Sony HDR-SR10E, the best Full HD video camera on the market

If you want to record at a Full HD (1920×1080) resolution, Sony HDR-SR10E is an extremely popular candidate (and perhaps one of the best) among the existing offers on the market and a pretty big progress from Sony HDR-SR1 model, which was the first Full HD video camera, launched in 2006.

The biggest quality of the Sony HDR-SR10E camera is that it can record up to 15 hours on the built-in hard-disk which has a capacity of 40 GB.

Let’s see other technical features of Sony HDR-SR10E:

• Full HD (1920×1080) video resolution;
• 4 MPx photo resolution;
• 15 x optical zoom;
• 2,7″ touchscreen LCD  and 211.200 pixels resolution;
• 40 GB capacity on the built-in hard-disk and on Memory Stick cards;
• surround sound with zoom mic;
• dimensions: 129×76x81 mm;
• weight: 480 g without battery and memory card.

Have you ever seen a movie at a Full HD resolution? If your answer is yes, then you know you don’t want to go back to DVD resolution or standard TV. The details are amazing, it seems that everything is happening right in front of you, as you were looking throughout a window at the hole scene. This is what happens because the Full HD resolution approaches someway the process resolution of the human eye.

If you know all these, then you know what to expect from Sony HDR-SR10E. You’ll be able to make your own Full HD movies with a video camera that fits in your hand. You’ve already found out that Sony HDR-SR10E can record up to 15 hours of Full HD on the built-in hard disk, but that happens only in AVCHD format, meaning the video signal is compressed in the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 standard. It is a format made by Sony and Panasonic and at this moment, it is a standard for the Full HD recording of the video cameras.

If you burn a DVD in a AVCHD video format you’ll be able to play it only on Blu-ray reading device. Otherwise, you are determined to connect the PC to your TV throughout a HDMI cable (if the video board on your PC allows you to) to see the movies on your HD TV or, of course, to see them on your PC screen. It’s mandatory to have a HD video card, in order to use Sony HDR-SR10E. And that’s because the internal hard disk will run out of space and you’ll have to download the content to your PC, using an USB cable.

Beside the excellent screen resolution, Sony HDR-SR10E can record sound in AC-3 surround format (5.1 channels), and the microphone has a really interesting zooming function, found only on high end video cameras. It’s a technology which allows the microphone to focus on capturing sounds from a specific subject. It doesn’t mean you’ll be able to hear perfectly what your neighbours across the street are speaking, but definitely you’ll hear clearly the voice of a recorded subject, in noisy conditions.

Sony HDR-SR10E can also take 4MPx pictures, but it’s not specifically designed for this, so I would continue my photo-shooting with a professional photo-camera. What’s interesting is that you can take 3MPx photos while recording.

Sony HDR S10 - compact but yet so powerfull Full HD Camera

Regarding the LCD, there aren’t any complaints for Sony HDR-SR10E. It’s a big, extremely bright and with a clear image, touchscreen. So there are less buttons left which means less aggravations. As you were expecting, Sony HDR-SR10E has a Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization, but the camera is however too light, to make a movie that resembles what you see on TV. The solution is to buy a tripod.

Sony HDR-SR10E does not record image in RGB (red, green, blue), but uses a x.v. colour technology, that covers a wider chromatic scale than most video cameras do. I can definitely say that there’s an obvious difference, but that depends also on the screen you’re watching the recorded image. Calibration is essentially, even with the best camera, otherwise it’s for nothing.

You can get the Sony HDR-SR10E for about $969 (new, or up to 400$ cheaper refurbished or used) on Amazon. It’s not cheap, but it’s a good deal for a Full HD camcorder like this. You saw how many things it can do, and like i said, it’s one of the best Full HD cameras available at the moment.

In the end, pls don’t mind sharing your experiences with Sony HDR-SR10E in the comments section.

Tags: camera, Full HD, video camera