Sony HDR-SR11E (what you think)

[glenpinn]

ok still reviewing HD cams even tho im still interested in the panny HS300.

have been offered a Sony HDR-SR11E thats had very little use and at a very good price, but just wanted to run it thru a thread here to guage thoughts from those who might have one, or who know a bit about these cams.

im not interested in hearing about the pro's and cons of AVCHD vs HDV so please dont start on me about it because its been talked about in other threads that are more related to that topic.

all i want is some thoughts, good or bad about these cams.

cheers peeps.

[turk690]

I own an HDR-SR12E which is identical to the SR11E except that the latter has a 60GB HDD while the SR12E has 120GB. I'm in general satisfied with the performance, more details of which you can find in camcorderinfo.com. Low-light, sharpness, and color accuracy was better than I expected. Two things stand out: the manual adjustment dial in front, and the biggest and highest resolution LCD in its class (useful for manual focus).
One peeve: it's a bit bulkier and heavier than others in its group and is trickier to balance with Manfrotto ModoSteady unless I tape more weights. Another is it automatically limits file sizes to 2GB, which equates to 16 minutes of AVCHD taken at the highest-quality setting FH (which means if you shoot for an hour this results in 4 *.mts files). Lastly, it has a 10-pin connector that outputs AV and inputs LANC (for remote camera control, like when it would be placed on a boom). However available cables are just for one or the other, never for both, so if you want AV there is no way to use LANC and vice-versa. 8" HDMI-equipped LCDs would appear to solve this situation but they are $700 up apiece (!).

[glenpinn]

hi m8, thanks for the post, interesting indeed.
i would not normally buy a sony cam but im offered this one at a great price, so i guess buying an older model cheaper than a new one is a start till i get used to them (going up from dv cams)

the cam i ultimately want is the panny HS300 as it offers 120gb hdd and sd/sdhd card as recording mediums and in most cases i would shoot to sd card for local stuff where im not shooting more than 1 to 1.5 hrs of footage, but on holiday the hdd will be a lot of help, although 1 guy told me to buy the TM300 version as its a bit cheaper and runs on 32gb int flash (dont know anything about this medium) and it runs on sd/sdhd cards, and with the saving i make i can actually buy another 32gb card to shoot 3 hrs onto, as well as get a 16gb card, which i would have to buy for the HS300 as well anyway, so the TM if i got 2x 32gb cards still offers over 6 hrs of filming, and i can always take the cards out and dump the footage onto a big penstick or 2.5" ext hdd as it can be done from just about anywhere, where as an int hdd on the cam might present issues while travelling as far as getting video off the cam.

im going to have a look at this sony cam today sometime.

cheers