Sony HDR-SR11 10MP 60GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Sony HDR-SR11 10MP 60GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Product Description

The Sony Handycam camcorder HDR-SR11 with Face Detection technology captures faces clearly so your videos and photos are recorded more beautifully. The ClearVid CMOS Sensor (with Exmor technology) and BIONZ image processor provides extremely detailed Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution video11, and stunning 10.2 megapixel still images, with long battery life. Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization system reduces blur even when using the 12x optical/150x digital zoom. Moreover, Hybrid recording technology gives you the flexibility to record to the internal 60GB hard disk drive or removable Memory Stick PRO Duo media (sold separately), as well as easily copy video or still images from the hard disk drive to Memory Stick media without a PC.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #246 in Camera & Photo
• Color: Black
• Brand: Sony
• Model: HDR-SR11
• Dimensions: 6.00″ h x 10.00″ w x 8.00″ l, 10.00 pounds
• Display size: 3.2
• Included Software: Yes

Features

• Record video to 60 GB hard disk drive or Memory Stick media
• 1920 x 1080 Full HD video resolution; 10.2-megapixel still image capture
• 3.2-inch wide touch panel Xtra Fine LCD™ display (921k pixels)
• x.v.Color captures and displays lifelike color
• Dolby Digital 5.1-channel recording

   

    

Editorial Reviews

From the Manufacturer

Shoot video and still photographs like a pro. Sony’s HDR-SR11 Handycam camcorder has everything you need for a superior video and photo experience. Face Detection technology, made possible by the ClearVid CMOS sensor (with Exmor technology) and Bionz image processor, helps make sure people look their best in videos and photos. Capture extremely detailed video in Full 1920 x 1080 high-definition resolution, as well as stunning 10.2-megapixel still photos. Records directly to a built-in 60GB hard drive or your choice of removable Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick Pro Duo media.

HDR-SR11 Handycam Highlights

1920×1080 recording Record stunning, incredibly detailed video footage in the clarity of 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution.

Face Detection for video footage and digital still photos Made possible by the Bionz image processing engine, Face Detection technology recognizes up to 8 faces anywhere in the frame and automatically controls focus, exposure, and color to help capture smiling faces brightly and clearly. Face Detection also helps make skin tones look natural without affecting other colors in the image.

5-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor (with Exmor technology) and Bionz image processor Sony’s newly-designed CMOS image sensor delivers bright, vivid, and spectacularly detailed 5-megapixel (effective) video footage, as well as 10.2-megapixel still images — all with prolonged battery life. Exmor technology captures images with high resolution and high sensitivity. In addition, the advanced Sony Bionz image processor improves camera response time and screens out noise so the signal from each pixel is as pure as possible.

CMOS Sensor

Bionz image processor The advanced Sony Bionz image processor uses hardware-based Large Scale Integrated (LSI) circuitry that improves camera response time, screens out noise before RAW data conversion, handles Dynamic Range Optimization processing, and prolongs battery life.

Exmor imaging sensor Exmor technology captures video and still photo images with high resolution, high sensitivity, and exceptional detail. Advanced on-sensor A/D conversion yields rich tonal reproduction with high signal-to-noise ratio.

Hybrid recording to hard disk drive or Memory Stick media Hybrid recording technology delivers a new level of flexibility for transferring your video footage and digital photos from the camcorder to compatible viewing devices. Record to the camcorder’s internal hard disk drive, or choose instead to record to removable Memory Stick Duo media or Memory Stick Pro Duo media. You can even select from various dubbing functions to easily copy video or still images from the hard disk drive to Memory Stick media — without using a PC. Images recorded or transferred to Memory Stick media can then be played directly on a PS3 or PC to share your memories with friends and family.

Dual Record While recording video in High Definition you have the ability to capture still images directly to Memory Stick Duo media (sold separately).

Professional-quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lenses use highly-advanced optics to deliver vivid image brilliance, true-to-life color saturation, and perfect renditions of subtle tones. The additional T* coating further reduces unwanted glare and flare for increased contrast and color.

Dynamic Range Optimizer Powered by the exclusive Sony’s Bionz high-speed processing engine, D-Range Optimization preserves image data in bright highlights, such as suppressing “whiteout” in skies. When shooting in backlit settings, D-Range Optimization reveals more detail in shadows, preventing “blackout.” As a result, the captured image appears as natural as the original scene.

12x optical/150x digital zoom The optical zoom helps to bring the action close up from far away. In addition, Digital Zoom Interpolation means that extreme digital zooming is clearer, with less distortion than previous types of digital zoom.

3.2-inch widescreen touch-panel XtraFine LCD The 3.2-inch widescreen (16:9) XtraFine LCD screen displays sharp, bright, photo-quality images, letting you compose and share video and still images more easily — even outdoors. With nearly 1-megapixel (921K pixels) resolution and a wide viewing angle, the XtraFine LCD screen is like having a high-resolution video and photo viewer built into your camcorder.

Built-in zoom microphone with 5.1-channel recording Featuring Dolby Digital 5.1 Creator, the built-in zoom microphone focuses audio recording on your subjects in sync with the camera’s zoom lens, helping memories ring true with clear dialogue and crisp, discrete sounds.

Dolby Digital 5.1-channel recording Record in Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound with the camcorder’s built-in microphone. Recording in 5.1-channel surround sound allows you to experience your home movies with active sounds coming from all directions, so you can enjoy your personal home movies the way you experienced them while recording.

Tele Macro function Images shot in the Tele Macro Mode help your subject stand out by properly focusing the subject while leaving the background unfocussed. The Tele Macro Mode is useful for shooting close-up shots, especially when you need to prevent the camcorder from casting a shadow on the subject.

Switchable HD/SD format recording Record and play back both High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) video.

Active Interface Shoe Sony’s proprietary hot shoe makes it easy to use Intelligent Accessories, such as external lights and microphones, by providing power and on/off capability directly from the camcorder.

HDMI connection with Bravia Sync (CEC) technology HDMI connectivity provides a simple, high-quality video and audio connection, with the ability to transmit HD video and 5.1-channel audio directly from the camcorder to compatible HDTVs via a single cable. With Bravia Sync (CEC) technology, the HDMI connection also delivers the ability to control both the camcorder and HDTV using a single Bravia TV remote.

i.Link interface (IEEE1394) Quickly transfer images from the camcorder to compatible devices equipped with an IEEE1394 interface, including camcorders, digital VCRs, and PCs, using this high speed, bi-directional digital video/audio connection.

USB 2.0 interface The USB 2.0 interface provides an easy way to connect your camcorder to a PC for fast transfer of video and still images for editing.

InfoLithium Battery with AccuPower Meter System Unlike NiCad (Nickel Cadmium) batteries, Sony’s rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries are not subjected to a life shortening “Memory Effect,” so you’re free to charge the battery at any time. Additionally, Sony’s exclusive AccuPower meter displays the battery time remaining in minutes, in either the viewfinder or on the LCD screen.

Stamina Battery Power Management System When using the Sony InfoLithium Battery, the Stamina Battery Power Management System helps the camcorder prolong battery life for extra long continuous recording times from a single charge.

Battery information At the touch of a button, battery information is displayed on the LCD screen when charging and when the camcorder is turned off. When using the LCD screen or viewfinder, the display will show how much the battery is charged — in 10-percent increments — and the recordable time left.

Built-in Intelligent Flash For added clarity and detail when taking pictures in low-light situations, the built-in flash improves pictures and reduces shadows.

Easy Handycam button Using a camcorder can be intimidating for some people. With a press of the Easy Handycam button, most of the advanced features of the camcorder are “locked out,” letting you focus only the buttons essential for recording.

Date Index function Search recorded content by shooting date to quickly and easily find a specific scene.

Face Index Face Index makes it easier than ever to find and play back the right video scene. Using Face Detection technology, Face Index indexes your video footage according to the faces detected in each scene. When it’s time to play back video, simply search for what you want by selecting from among the detected faces displayed in the index.

Film Roll Index Like chapters in a book, Film Roll Index helps you easily find desired scenes in video footage. When using this feature, the camcorder previews the beginning of scenes and can create scene indexes set at specified display intervals (3, 6, or 12 seconds and 1 or 5 minutes).

Manual focus Manually adjust the focus of the camcorder using the touch panel. Manual focusing also allows the user to control the focus in difficult situations where either the environment or the subject does not allow the camcorder’s auto focus to perform optimally, such as when shooting through a window or in a crowded environment.

Memory Stick Pro Duo Media Slot Capture still images directly onto Memory Stick Pro Duo media (sold separately) for easy transfer to PCs for emailing, printing, or sharing with other compatible Memory Stick devices (sold separately).

One-touch disc burn Easily burn a DVD copy of your footage using the supplied software. Simply connect the camcorder to your PC via a USB cable and press the One-touch disc burn Button.

Quick On Missing an important scene can be frustrating, especially if the reason is because your camcorder is turned off. With the Quick On feature, the touch of a single button places that camcorder in Sleep mode. Another push instantly wakes the camcorder, so you’ll always be ready to capture special moments.

PhotoTV HD viewing with HDMI output With direct HDMI output to your Bravia HDTV and other compatible HDTV screens, so you can view and share photos in breathtaking clarity and detail. You can choose between standard 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio — and with select Bravia HDTV models, your photos are automatically optimized in sharpness, gradation, and color reproduction.

Progressive shutter system A mechanical shutter system that provides progressive scan performance while utilizing an interlaced scanning system. Digital still images will be sharp and clear with excellent definition.

Super NightShot Infrared System With the Super NightShot Infrared System, you can capture video in total darkness (0 lux) up to 10 feet away.

Optical Image Stabilization

Super SteadyShot Optical Image Stabilization System The Super SteadyShot Optical Image Stabilization System from Sony reduces blur caused by camera shake and vibration, so your images stay crisp and clear. This optical stabilization system achieves an even higher level of smoothness without the image degradation that can occur with some digital stabilization systems.

On-screen Zoom and Record buttons For additional control of the camcorder, Zoom and Record buttons are features on the frame of the LCD screen. This allows for more flexibility when holding the camcorder, especially in overhead or low angle shots.

Fader effects Enhance your personal videos by adding professional looking fader effects. Choose from Black and White.

Picture Effects Get creative when recording or playing back your videos with Sony’s Picture Effect Modes. Effects available in Camera mode: Monotone, Pastel and Sepia. Effects available in Playback mode: Monotone, Pastel and Sepia.

Scene Selection modes Scene Selection modes make recording easy even when filming in challenging situations. Choose from Beach, Candle, Fireworks, Landscape, Portrait, Sports Lesson, Spotlight, and Sunrise & Sunset.

Smooth slow record By increasing the record rate from 60 frames per second (fps) to 240 fps, you can capture 3 seconds of fast motion and play the video back in 12 seconds. The Smooth slow record mode is a great tool for analyzing a golf swing or a viewing a bird in flight. In addition, you record an audio track to narrate the video footage.

x.v. Color Technology x.v.Color technology can capture or display nearly twice as many (1.8x) viewable colors than possible with the traditional RGB color standard. This provides a more accurate and vivid color range, for a more natural, lifelike overall experience.

Multi-language menu Change the menu display from English to English (Simplified), Canadian French, Latin American Spanish, or Brazilian Portuguese.

Customer Reviews

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.

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

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…