Sony HDR-SR12 owners

matt d wrote on 1/17/2009, 11:43 AM
I just bought a Sony HDR-SR12 handycam.

I just can't wrap my brain around the fact that when I pan or sometimes even zoom the quality seems to suffer. There seems to be a almost jittery effect when I pan.

I don't know who made this but it shows what I'm talking about.


Somebody mentions turning on or off the steadyshot. I played with that along with the setting for the wide angle lense. I've had not luck.

I had a older Sony MiniDV handycam. It wasn't HD and didn't have the hard drive. That cheap camcorder seemed to pan and zoom smoother than what I have now.

Anybody know what I'm talking about? Is this common with HD camcorders? Is it just a setting that i have yet to find?

What I plan to do with this camcorder with have a ton of movement.

Comments

srode wrote on 1/17/2009, 6:54 PM
I know what you are experiencing - turn off the automatic steady shot and don't use the digital zoom - only optical zoom. Pan slowly not quickly or you will get jitters. Don't know if it's common on all camcorders but my SR11 does the same thing if I don't follow the advice above - following that it's quite smooth.
matt d wrote on 1/18/2009, 10:22 AM
Well I did play around with the settings a bit more and I ended up with much better results.



I made this with only the light coming in from the windows so it is very low light. Wish I could go outside to better test this camcorder but it's been snowing forever.

Anyway, a few more question.

I bought the cheap wide angle lense that only has the one piece of glass. This thing will not zoom to the end of a bedroom. Was told at a store it wasn't differant than my older lense that had at least two pieces of glass. So no zoom with the one piece?

Also, the HDR-SR12 does not have a video Input. Sony used to make input/output. I've heard there is now an adapter. It's what allowed people to record from a vcr or a helmet cam.

Any info would be great, thanks.
srode wrote on 1/18/2009, 2:24 PM
Sony makes a nice wide angle lens - try it out instead - you will like it I think - I do