Sony announces four new AVCHD video cameras

Sony announced yesterday, the HDR-SR5, HDR-SR7, HDR-SR8 and HDR-CX7.

HDR-SR5/SR7/SR8:

These new AVCHD based HDD cameras offer Face Index Technology, 1/3 inch ClearVID CMOS sensor, 2 lux rating low light rating, mini-HDMI output, four omni directional microphones for 5.1 surround sound recording and One Touch Disc Burn. The SR5 model features a 40GB hard disk which records 15 hours of LP recording (LP is Long Play and means it's the most possible compression and lowest quality compression | Sony does not state the recording times at other compression sttings such as SP) and 4.0MP sitll pictures. The SR7 is simillar but features a multi purpose wheel, longer EVF (I'm not sure what for), 6.1MP still pictures with 4.6MP stills during video recording and a 60GB hard disk. The SR8 is much like the SR7 only with a 100GB hard disk and is only available in Europe and Canada (lucky me, although most of my readers are American).

Compared to HDR-SR1:
Much smaller, no multi purpose ring, smaller LCD, larger hard disk capacities, higher resolution stills for the SR7 and SR8

The HDR-CX7 is a flash memory based Camera recording to the Memory Stick PRO Duo flash card. An 8GB card will give you an hour of recording time. 6.1MP 1/2.9 inch ClearVID CMOS sensor. Features are nearly the same as the new SR5 camera.

Sony's consumer high definition video cameras in chronological order starting
with the first:
HDR-HC1
HDR-HC3
HDR-UX1
HDR-SR1
HDR-UX5
HDR-UX7
HDR-HC5
HDR-HC7
HDR-SR5
HDR-SR7
HDR-CX7
HDR-SR8 

Although I'm unsure of when the HDR-SR8 was announced, for the reason that most websites only announced the HDR-SR5, HDR-SR7 and HDR-CX7. And Let's Go Digital had their article on the HDR-SR8 today but the SR5, SR7 and CX7 yesterday.

I haven't exactly figured out the naming process, but I think they skip two numbers (when it's a minor upgrade they skip one and if they have a high end and low end model they'll have them two numbers away) and sometimes they skip four or seven. Four for the SR and UX serieses (1 to 5) and seven for the CX serieses (non-existant to 7). I'm guessing they skip like that becuase they don't want consumers to think that the one camera recording format is better than the other.

If I find any more information about these cameras, such as the recorded resolution, I'll be sure to post.

Running ahead of schedule: Photography

Good day to you all! I have been running ahead of schedule and bring you news of digital still camera announcements from December onwards. I will not list new lenses, camera updates or firmware updates.

I am pleased to announce the announcement of:

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G1

HP Photosmart R837
HP Photosmart M537
HP Photosmart M437

Kodak EasyShare C763
Kodak EasyShare C613

Nikon D40X

Olympus E-510
Olympus E-410
Olympus Stylus 780

Ricoh Caplio R6

Sony DSC-T100 8.0 mp
Sony DSC-T20 8.0 mp
Sony DSC-H9 8.0 mp
Sony DSC-H7 8.0 mp
Sony DSC-W200 12.0 mp
Sony DSC-W90 8.0 mp
Sony DSC-W80 7.1 mp

Pentax Optio W30

Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Canon PowerShot TX1
Canon PowerShot SD1000
Canon PowerShot SD750
Canon PowerShot A570 IS
Canon PowerShot A560

Pentax Optio A30

Nikon Coolpix L11
Nikon Coolpix L10
Nikon Coolpix P5000
Nikon Coolipx S500
Nikon Coolpix S200
Nikon Coolpix S50c
Nikon Coolpix S50
Nikon Coolpix L12

Samsung S830
Samsung S1030
Samsung L77

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX30
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX12
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX10
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ6
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS75
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS60

Casio Exilim EX-Z1050z
Casio Exilim EX-Z75

Samsung NV11
Samsung L74 Wide
Samsung i7

Olympus Stylus 760
Olympus FE-250
Olympus FE-240
Olympus FE-230
Olympus FE-210
Olympus SP-550 UZ
Olympus Stylus 770 SW

Pentax Optio M30
Pentax Optio T30

Canon PowerShot A460
Canon PowerShot A450
Canon PowerShot A550

Sony DSC-W55
Sony DSC-W35
Sony DSC-S700
Sony DSC-S650

Casio Exilim EX-V7

Samsung S850
Samsung S730
Samsung L73
Samsung L700
Kodak V1003
Kodak V803
Kodak C653
Samsung S630
Samsung i70
Samsung S1050

Fujifilm FinePix A610
Fujifilm FinePix IS-1
Fujifilm FinePix F40 fd
Fujifilm FinePix A800

Pentax Optio E30

I appologize for my absence and the fact that I did not add detail to the camera's information other than the model. It would take too long and I would much rather post new news than old news. If you want information on these cameras though, visit http://www.dpreview.com/

NOTE: I am not affiliated with DPReview in any way.

Return from Absence

Hello, I have returned from absence. There is a lot of thing's I need to report. Everything from December onwards. I will work out a large post and it should be ready by early May.

But, even though I was gone for nearly five months, I will continue to present Videography, Photography, Cinematography and Software news. I hope you will come visit the site again next month.

Panasonic AJ-HPX2000

I really should stop relying on my rivals for information (HDFI)  since they annouced this nearly a week ago. Read all about this camera here.

Sigma SD14 delayed

Sigma's 14MP DSLR announced in September, was originally planned for a November release, that was delayed to a December release, and now it will not release untill March 2007. It was a small problem which Sigma underestimated, and would require some bigger changes to the camera than they had once thought.

Nikon D40 announced

Four days ago, Nikon announced the D40, an update to the D50. It has been rumored for the past few weeks and is now confirmed. While it is not a huge improvement over the D50, it does offer a lot more features some of them to note include:

*6.1 effective Megapixel DX CCD
*Only 5.0 x 3.7 x 2.5 inches big and it only weighs 482g
*SDHC cards are now supported
*A Flash Off mode turns off the flash and adjusts the ISO and shutter speeds for optimization of natrual light (similar to Fuji's Natrual Light mode)
*Uses a EN-EL9 lithium-ion battery which allows for up to 470 shots per charge
*Has D-lighting feature from the D80
*2.5fps burst mode for up to 100 JPEG images

This seems like a very consumer like camera. Although it offers so much more features and so much better quality than competing 6MP consumer cameras plus interchangeable lenses.

Canon XH A1 vs Sony HVR-V1U: My Debate

In July, Canon announced their new HDV camera which is the successor to the GL-2 and a slightly stripped down version of the XL H1, the main differneces from the XL H1 include the Professional Jack Pack (HD-SDI, Genlock and SMPTE Timecode output), the XL interchangeable lens system and the quadrophonic sound recording (Canon also announced the XH G1 at the same time, which features the Professional Jack Pack). The XH A1 features recording in 1080i60, 1080 30f and 1080 24f. 30f is virtualy 30p but different in format, as with 24f.

In September, Sony announced their HVR-V1U, which is also an HDV camera with very similar features. Only this camera can record true progressive 30p and 24p

More about the V1U and the XH A1 in my debate, which is coming tommorow. Although I do not own or have even used either of the cameras (the V1U isn't even out yet), I will compare the cameras. Seeing that I am not a very rich person, I will probably ask both companies to supply me with a camera for a review but not for a direct comparison (I don't want them mad at me). But I don't see that happening since this weblog is so small.