Sony HDR SR10 vs Cannon HG10

[4bp]

hi
i am looking to buy my first video camera. i have narrowed it down t the above 2. i am not sure which one to go for as both seem to get good reviews. i use a mac and wonder which one works better with macs.
whoch one would people reccommend? or is there a differnet camera i should consider?
is it best to go for the sony as its newer?
any advice would be greatly received
thx

[redsox_mark]

The Canon HG10 and the Sony SR11 (from clips and reviews I've seen) look to be very close in function and performance. Try them out and see what you like the look and feel of, or toss a coin.. (or go for the cheapest).

SR10 is a cut down; much smaller sensor, no mic or headphone jack. It seems to perform very impressively considering the small sensor size, but still it's a step down from the SR11 (or HG10). If the price is cheaper then it still could be good value, but just comparing models I'd rather the HG10 than the SR10.

[senu]

So would I
the only downside of the Canon is that it doesnt record SD and if you wanted that it would have to be in software.. Not a big deal if you only plan to do SD very occasionally

[4bp]

thanks for the replies.

i have a couple of questions - pls dont get annoyed with me as i am a complete noob

what do u mean by much smaller sensor? what differnece does this make?
i will be using this camera just for capturing moments on my upcoming holiday, nothing too serious.

surely as the cannon has been out for longer it will be outdated quicker?
is it worth the extra money for the sr11 over the sr10?
thx

[senu]

Originally Posted by 4bp

what do u mean by much smaller sensor? what differnece does this make?

Smaller usually means poorer light gathering ability. This means a smaller sensor compared to a larger one will need to work harder to produce a bright video image compared to a larger one if they are both exposed to the same lighting conditions.
The camera may compensate for the smaller one but this is accompanied by "grain"
However, if the lens of the camcorder with smaller sensor is Faster ( admits more light) and the electronics more efficient , smaller may not equate to "worse"

i will be using this camera just for capturing moments on my upcoming holiday, nothing too serious.

Assume you want the best "holiday footage" for your money so aim high

surely as the cannon has been out for longer it will be outdated quicker?
is it worth the extra money for the sr11 over the sr10?

The Canon is really in the same generation as the SR 11 insofar as it was released earlier. They dont "date" as such
As for SR10 vs SR 11 , Whist I would get the 11, if cash is tight.. Im not sure that the differences in price do not relate to real world differences in video quality: Im happy to be corrected on this though , but in my experience , you would be hard pressed to buy a "poor" model from any of the current models ( including the HG 10 SR 10 ect) sometimes you are not paying more for big differences in quality but for features which you may or may not find useful

[Ikki]

I have been using the Canon HG10. It is very easy to use and produces great image quality. As mentioned above, it only records in HD using the AVCHD codec. You can use software to convert this to SD.

The best editing software that I have found is (ironically) Sony Vegas 8 Platinum which will output video in many different forms from PSP through to HD. It's not expensive and easy to get the hang of. You will need some decent computing horsepower to work with AVCHD video, at least a good dual core processor with 2Gb ram.