Given the abundance of space on the SR1, nothing feels crammed in, and with a couple of small exceptions, all the controls fall under the correct fingers for easy one-handed shooting.
Those exceptions? Like all Sony camcorders, the SR1 features a touch-screen-navigated menu system; I'm not a fan, but it works better on the SR1's large LCD than the smaller screens of lesser models. The hard disk accommodates about four hours of highest-quality HD footage.
One of the SR1's significant advantages over the UX1 is performance: the hard disk makes most operations, including start-up, almost instantaneous, although it does take a few seconds to load the thumbnail index. The zoom operated smoothly throughout the 10X range, though a tad faster on the way out than the way in, and as usual, Sony's Steady Shot does an excellent stabilization job.
I found the autofocus quick and accurate, as well. The LCD is easy to view, even in bright sunlight, however in the same light it's hard to see the LEDs which indicate whether you're in video or still mode. As long as you use the eye-level viewfinder and don't spend a lot of time playing back your videos, the battery should last at least 45 minutes--bring extras on vacation. Alas, the video quality doesn't live up to the rest of the package. Don't get me wrong--it's very good, with extremely impressive low-light quality as well as sharp, saturated colors in daylight.
There's subtle but frequent jerkiness in moving objects, however, and the 2-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor takes pretty unimpressive photos that don't match the those of the Canon HV Though there's really no wonderfully convenient way to shoot HD video yet, the Sony Handycam HDR-SR1's combination of hard disk capacity and easy adapatability--it lacks only some killer software to improve the convenience quotient--plus a great design and broad feature set, make it the consumer HD model to beat for The screen is clear and bright, even in direct sunlight although it does tend to attract fingerprints , while the 10x optical zoom is rapid and precise.
Our one disappointment regarding the controls is the lack of some advanced manual options. While the inclusion of spot metering and focus is nice, we missed the ability to set the aperture, shutter speed and gain manually.
Sony is one of the few manufacturers that choose to omit these features even on relatively high-end models. For SD the camcorder offers just over seven hours at the highest quality. Although the picture is still good with SD, there's no real reason not to shoot in HD unless you're trying to conserve space, as the camera can output to both HD and SD televisions regardless of which you choose. The camcorder shoots in i, so the picture understandably exhibits exceptional clarity.
Colours were vivid and bright, with little over-saturation and only the slightest trace of fringing. The picture was also crisp and smooth, with no signs of the ghosting on rapidly moving objects we associate with MPEG2 recording.
Low light footage also looked good, with colour reproduction remaining fairly accurate and noise levels staying low. However we did have a few issues with the white balance when set to automatic. The camcorder had a repeated tendency to swathe the picture in a bluish hue when moving from areas of shade to light.
This blue colour would remain for around five to 10 seconds while the camera adjusted the light settings. As usual, Sony's steadyshot image stabilisation worked perfectly. Do take note, as this camera uses Sony's new proprietary format, currently your options for editing the footage are rather slim.
In the coming year, more software will become available that supports AVCHD, with Sony committing to a compatible version of the Vegas editing application by next Autumn and other companies signing on to follow, but for the moment you are stuck with the rather limited options present in Sony's software package. Sound was one area that we found a little disappointing with the HDR-SR1, as the built in microphone seemed very adept at picking up ambient noise, but less good at picking up noise from nearby subjects.
Wind noise and traffic in particular caused problems. At one point in our recording, a distant voice narrated "and that's the sound of the M2 Motorway you can just about hear in the background.
These problems would probably be fixed with an external microphone, so it's lucky Sony thought to include the aforementioned jack. Like all recently released camcorders, the HDR-SR1 can capture still images, but their quality leaves a little to be desired. The four megapixel images are certainly good enough to make small 6 x 4in prints, but they are no competition to those taken with the most basic standalone digital camera.
We also found the HDR-SR1, like other Sony camcorders, had a tendency to produce blurry pictures unless we used the flash. The final step when using a Hard Disk camcorder is to copy the video to an external device. Obviously, with limited recording space, in this case only 30GB, and the high capacity required for High Definition footage, you'll be doing this somewhat regularly.
With High Definition that's not really possible, unless you happen to have one of the new Blu-ray drives, as the footage is just too big. At present it's best to just make do and store the videos on your computer's hard drive.
Sony includes all the necessary software to do this, and it's incredibly simple to use. We managed to get just under an hour's worth of recording time out of the HDR-SR1 before needing a recharge, which is good to see considering the larger than average LCD. It's not too far off hitting top marks, as its combination of excellent video and simplicity of use makes it an attractive proposition.
We have given it four and a half stars, with the caveat that the software companies do need to release their compatible versions of video editing software in the near future.
There are no major problems with the camera, though in an ideal world we would have liked to see more manual options and a larger hard drive. It's also the most expensive camcorder in Sony's consumer line-up, so factor in the increased cost when considering a purchase.
However, this cost seems justified, and at present the HDR-SR1 is one of the best options on the market. Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more. Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.
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