Best consumer level video camera on the market | Sony HDR-SR11 10.2-MP 60GB High Definition Hard Drive...

excellent camera my very first one | Sony HDR-SR11 10.2-MP 60GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized ...

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	• Sony HDR-SR11 10.2-MP 60GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized ... Sony Sony average customer review:based on 30 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The dream machine!

This true Full-HD camcorder is close to perfection. Light but not too light, with excellent image quality (especially when viewed on a 1080p HDTV), impressive sound reproduction, large hard drive space allowing quick retrieval of well-organized clips. Great optical zoom, great image stabilization, great built-in flexibility of image recordings, excellent connectivity options. And it has a very convenient old-fashioned viewfinder too, (lacking from most competitors) in addition to the large LCD screen!
Manual could be a bit more detailed.
If you also need excellent still picture quality however, in spite of the 10 Megapixels, the final quality of the still images is somewhat lacking (but who cares? With about $ 1,000 you got a huge, unbeatable value for the camcorder anyway!)

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Best consumer level video camera on the market

As the title states, I feel this is about the best you can expect from a consumer level camera on the market today.

I have been experimenting and putting it through it's paces for a month now, and am pretty familiar with it's capabilities and quality. I am currently on my family's second vacation trip of the year and and have taken some footage ranging from indoor/outdoor pet shots, the mountains and waterfalls of western Colorado, night-time 4th of July fireworks, indoor, well-lit cousin/family members and an indoor shot of mom covering a chocolate cake with meringue icing. Lots of good, typical, casual-user type footage.

With the recent purchase of a mini HDMI to standard HDMI cable, I was finally able to view all of this footage on a 45" Sony BRAVIA LCD TV in all of it's HD glory. Before, I had been getting by with the AV/Component cables and there is a night and day difference between those and the digital signal of HDMI.

A good part of my footage was shot in the lowest quality possible. I also shot a substantial bit in full HD. Honestly, the low quality looks darn near as good as the full quality, so for those who somehow shoot hours of footage on end without access to their computer to dump the material to, you can vastly extend your shooting time if necessary with minimal compromise. Besides, even at full quality HD, a 60 GB hard drive is like having a camera with SEVEN 60 minute tapes spooled end to end. At the lowest quality (HD) recording time is just under 23 hours. There's really no reason to upgrade to the SR12 unless you are some kind of shoot-a-holic, but shooting 120 GB of footage would be an editing nightmare anyway.

Viewing the full HD footage on the BRAVIA TV via HDMI, it looks about as sharp and clean as you could possibly ask for. You can pick out the individual strands of fur on animals cleanly.

I cannot comment on 5.1 surround sound, as I am not yet home from this trip, but as soon as we return (tomorrow) I will definitely test it out.

I recently handled the Canon HV30 in CC and was not very impressed with the build quality or the viewfinder - poor refresh rate and everything plastic. The Sony SR11 gives you a hefty chrome metal push-dial for adjusting focus/white balance shift and aperture. It's very effective for controlling focus when in low-light/indoor situations or the aperture. I find that the camera DOES lean toward cool colors by default, so I have the White Balance Shift set to maximum (+4) to bring a warmer, more natural tone to things. You may find that you need to do the same. Thankfully, when adjusting parameters manually, they are retained, meaning you can set White Balance Shift, Focus, AND Aperture all at the same time. It's about as good as it gets without jumping into the $3000 dollar camera range.

The x.v. color is a new, wider color gamut that is supposed to give more life-like coloration to subjects. If you shoot in this mode, you will only see the difference when played back on an x.v color compliant product (new Sony BRAVIA TV sets). Otherwise, from what I can tell, it seems to produce a somewhat less saturated image. I am still trying to decide which look I prefer. I feel the normal colors look pretty accurate under most conditions. Occasionally, greens seem a little too bright (trees, grass), but overall, color reproduction is very good.

One thing I love about Sony video cameras is their smooth operation. The zoom is smooth but agile if you need to punch it in our out fast. The viewfinders are also very smooth, unlike many other video cameras. (I say 'video camera' because 'camcorder' just sounds too consumerish and cheap for my taste).

The build quality feels very solid, has substantial weight, and feels very secure in the hand, thanks to being able to get a grip on the top of the camera. I think people who lament over the weight of the camera and wish for something lighter are foolish. The WEIGHT adds INERTIA which means more RESISTANCE to SHAKING of the hand. This is a vital fact that most consumers seem ignorant of, and trust me, watching footage on a big screen, you better pray that your footage is as close to tripod-steady as possible.

This camera comes with a fun and cute DVD that goes through some of the basic filming techniques. Several of these concepts are taught in a typical introductory Film & Video class, so it is actually quite a useful video, and it is amusing (to me at least).

I think I could not have bought a better camera for what I desired in a camera, the price point, and what is currently available. I would have PREFERRED to save up and purchase a Canon XHA1 for the pristine optics, better manual controls, and extremely good light gathering (very low low noise even in challenging lighting situations), but I do not want to mess with tapes and the 1:1 tape transfer process again. Hard disk recording with a 3k HDV video camera is possible but expensive. This camera and it's accessories/cables fits perfectly in the very nice leather bag I already own, and is very well protected therein, so for me it was nice to not need to buy a new carrying case.

If you need to see some online footage of this camera in action, check out Vimeo and search 'sr11':

http://vimeo.com/1316737

Further comments/notes pending...

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excellent camera my very first one

sorry amazon i bought my camera form circuitcity for 100 doaalrs cheaper and got a free batter, and camera bag for 100 dollars more so i saved money one thing that really got attention fro this camera was the eyepiecce to look into if the sun is to bright and you cant use lcd screen touch screen whcich could be had to see sometimes because of the glare of lights you use the eye piece to capture your video or images hands down winner i highly recomend it.

this is great camera video is great, picture quality is great easy to use and navigate it has an option to switch night vision on and off best part is you could buy accersories for teh camera brighter flash widescreen lens, extra zoom lens water proof casing thats good for 17 feet

my only complaint is that you need the computer program that comes with the camera to transfer your pictures, and video to your pc thats the only thing i dont like about the camera

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Phenomenal!

This camcorder is great. It replaces a SD JVC camcorder that died; fortunately just prior to my first child being born. So I did my due diligence and finally chose the SR11 from Sony. The SR12 is identically spec'd but with a larger hard drive, thus more capacity. I went with the SR11 as even on the highest HD setting, I would have to change the battery several times before the hard drive would fill up. For me I have found that decision to hold up well and I come nowhere close to filling up the 60GB hard drive between recordings. I saved a few pennies vs the SR12 and applied that to getting an extended capacity battery. Much better money spent IMO. The batteries on these cams are getting better but you still need an extended pack to record a long session. What good is the extra capacity if you don't have the battery life? The HD is not a limiting factor for how much you can record, its the battery life. SO for a similar amount of money as an SR12 I have an SR11 that can actually record more with my extra battery before I have to go and find a power outlet. Besides if I ever (don't know how) fill up the hard drive, I can slap in stick media and record to it!

As far as quality goes, it is stunning. I have a 50" Pioneer plasma HD deisplay and this camera really makes it shine. It is amazing that for this amount of money my home movies look 10x better than my local networks SD newscast. As a matter of fact, it's really not that far behind the HD video being broadast; especialy when considering the money involved! This camera is the difference between watching home movies that look like 10 year old tapes on America's Funniest Home Videos and watching your newborn baby on blu-ray. Money well spent IMO.

It has strong additional features as well. The facial recognition feature is very effective. The 5 channel (not 5.1) microphone works surprisingly well too. The soundstage surprised me on the first clips I replayed on my home theater. Sound panned as I panned the camera; all this on a consumer grade cam is amazing. The hybrid recording is a plus in my opinion too. Pepole get scared at the thought of walking around with a hard drive getting bumped around. This has not been an issue with these cameras so far but lets consider the possibility. The key advantage of Sony's hybrid system is in case a failure does occur. The Canon's I looked at were either flash memory or hard drive only. If either fails you are done. With Sony's system say the hard drive does die, just slap in some stick memory and keep on rolling video. The flash memory only camcorders appear to be much cheaper but add in the cost of getting the stick media and see that advantage almost disappear. Toss in the fact that the biggest stick media is around 50% of the capacity of this camera's hard drive and 25% of the big brother SR12 and you're gonna be switching memory cards or uploading to the laptop much more frequently. Plus there's the possibility you could misplace them juggling them around while on vacation.

Again in summary, money well spent and hard to believe this level of quality is finally within reach of us end-users.

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happy customer

This is a great camcorder. Takes awesome digital photos too.

Yes, it's really Full HD. Expensive, but worth every penny.

reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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