Sony EDC-55
Description
The Sony EDC-55 was the North American version of the Japanese EDC-50 "ED CAM" camcorder, released in 1988. Like its Japanese counterpart, it featured a 2-CCD imaging system with separate luminance and chroma sensors achieving 550 lines of horizontal resolution, an interchangeable lens mount, and a separable camera/deck design.
The EDC-55 had no built-in infrared remote receiver. Instead, it featured a Control-L socket that accepted the optional RMR-151 IR receiver (available as part of the RMK-151 adapter kit), enabling wireless remote control functionality.
The primary criticism of the EDC-55, shared with the Japanese EDC-50, concerned its poor low-light sensitivity. The 2-CCD design, while offering superior color separation, required splitting available light between two sensors rather than using a single larger CCD, resulting in a significant low-light performance penalty compared to contemporary single-CCD camcorders.