Sony HDR-SR12 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Mar 31, 2008 2:25 PM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (7.0)
Like all Sony camcorders, the HDR-SR12 comes equipped with an Easy button that shifts it into full Auto mode. In most cases, this will suffice for point-and-shooters that don’t want to fuss with manual controls.
The auto exposure is the best of the auto controls, taking an average of one to two seconds to adjust for most conditions. We were again impressed with Sony’s ability to produce extremely gradual transitions when making slow pans across contrasty areas. Camcorders from other manufacturers, most recently the Panasonic HDC-SD9 and JVC GZ-HD6, could not match it.
The auto white balance works very well in challenging situations, such as afternoon outdoor shade or indoor under yellowing light, as long as the light was coming from a single dominant source. When the lighting is mixed, such as fluorescent and outdoor indirect, the results are not as good.
The autofocus failed to impress – the first time Sony has done so in a while. We encountered instances in which the autofocus took as long as five or more seconds to find the focus in moderate indoor lighting. Once it finds its bearings, it really snaps into action. In this way, it looks similar to the Canon Instant AF feature. However, Canon allows you to turn Instant AF off if you don’t like the snapping effect; Sony does not.
As with most Sony camcorders, there are a host of one-touch features to help make your picture look better without having to be a shooting expert. None of them can be reached from within Easy mode, however, so you’ll have to leave its safe confines and venture into Manual mode.
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The mode dial on the Sony HDR-SR12 |
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There are two separate night modes. The first is called Auto Slow Shutter, which allows the auto shutter to drop as low as 1/30, rather than the normal 1/60. The second mode, Color Slow Shutter, is much more liberal, allowing shutter speeds that look to be as slow as 1/2 of a second. Naturally, this causes heavy blurring and should be used with care.
Overall Manual Control (7.0)
The overall manual control on the Sony HDR-SR12 is very good, thanks to a hearty helping of manual control options and the inclusion of the Cam Control dial under the lens. There are multiple methods for altering exposure, white balance, focus, and zoom. That said, Sony opens themselves up to criticism for not including commonplace options like shutter speed and aperture. The touch screen as the primary method of interaction is up in the air; some people love it and some people hate it. There’s no doubt that it leaves fingerprints all over the screen. The debate may come down to something as simple as whether you find it a chore to frequently wipe the screen down or not.
Navigating the menu is speedy once you get the hang of it, but the layout is not intuitive for beginners. You’ll have to dig around to find some of the options in the Home section of the menu. However, the Camera menu is well designed for quick adjustments. Read on for a detailed look at each control.
The zoom toggle
Zoom (5.0)
The zoom toggle is located on top of the HDR-SR12, well located for the index finger. The toggle itself is wide and textured for an easy grip. The slowest crawl is good, but not as slow as the Canon HF10. At least it’s a consistent speed, however. The Panasonic HDC-SD9 speeds up the crawl as it gets closer to 10x.
When zooming, a scale appears in the upper left corner of the LCD to give you a sense of where in the zoom range you are. However, there is no numerical value given.
Zoom Power Ratio (12.0)
The optical zoom on the Sony HDR-SR12 extends to 12x. As imagers in third generation AVCHD camcorders have shrunk, we’ve seen a general trend toward raising the zoom from 10x to 12x, which is certainly welcome.
The digital zoom can be extended to 24x or 150x. We recommend the healthier 24x, if you want to engage it at all.
Focus (6.5)
There are two methods for basic manual focusing. The first is to go into the first page of the Camera menu and turn on the Focus control. When activated, a whole mess of on-screen buttons and graphics appear, making it virtually impossible to see what you’re trying to focus. Sony could have done a better job by reducing this to a pair of touch-screen buttons. Alright, we’ll be generous … they can keep the focal distance data (given in metric) that also appears.
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The Cam Control dial on the Sony HDR-SR12 |
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While access to the controls is good, the complete lack of supporting features is really very poor. Every other major manufacturer offers some variety of “focus assist.” Panasonic has an instant digital zoom that doesn’t get recorded to tape. The Canon HF10 has the same thing. JVC has a fantastic peaking tool that casts false color on all areas of the picture that are in focus. Sony even offers better tools on some of its own camcorders, such as the HDR-HC9, which rips off directly from JVC. Sure, we appreciate the large 3.2-inch LCD with a 921,000-pixel resolution, but it’s still not enough. The fingerprints that accumulate are quite prohibitive to making smart focus decisions, as are the abundance of on-screen graphics.
Other focus methods include the Spot Focus tool (described above in Automatic Controls), and the Tele Macro feature (described below in Other Manual Controls).
Focus in action
Exposure & Aperture (5.5)
The Sony HDR-SR12 does not allow for direct control over the aperture in f-stop values. JVC does not offer this either, but Canon has an Aperture Priority setting and Panasonic offers fully independent aperture and shutter control. The lack of this control, along with the lack of shutter control, may be enough to put the real camcorder enthusiast off of Sony, but then again, maybe not.
In its place, Sony offers two types of exposure control. The first, called Exposure, is a simple plus/minus scale with 34 increments. What it gains in simplicity, it loses in detail. There is no numerical value given for each increment, making it difficult to recreate a shot later. Also, if you access this control through the touch screen, the screen becomes cluttered with icons and graphics. For a cleaner version of the same tool, access it through the Cam Control dial. When activated by this method, the graphics are minimized and placed at the bottom of the screen rather than the center.
The second type of exposure control is called AE Shift. It too can be activated through the touch screen (via the Camera menu) or with the Cam Control Dial. Similar in appearance to the Exposure tool, AE Shift only has nine increments in the scale, and each increment has a much more subtle shift. This is best used for making minor adjustments while shooting, such as outdoor shooting on an overcast day, when the clouds are in constant motion.
Other methods of exposure include the Spot Meter and Scene modes, both detailed above in the Automatic Controls section.
Shutter Speed (0.0)
The Sony HDR-SR12 does not offer shutter control, a lamentable exclusion that has a great deal of appeal. True, the auto exposure works well, but manual shutter speed can be invaluable in low light shooting. Panasonic, JVC, and Canon all see fit to include it, why not you, Sony?
White Balance (6.0)
The white balance options on the Sony HDR-SR12 are located in the third page of the Camera menu. They include Auto, Indoor, Outdoor, and One Push (Manual). Four settings are about average for a consumer camcorder, though Canon packs in more. Making a manual white balance adjustment is easy. Select One Push, then point the camcorder at your white or gray target and push the white balance icon button (a rectangle over two triangles). There is a pause, and the colors adjust within a couple of seconds.
There is a useful additional feature called WB Shift that can be accessed via the touch screen menu or the Cam Control dial. When activated, a scale appears with nine increments. Push the plus button to warm the image and minus to cool the image. This is great when you want to make small adjustments to a color cast without going through a whole manual white balance. As with other manual controls, we recommend using the Cam Control dial for this feature rather than the touch screen because the on-screen graphics are kept to a minimum.
Gain (0.0)
The Sony HDR-SR12 does not offer manual gain control. However, if you want to see what kind of decisions the camcorder is making for the auto gain, you can choose to display camera data in the Playback menu.
Other Manual Controls (6.0)
x.v.Color - The Sony HDR-SR12 offers the option to record video in the new xvYCC color standard, which Sony has branded as x.v.Color. xvYCC offers 1.8 times the color information as sRGB. This means deeper and more accurate colors, but in order to see the full benefit, you’ll need an xvYCC-compliant HDTV and HDMI 1.3 connections. Offering xvYCC has become the new trend for HD camcorders this year, but Sony’s is the best. With Panasonic and JVC camcorders, when the feature is engaged and played back on a non-xvYCC-compliant TV, the colors appear rudely saturated. However, with the Sony camcorders, the extra color information is simply discarded for playback. It has no negative effects. Yet, if you shoot in xvYCC and then purchase a compliant TV down the road, all that extra color information will be there for you.
Guideframe - The Guideframe feature is activated via the Home menu under Movie Settings. When engaged, two vertical and two horizontal lines appear, dividing the screen into nine segments to help you line up your shots. Canon and Panasonic offer several variations on their Guideframes feature, while Sony only has this one option.
Zebra - The Zebra function is also located in the Home menu under Camera Settings. There are two options here, 70 and 100. These numbers correspond to IRE levels, a measure of exposure. When an area of your frame has brightness levels that exceed either 70 IRE or 100 IRE (depending on the setting), scrolling black and white stripes appear in those areas.
Face Detection - The Face Detection feature is new for camcorders this year. Sony promises up to eight faces detected at a time, which we found to be accurate. When presented with more than eight faces, it simply ignores the rest. The example shown here is more ideal than the reality of shooting – lots of faces staring directly at the camcorder, unmoving, unblinking. In reality, it will have a hard time with eight bobbing and weaving family members. However, we found the camcorder’s detection outstanding. In some instances, it could detect a face even when it was in 90-degree profile.
The purpose of the face detection, of course, is to make auto corrections based on a person’s presence. Sony states that exposure, focus, and white balance are all adjusted accordingly. It also states that the camcorder uses a new bit allocation system to direct more detail toward faces. We saw now direct evidence of this, though it would admittedly be difficult to test. We can only verify that the detection itself works very well.
Conversion Lens - The Conversion Lens feature should be activated when either a Wide angle lens or a Tele lens is attached. There is an option for each.
Tele Macro - The Tele Macro feature is located in the first page of the Camera menu. When activated, the zoom automatically extends to 12x for macro shooting from a distance. If you touch the zoom, the feature turns off.
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