Sony DCR-SR300 Camcorder Reviewby Michael PerlmanPublished on May 16, 2007 3:28 PM
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Still Features (8.75)
The DCR-SR300 features a decent still photo feature set. The best thing about the stills stems from the imager, a 1/2.9” CMOS sensor that supports still image capture up to 6.1MP, or 2848 x 2136 pixels. The camcorder can also capture stills at 3.1MP (2048 x 1536 pixels) and 0.3MP (VGA, or 640 x 480 pixels). As with most camcorders, you can also choose a compression or “quality” setting for your still images, with Fine producing larger and less compressed images than Standard. Image Size and Quality are located under the Settings tab of the Option Menu in Still Mode. A flash is built-in, located to the left of the lens. Flash levels can be adjusted in the Home menu. There is no burst or bracketing mode.
Most image controls available in Movie Mode remain available to you in Still Mode, and they are found in the Option Menu under either the three Camera tabs or the Settings tab. Focus, Spot Focus, and Tele Macro are on Camera tab 1, Exposure, Spot Meter, and Scene Selection are on Camera tab 2, and White Balance and Color Slow Shutter are on Camera tab 3. In addition to Image Size and Quality, the Self Timer and Still Media options are found under the Settings tab of the Still Mode Option Menu.
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The still mode menu |
The still playback menu |
Additional options are found in the Home Menu, under Home > Settings > Photo Settings, and the first two options overlap with the Option Menu – Image Size and Quality. Additional options in the Photo Settings submenu include File Number (Sequential or Reset), Nightshot, SteadyShot, Guideframe, Zebra, Flash Level, Redeye Reduction, and Still Media (HDD or MemoryStick.
Still Performance (9.52)
The Sony DCR-SR300’s stills were tested by shooting a Gretag McBeth Color Checker chart and running those stills through Imatest imaging software to determine color accuracy, noise, and saturation. At best, the camcorder produced a color error of 6.3, with 1.7475% noise and 105% saturation. In order to get this best score, we had to take the camcorder out of Easy mode and adjust the exposure to -1 step, which adjusted the aperture to f/4.0 and the shutter to 1/60th. The camcorder won’t provide this information onscreen, but it can be found in the EXIF data.
Still Resolution (27.88)
The still resolution of the Sony DCR-SR300 was tested by shooting an Applied Images ISO 12233 resolution chart and running those stills through Imatest imaging software. At best, the camcorder produced a horizontal resolution of 1446 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) – with a clipping of 1.78% and an undersharpening of 4.09% – and a vertical resolution of 1240 lw/ph – with a clipping of 0.91% and an undersharpening of 9.33%. This is a very good score, compared to other camcorders in its price range.
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