Sony HDR-SR12 10.2MP 120GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony HDR-SR12 10.2MP 120GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Digital camera Review: Sweet
Summary: 4 Stars
So far a grea camera, but I haven't copied to the cpu or made any DVD's yet so I don't know how well that function works.Digital camera Review: The Last Camcorder you will ever need
Summary: 5 Stars
I've now had this camera for about a month now and I couldn't be happier. The video quality is STUNNING as well as the recording sounds. It comes with a base and proprietary power and video cords (both component-HD and composite, which means that they are not interchangable with over the counter video cords), but thats ok. It also has the software for transferring the videos and photos to your CPU. Back to the picture and sound... amazing really. The sound records in 5.1 surround which is so cool, plus you have many options on the video such as night vision, black and white, sepia, old movie mold, etc and some of them you can combine (I did night vision with black and white to make a short zombie movie, it looks wicked). There are so many possibilities with this cam. The play back is all touch screen, which the screen can get smeared by fingerprints (easy to wipe out), but I suggest buying a stylus. Of course if you hook it to your television, it does come with a remote control, and you can do everything with that remote except for deleting images. But that is a positive because you don't want to accidentally delete your images. And it does ask for you to confirm deleting so it's hard to do that accidentally.
Plus, it's a great photography camera. With the flick of a thumb you can change from filming to photographer easy and it takes crystal clear pictures in 10.5 mega pixel. Although I do find it a bit awkward to reach the photo button. Now it takes better picture in photo mode, then it do in filming mode (While filming you can snap a picture also),
Another word on the night vision, I had all the lights off and it films in that greenish color sort of like the movie Cloverfield. But even filming at night without the night vision on, it picks up everything. I had a buddy drive at night, while I was shooting and the only lights were coming from headlights and streetlamps (when we passed them) and you saw everything on the camera that you could see with you naked eye and I even thought it was better than my eye.
Now when you film and take pictures, it organizes the images according to date and when you film several scenes it will play them one after another without a bit of a pause. The camera also has little doors on the back and the side so you can hook up your cords without the base, which is good. Also inside of one of the doors are an hdmi output, a headphones output and a mic input. I ran my iPod through the mic input to make a music video and it turned out great (although be sure not to have your iPod any louder than half).
The camera also has a one touch DVD burning button on the camera and the base, but I haven't used it yet.
The only real negative is that the battery only last 90 minutes, but I bought a bigger battery, which last 14 hours. That battery weighs as much or more than the camera (the camera is really light) and it sticks out the back some but that isn't really that big of a deal.
The software is pretty smart. You hook the camcorder with the use of the provided usb cable (after loading the software) and it finds the camcorder and asks if you want to transfer all the items to your computer. But the cool thing is that you can keep those images on your camcorder after transfer, film other stuff, hook you camera back up to the computer and it will only transfer items that haven't been transferred yet. This is good because you don't have to try to figure out what has or haven't been transfer and you don't get dup copies, or that annoying message about whether you want to overwrite a file. And it organizes by date and you can do a total calendar view and see what dates you filmed on. When it organized and transfer to your CPU, it organized by date filmed, not date transfer, which is extremely helpful, especially if you visit multiple locations during multiple dates.
This is really the last camcorder you will possibly buy for many many years. The only thing is that it has so many cool accessories you can buy, like wide-angle lenses, telescopic lenses, attachable lights, and underwater case etc that you may eventually end up with a $2500-3000 total purchase when you are done. The accessories are not a necessity but they do look like a lot of fun.
Auto focusing can be a pain at times, but it does have a manual focus, which you can set to infinity and if you zoom, set it up on a tripod.
Oh and one last thing, I actually filmed something for 5 minutes that was playing on my plasma in HD and it look as if its the movie itself.
Digital camera Review: The price is too expensive
Summary: 1 Stars
I don't own this product. I have been watching the price of it for a couple of months. The price of it now is even two hundred dollars more than it was two months ago. I think I would rather stay with my old hi8 camcorder now.Digital camera Review: VERY pleased with this camera, but not for feint of heart
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this camera for about 9 months now, and the more I use it, the happier I am with it. The takes absolutely beautiful video, and with the larger battery that I purchased, I can shoot with it seemingly forever without having to worry about running out of juice or storage, which is great. I've done several projects with it now and am extremely happy with the results.
After having used mini dv for years, it's so nice to not have to deal with the tape. You just plug the camera into your computer via a usb cable, hit one button, and a few min later you have all the video on your hard drive, broken down into different segments just like you shot it. I love it!
After using it a lot though I do have some suggestions to consider for those debating whether or not to purchase it:
1) you need a pretty beefy computer if you expect to edit or even watch the video you shoot. My 4-core desktop machine works flawlessly with the video, but my 2-core laptop doesn't do near as well.
2) you'll need some "serious" software to edit or assemble the video. The Mpeg-transport stream that comes off the camera is not a format that you can expect to "just use". You can't send it to friends "as is" and expect them to watch it, or upload it to a phone or a website and expect others to be able to see it. You really need some sort of editor (like Premiere or Final Cut) if you want to effectively work with it. If your needs are simpler, and you mainly just want to shoot family outings and put it on the web or something, this camera may prove much more hassle then it's worth.
3) it's true that in low light, the video is pretty poor. Very grainy. For me that's not a very serious limitation, but for some it might be a consideration.
Digital camera Review: Very close, but with a few problems...
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this camera months ago and love it.
There are some things that you need to know about it though....
The auto focus is HORRIBLE. I know that all cameras sometimes focus at the wrong point but this camera has a NASTY habit of getting completely out of focus for no good reason and it's a huge pain getting it back into focus. For $900.00 I want a camera that wont ruin small sections of the video.
Another irritation is that the editing software that comes with the camera (AVCHD Player or whatever) wont play the video even though I have a very fast PC. VLC and MPC both have it choppy (Codec problem)...I was AMAZED that Windows Media Player played the video crisp, clear, and at full frame rate. That's a win for Microsoft I guess.
Another thing is that I had the camera on a mount on my motorcycle and it had a buffer overflow in no time. This camera HATES to be on anything that's vibrating (such as on a car dashboard, etc). A bit annoying but an understandable limitation.
I did have this in a duffel bag which fell off of my motorcycle at 45mph. It dented the battery and there was a mark on the LCD (Obviously the camera took a good hit when the bag fell). 1 of the screws holding the LCD on came out when it fell and I had to take apart the LCD assembly and retighten it. Overall I'm VERY impressed that everything survived the fall. I would not have guessed it.
The nightshot feature works great but only at close range (4 to 5 feet). This is a very nice feature to have. Hopefully they put a better infrared LED next time. (The one they have now is fine, but a brighter one would be even better!).
This camera works great for most applications. The pictures (Both still and video) are fantastic. If the camera didn't have the focusing problem and slightly better low light (without nightshot) capabilities it would easily justify commanding a $1000.00 price tag. I paid around $850ish for it and think it was worth about that. When I heard that some people paid $1500.00....well, they got ripped off. The modified shoe-horn is a pain as none of your current accessories will fit this camera (You have to buy what accessories Sony says your allowed to use). The battery life is reasonable at 90 minutes of record time with the standard battery. The tripod screw is METAL. I had a Canon camcorder that had plastic threads where the tripod attached....needless to say you can guess how that turned out. The harddrive stores a TON of video so you really only need to perform back-ups of whats on the camera, but you dont need to delete anything. Personally I wouldn't use it to film an episode of "Man vs. Wild" but it's ALMOST that good.