New Sony Camcorder

[ian wright]

Is this the latest and greatest?
I wish it was. Small, light (300g) but pricey for now.

Sony HDRTG1 – here's a link
http://www.sony.com.au/dis/catalog/product.jsp?categoryId=34596

As I can't interpret the technical data my question is how does it compare to a typical run of the mill camcorder? Is 1920×1080 resolution good?

Cheers

[Franco Darioli]

1920×1080 is what the industry now calls Full HD, the highest amount of pixels that can be played on a domestic TV. However that does not tell you if the camera is any good. To simplify , not all 10MP still cameras give you the same results.
I had a quick look at one of them and captured some indoor footage on standard mode, I will get some HD footage next time. The colour balance and definition looks fine , some compression (similar to the image lag of slower LCD panels) is noticeable when you pan or zoom a bit too fast (not that you should do that anyway) , but as a first impression it appears to be in a similar league as the Sony CX7K and Pana HDC SD9; it isn't that much lighter or smaller, but it is the smallest of it's kind.
I could not find many manual options, but plenty of Auto settings.
It looks promising. Sooner or later I will get one to test.
Franco

[Scott Peterson]

This one would seem to be the better UL option. It's titanium even!

http://www.sony.com.au/dis/catalog/product.jsp?categoryId=34596

I purshased a cheap Aiptek HD camcorder (similar in style to the one listed above) from costco for around $200. It is not very good in most situations, but when used outdoors and placed on a tripod…it really generates some killer 16×9 shots. It weighs around 5 ounces with an extra battery and easily transfers files to the computer since it is flash memory. I also do not have to worry about damaging it since it was so inexpensive. After using it on my last "big" trip, I realize how much more you get out of capturing things like cloud movement, water falling, and your friends moving down a trail. It lends a whole new dimension of archiving hikes for me.

[ian wright]

Thanks Franco, I'm sure you can tell I'm leaning on you for some quality advice !

As I sort of stated in one or two other threads I am wanting a light and compact camcorder that produces video that looks good on TV. Happy to adapt to any other limitations such as zooming (yuck) or excessive panning.

It seems that a camcorder that uses a memory card should/could be more compact and lighter then a camcorder using either DVDs or tapes. Just a matter of picture quality.

Ian

[Franco Darioli]

The HDR CX 7K with its much larger lens and sensor (1/2.9") should capture more detail and display a nice solid image compared to the HG1, nevertheless the HG1 is more compact. Totally different ergonomics too, I prefer to hold the upright version but most like the more traditional oblong horizontal type.
I had requested from Sony the HG1 a few weeks ago, a couple of days ago the editor told me that he was going to review that one himself ….
Anyway soon there will be stock available at the shop I used to work for, so I will test it then.
With flash memory moving parts are limited to the lens block, so malfunctions should be reduced.
Franco

[Tim Cheek]

I'm in the hunt for a high definition camcorder that I can take hiking. Seems the latest versions that have hard drives are limited to 3,000 meters (9800') or lower. The low pressure somehow screws up the hard drive.

Anyway the flash card cameras by Sony and Panasonic sound pretty good because they are lighter anyway, but I don't have a blu ray disc player. The guy at Best Buy recommended a playstation 3 because it has a flash card receptacle, so I can store the HD video on it. My question is, can you play the video from the playstation 3 and get just as good of high definition video as if you played it off the camera? Is this the best solution to storing and replaying your hd video?

If I want to edit the video I have to put it on my computer, but do I lose any hd quality taking it from the computer to the big screen TV?

[Franco Darioli]

Tim
I have heard of (Hard Drive) iPods failing at 3000m and others working at Everest Base Camp (5300m) so maybe it depends on exactly what type of hard drive is in use but I do agree with you that flash memory is safer (mechanically). We had a couple of iPods at 3200m and they worked fine.

Just to make sure, I shot some vision with a Sony HDR CX7 and played it back via a card reader (generic) inserted into the Playstation 3 USB port.
PS3 found the files and played them back with no trouble at all.
The image quality out of the CX7 onto a 50" Full HD screen is very good indeed. Great color balance,lots of detail, nice and solid vision ( I only had some ambient sound, so cannot comment on that)
I am pretty confident that it will play the TG1 footage, but I am not sure of how it would handle the Pana or Canon version.
For storage and playback I would suggest this :
Transfer the files onto an internal drive, use the supplied software to do your basic editing. Transfer those files to an external hard drive (the USB type)
then if you want to see them on your TV panel, copy the relevant file onto a Memory Stick and use the camera or the PS3 to play them back.
Franco

[Tim Cheek]

My source was the Sony manual. I saw the same warning in my apple ipod manual, but had no trouble up to 12,000 feet. I suppose there is some leeway, but these things are so expensive I'm not willing to experiment!

So, what do you do for battery life, just take extras?

And, how sensitive to moisture/humidity are these camcorders?

[Franco Darioli]

You can already buy a 32gb SD HC card or a 16 gb Memory Stick (soon to go 32gb as well) , so given that the compression issues have been largely resolved with AVCHD anyway , I have already declared DVD and Hard Drive dead formats (at least for backpackers)
Extra batteries. Yes…
Some batteries will record for about 3 hours and remain charged almost fully for a couple of months. There are several very compact generic batt chargers, so get a couple of adaptors (the European and American version are the most used) and you should be in business. Otherwise you can try something like the Solio
http://www.solio.com/charger/explore-solio/solio-hybrid-1000.php
To be realistic, no one but yourself will want to watch more than 30 min, max 1 hour of your "exotic" trip. So in most cases if you are careful , three or four hours of footage could be edited down to 30 min of watchable material.
But just like joining Amway, if you need to get rid of some "friends" show them very bit of your movie…..
Another interesting camera is the Canon HF 10, pretty much the HG30 solid state (SD HC) rather than Mini DV.
As far as low temps and condensation, again I see solid state as the way to go. Tape can stick, DVD can suffer (dew warning…) and Hard Drive is a bit hit and miss over 3000m." Working for some" is not my favorite option.
Franco

[ian wright]

I bought a second battery for my camcorder, it is about 3 times the size of the supplied battery and necessary out in woop woop.

I ended up taking 15 hours of video during my 10 week trip and love almost every minute of it but doubt if many friends and family could remain lucid thru more then 20 minutes of it !

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