Sony HDR SR5 question

ubot · 23-09-2007, 6:38 PM

Hiya,Ive just bought the sony hdr sr5 camcorder and im a bit dissapointed with its performance
When filming my little lad running about the house the camcorder struggled to focus in time each time a moved the it,and the picture was blurred most of the time

Is this an fault or can i do something with the settings to get rid of this?

Is there a HD camcorder which doesnt do this?

Thanks for taking the time to read this

**senu** · 23-09-2007, 7:01 PM

Camcorder in general dont like "tracking " a fast moving object.
Panning very slowly or anticipating where the object will be and using that viewpoint is good shooting practice.
Sometimes standing at 2 or 3 different viewpoints and then string them together by clever editing gives the illusion of rapid movt without the drawbacks you state
Having said that, If you must "track" a fast moving child you'll get best results in this order
MiniDV tape (SD)
HDD SD is almost on par with MinDV HDV but is usually slightly better
HD HDD ( AVCHD)
Consumer/Prosumer Hi def, ( especially AVCHD) is the most guilty culprit

While it may be that your camcorder needs rechecking ( unlikely) , it could just as easily be the current state of the technology revealing its limitations and you need to adapt strategies to minimise this. Judicious panning, Use of manual focus , decent lighting ect

Even tape HDV models at "prosumer" level have a little AF lag..
The Sony FX1 doesn't although it is still considered high end prosumer rather than Pro. I've played with the FX7 ,it seems not to have it too but this was a cursory 1 hr "loan" so I cant pretend to be an experienced user

ubot · 23-09-2007, 7:17 PM

thanks for ur reply

I also have a panasonic nvgs55 which handled motion well but obviously the pic quality isnt anywhere near the sony

What hard drive camcorder would you recommend as i dont want to mess about with mini dvs (is there much difference in quality?)

thanks for ur help

**senu** · 23-09-2007, 7:23 PM

My experience with HDD camcorders is mainly the SD ones and I found the lower end ones rather disappointing ( JVC, and Sony) and the mid range ones : £400 and above very nice to use. I had them then on long long loan for usability for work at the time. I didn't get to use a Panasonic, they did offer but I hadn't the time

The models I used then have been superseded but I imagine the current replacements will be just as good
As an aside, try using the SR5 in SD mode and see if it makes a difference.
It certainly does with tape ( ie using an HDV camcorder in DV mode)

ubot · 23-09-2007, 7:59 PM

but wouldnt recoring in sd mode with hd camcorder defie the point of havin a hd one?

**senu** · 23-09-2007, 8:08 PM

Yes it would but would also illustrate whether the camcorders behaviour was the same regardless of whether SD (mpeg2) or HD ( AVCHD) was responsible for its sluggish AF performance.. on a fast moving child