Sony HDR-SR7 First Impressions Review

by Michael Perlman
Published on May 23, 2007 1:55 PM

Intro Performance
Format Tour
Auto / Manual Controls
 Still Features
Handling and Use Audio / Playback / Connectivity
Other Features Comparisons / Conclusion
Specs and Ratings  
Related Articles
Reviews: Canon Vixia HF10 Camcorder Review · Samsung SC-HMX10 Review Photo Gallery · Canon HV30 Camcorder Review · Sony DCR-SR42 Photo Gallery Review
News: Canon Releases Two New High Def Camcorders in Japan: HF11 and HG21 · Two Hundred Dollar Price Drop on Canon HG10 · Canon HG10 Sony HDR-SR7 Sony HDR-SR5 Sony HDR-SR1 JVC GZ-HD7 Panasonic HDC-SD1 Compared


Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control
Sony’s saving grace is its classic Easy button and the HDR-SR7 (Specs, Recent News, $1399)’s is located in the LCD cavity, like almost every other model. The Easy button has a reputation within the consumer circuit and is one of Sony’s major selling points. When pressed, the camcorder shifts into full autopilot—the LCD menu buttons double in size, and all manual controls flee the country. Another near-standard Sony feature is the spot focus and spot metering, which allow the user to press certain parts of the LCD screen in order to make adjustments. With a crammed 2.7” wide LCD screen, spot focus and meter are difficult to access. Also, if your screen is exceptionally smudged and clouded with fingerprints, then both controls are rendered essentially useless—how can you tell the difference between n unfocused area and a smudge?

Overall Manual Control
The SR7 is the only new AVCHD Sony in the bunch to incorporate a multifunction cam control dial into its manual control suite. The dial is almost identical to the HDR-HC7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1128.56)’s, and those who read that review know that making manual adjustments with the cam control dial is no picnic. By pressing the manual button, a small menu appears allowing you to choose between focus, exposure, shutter speed, and white balance shift. You can also choose to reset the control dial, which will come in handy when all of your manual controls are activated at once and certain ones become defunct because they can’t work with one another (Exposure and AE shift).

 
We found the dial to be exceedingly undersized and devoid of proper grip for making quick, accurate adjustments, but lamenting the SR1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1119.99)’s and UX1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $729.95)’s buttery cam control ring will not bring it back—unless Sony takes heed to our quibbling requests. We can only invest a certain amount of hope in Sony before wearing ourselves down. 

The SR7 also employs a menu interface nearly identical to the Sony HDR-SR1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1119.99), HDR-UX1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $729.95) and DCR-SR300 (Review, Specs, $761.95)—what we're calling the home menu system. This menu is drastically different from the HC7’s. Basically, the older menu system (still seen on the likes of lower-end MiniDV camcorders) is a long list of options which takes a while to scroll through. It's a deep, narrow design. The new home menu system is shallow and wide. On the plus side, it offers faster access to controls. On the downside, the layout takes a while to learn, and there are some confusing redundancies. (More info on this in the Menu section below.)

Zoom
The SR7’s zoom lever is pretty much identical to most Sonys in this price range: smooth, grooved, and powerful. Like the HC7’s, the variable speeds are easy to differentiate between with some practice, and eventually you’ll be able to achieve that slow crawl to pump up the drama. What you get here is worlds beyond what Canon offers with the HV20 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $903)—a miniscule strip of lame plastic does not prove itself conducive to comfort or optimum control. The zoom lever placement on the SR7 is spot on, falling just below the index finger.

 

The SR7’s LCD screen features two small zoom in and zoom out buttons—wide and telephoto. Those who grasp the LCD screen while shooting will most likely use this strip, but be aware—you can’t achieve the level of control executed with the zoom lever. The LCD zoom controls are mainly for quick shot adjustments.

Focus
Focusing the SR7 will be a near-identical experience to focusing the HDR-HC7. You’ve got two adjustment options: the cam control dial or the touch screen menu. Our vote goes to the cam control dial, despite its one centimeter length and slippery surface. Even though it’s no multifunction control ring, it beats the pants off the touch screen.

Pressing the manual button located beneath the cam control dial activates a small menu that appears in the lower right hand corner. Here, you can select manual focus by scrolling with the dial and pressing the manual button again to select it. It takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you acclimate to the finicky nature of the dial’s loose rotation, focusing will become fun.

Manual focus can also be found in the first tab of the function menu. When selected, a screen appears with two buttons that allow you to focus in and out and is measured in meters.

Exposure & Aperture
Again, it’s the cam control dial or the touch screen. When you select exposure in the cam control menu, a slider appears allowing you to choose from a range of 24 EV steps (the actual EV stop numbers are undisclosed). Like focusing, the cam control dial will require a steady finger in order to hone in on an exact setting.
 
A larger exposure slider is available in the second tab of the function menu, operated by touch screen buttons. If the SR7 had a 3.5” LCD screen like the HDR-SR1 and UX1, then we could suggest the touch screen exposure adjustment as a venerable alternate to the cam control dial, but with just a 2.7” LCD, making manual adjustments via the LCD screen is virtually pointless and will most likely give you an early heart attack.

Shutter Speed
The SR7 does have the SR1 and UX1 beat in one department, and that’s shutter speed. While the latter two models are missing a critical manual control, the SR7 is capable of shutter speed adjustment operated by the cam control dial. The HC7 had a strikingly broad spectrum of shutter speeds, from 1/4 of a second to 1/10,000 of a second in 20 intervals. The SR7 should be capable of a similar, if not identical range. You can also adjust the shutter speed by using the touch screen menu, which operates just like exposure.

White Balance
The SR7 does not offer white balance adjustment with the cam control dial but rather a white balance shift. White balance shift enables you to finely tweak a white balance setting, allowing you to warm or cool the color temperature by a few degrees. This is a good control to have close at hand with the cam control dial rather than having to go into the menu and change the white balance mode.

 
The standard white balance settings are found in the tab menu. You can choose between Auto, Outdoor, Indoor, and One Push (Manual) modes. The manual setting is faster in Sonys than any other manufacturer, taking only about 1-3 seconds. Some camcorders can take up to 10 seconds.

Gain
There is no gain on the HDR-SR7. Seek Panasonic camcorders for this option in the consumer price-range.
Other Manual Controls
Zebra Stripes- If you are a freak about monitoring overexposed whites, then zebra stripes are for you. Anything that is blown out will display moving zebra stripes that disappear when the exposure has been properly set. You can choose between two different sensitivity levels—70 IRE and 100 IRE. Zebra stripes can be turned on and off in the last tab of the function menu.  

Guideframes- Guideframes form a grid that splits the screen into nine different sections and is useful for those who aim for symmetry and distinct composition in their shots.


<< Tour | Still Features >>