×480 SD resolutions and creates standard MPEG-4 files that can be dragged and dropped into Roxio, iPhoto, iMovie, and just about every non-linear editor on the market. Zero compatibility problems. You can plug the camera into your computer using its standard mini-USB port and treat it like a flash-card reader. There is a built-in bright white LED for lighting, and with Sony’s low-light optics it actually works better than you would expect.
The camera takes 5MP photos, but with no flash, a second or more delay between pushing the camera button and having it snap the photo, and no ability to take a photo while recording, this feature is a pointless add-on in my opinion. Don’t get this camera thinking you’re killing two birds with one stone, because you’ll be disappointed with its still camera performance.
The only significant downside to this camera is the built-in, non-replaceable 80-minute battery. It rather sucks to have a camera whose storage lasts far longer than its battery. Sony could have gotten me to buy two or three proprietary batteries and a charger had they built it with a replaceable battery. Being a geek, I noticed that the camera charges at 9 volts, so a quick trip to RadioShack for an Adapt-a-plug, 9v Battery-clip, and a 9v battery puts me in business for a full day with only slightly lower carrying convenience.
You can’t do better than the Webbie HD MHS-CM1 for a low-cost full HD video camera. It has the best optics I’ve seen in a low cost camcorder and the convenient MPEG-4 format made it a no-brainer for me. Avoid it for still pictures, and think about the low-capacity fixed battery before you buy. Play with it in store to be sure you don’t mind the button placement and handling. If those aren’t an issue, then you’ll love your small and convenient HD camcorder.
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