Sony NSC-GC1 review

Image quality
While not outstanding, the GC1's 5-megapixel snapshots look surprisingly good for a pocket camcorder. It shoots fairly quickly, and its shutter tends to lag for less than a second in most situations. Even with the flash turned on, we managed to take several shots in a row at a decent clip.

Typically, portraits and landscape shots turn out well on the GC1, though it falters at subjects with fine details, like text, artwork and pets. Its disappointing lens and low-resolution sensor simply don't capture textures or small characters nearly as well as a dedicated camera.

Its still photos also suffer from the same motion problems as its videos. The slightest camera shake or subject movement can hurt or ruin your shots. The high-speed shutter mode can help counteract shake, but only when using it in direct sunlight or with the flash. The high-speed shutter fires too fast and its ISO sensitivity can only hit ISO 400, rendering indoor shots without the flash extremely dark.

The GC1's pictures are fine for emailing, posting to the Web or even making 152 by 102mm (6 by 4-inch) prints. If you want to make larger prints or perform any amount of cropping and editing, however, the GC1 will disappoint.

Conclusion
With a price tag higher than competing pocket camcorders and equal or slightly higher than far more feature-rich budget digital cameras like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55, we simply can't recommend this awkwardly designed, low-quality pocket camcorder.

If you want to pop up YouTube videos easily and not do much else, the RCA EZ105 remains your best bet. If you want a solid camera that can also shoot YouTube-worthy video clips, choose a dedicated digital camera instead. If you do choose the digital camera route and already own a decent sized SD card, you might want to try the Canon Digital IXUS 70, which costs a little more than this Sony, but is just barely larger in size and delivers comparable video and 7-megapixel stills.

Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday