After a friend of mine claimed his new Sony MC50U handled better then my Panasonic GH1, was as good in low light and produced better results in good lighting conditions, I had to borrow the camera for a few hours. Here are my findings:

THE GOOD:
The Sony MC50U is an impressive little video cam, capable of recording 1920×1080@24mbps
Manual Control
The best LCD screen
10x zoom range, starting at 29.8 wide (very useful)to 298mm
Incredible image stabilization
Great built in microphone and external shotgun mic, does not pick up focusing/zooming or any other handling noises
Built in 64GB built in memory
Class leading 1/2.88-inch Exmor R sensor, very good in low light
THE BAD:
1/2.88-inch Exmor R sensor, keep in mind this is a great sensor for its size, but I am comparing it to the much larger sensor in the Panasonic GH1 and it doesn’t stand a chance in low light, even in twilight.
The footage out of this camera does not have the film-like quality that I am used to seeing from a larger sensor camera, the out of focus areas are too sharp, even at 298mm, it is difficult to separate the subject from the background. I much prefer the results from the GH1.
Viewfinder (Gh1 wins big time)
Auto focus fell asleep during filming. Not good, there was enough contrast, even when I moved the camera around it took forever to re-focus. Panasonic’s standard 14-140mm lens wins in this department (to my surprise, actually) no problems with AF
Manual Control, since it is not really manual, see below.
THE UGLY:
Nothing really.
All clips were shot in1920x1080 HD FX mode, hand held in “manual” mode, with the low light setting disabled. Graded in ae/pp.
For ungraded footage, click here.

My impression of this camera after shooting for a few hours: This is a great little video camera capable of producing impressive footage (but without the film look), amazing image stabilization, the GH1 can’t even get close to Sony’s MC50U’s stabilizer, but I am a little disappointed looking at the footage. I much prefer what the GH1 produces. This camera is very easy to use and it is a pleasure to shoot with it. Too bad the “manual mode” is not fully manual, one can lock the exposure to prevent automatic exposure adjustment during filming, but it is not possible to set shutter speed, aperture and ISO individually at the same time. Choose one setting (for instance, iris or shutter speed) and the camera chooses the other. Semi automatic at best, the GH1 wins big time here.
The manual control nob is on the bottom left and if you have tiny fingers, you will be fine, otherwise it can be frustrating fiddling with it.
If you want a the smallest professional camera for run&gun work, quick interviews (it has a fantastic built in and external microphone)
capable of delivering very impressive video, go for it, if you like the film look, look elsewhere.
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