INFO: Sony Camcorders HDR-SR10, SR10D, SR11 and SR12

The Sony Hard Drive High Definition Camcorders
What's the difference between the HDR-SR10, HDR-SR10D, HDR-SR11 and HDR-SR12?


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Sony has four very similar high-end hard drive based camcorders, the HDR-SR10, the HDR-SR10D, the HDR-SR11 and the HDR-SR12. All four record on an internal hard drive in full 1080i resolution (the highest of any consumer camcorder). This means that there are NO tapes to change.
The main differences between the models, besides cost of course, are

the CMOS senor (explained next)
recording capacity
zoom
still picture quality
screen size and weight
Don't let the technical mumbo jumbo scare you, it's all quite simple once you understand the basics.
CMOS Sensor
To simplify things, let me first say break these down into 2 categories based on the size of the CMOS sensor. In general, the larger the CMOS censor, the better the image.
The HDR-SR10 and HDR-SR10D have a 1/5 inch CMOS sensor and theThe HDR-SR11 and HDR-SR12 have a 1/3 inch CMOS sensor.
This makes the SR11 and SR12 have a slightly superior image quality to the SR10 and SR10d, even though all for record at 1920x1080 (full 1080i). Think of it as a brighter and clearer image on the 11 and 12. However, it's important to note that this subtle difference will probably not be noticeable even by the by the most discernable viewers and if ever only on the highest quality tv sets with optimal room lighting
Recording Capacity
The next split is also very basic: recording capacity. In this section, I'm going to assume (and regemend) that you're recording in High Definition. You're considering spending close to $1000 or more on a camera because of it's quality. If you're going to record in a lower format, you might consider saving a couple hundred dollars and looking at a lower end camera without high definition capability. That being said....
The SR10 and SR10D are the same in every way (including CMOS sensor) except for capacity. The SR10 has a 40gb hard drive whereas the SR10D has a 120gb hard drive. The SR10 in full quality will allow about 5 hours of recording time. The SR10D with its substantially larger hard drive allows for almost 15 hours of recording time. If you really need more space you can step down to "high quality" and get about 10 hours on the SR10, and 30 hours on the SR10D. Again, in high quality though, you're not going to capture the same quality as you would in HD mode.
Similar to the SR10 and SR10D difference, the SR11 and SR12 are identical except for capacity. The SR11 has a 60gb drive which allows for just over 7 hours in HD mode and almost 15 in HQ mode. The SR12 has a 120gb drive which allows for almost 15 hours in HD mode and almost 30 hours in HQ mode.
Not surprisingly, the SR10D and SR12 have the same recording capacity. They both have 12gb drives and record in the same resolution. Remember though that the SR12 will still give a better image quality due to the CMOS sensor.
Zoom
All four cameras use a high quality lens system with 100% optical zoom. Optical zoom means that it is the lens itself that is making the image closer, like binoculars do. In a world where digital is usually better, digital when you're talking about zoom is inferior to optical zoom. Digital zoom that can cause substantial distortion leading to a pixely or boxy image.
The less expensive SR10 and SR10D interestingly have a more powerful zoom than the SR11 and SR12 do. The SR10 and SR10D will zoom into an image 15 times (15x) actual size. The SR11 and SR12 have a 12x zoom, which is still generally more than you'll need.
Still Picture Quality
All four cameras will also allow you to snap still photos just like a digital camera. The SR10 and SR10D capture at 4 megapixels and the SR11 and SR12 capture at over 10 megapixels. The more megapixels with photography the better the image will be. This megapixel difference here only matters if you plan to use the camera for still photography. It makes no difference to motion images.
Screen Size