Sony camcorders

Sony Corporation produces professional, consumer, and prosumer camcorders such as studio and broadcast, digital cinema cameras, camcorders, pan-tilt-zoom and remote cameras.

Analog models

Handycam

Handycam, launched in 1985, is Sony's line of handheld camcorders, originally recording to 8mm video cassettes.

Digital standard definition models

Sony DCR-VX1000

The VX1000, introduced in 1995, was the first digital consumer MiniDV camcorder. It is also widely used by professional skateboarding videographers. Century Optics designed the Mk1 fisheye lens just for the VX1000. The VX1000 excels at daytime colors.

Sony DCR-TRV900/DSR-PD100

These models gained wide-scale popularity when paired with Century Optics Mk1 or Mk2.

Sony DCR-VX2000 & Sony DSR-PD150

The VX2000/PD150 sister models improved on the VX1000 in low light sensitivity and added LCD screen. Both models have CCD sensors while the PD150 has XLR audio inputs and independent iris and gain controls.

A modified version of the Camera was used on September 11 attacks Camera best known for Filming the first plane Impact.
[Sony DCR-TRV950]/[Sony DSR-PDX10]

Sony [DCR-VX2100] & [Sony DSR-PD170]

The VX2100/PD170 improved on the VX2000/PD150 models with low light sensitivity of 1 lux, improved LCD screen, and 24 iris increments from 12.

Model	Release date	Sensor detail	Lens	LCD Screen	Viewfinder	Memory functionality	Analog passthrough	Battery type	Weight	Photo	Notes
DCR – VX1000	1995	3CCD 410k pixels	42 – 420mm	NO	180k pixels Color viewfinder	NO	NO	Infolithium L	???		First ever MiniDV camcorder
DCR – VX700	1995	1CCD 410k pixels	42 – 420mm	NO	180k pixels Color viewfinder	NO	NO	Infolithium L	300g		Pretty uncommon and rare
DCR – VX2000	2000	3CCD 380k pixels	43.2 – 518.4mm	2.5" 200k pixels	Color viewfinder	640×480 stills	YES	Infolithium L	1.6kg
DCR – VX2100	2003	3CCD 380k pixels	43.2 – 518.4mm	2.5" 200k pixels	Color viewfinder	640×480 stills	YES	Infolithium L	1.6kg		Almost the same camcorder as the VX2000, add buttons onto the handle, no longer had ridges on the underside of the handle
DCR – VX2200E	2009	3CMOS 1.2M pixels	29.5 – 590mm	3.2" 16:9 921k pixels	Color viewfinder	1440×810 stills	NO	Infolithium L			SD version of the HDR-FX1000E

Sony DSR-570 & Sony DSR-390

The DSR-570 and DSR-390 are based on the DVCAM format developed by Sony. The DSR-570 utilizes three 2/3 inch CCDs which are natively in the 16:9 format. The large CCDs achieve a 570,000 pixel density and over 800 TV lines in 16:9 mode. Due to the CCDs Hyper Gain option they are extremely sensitive in less than favorable lighting situations; that may be as dim as 0.25 lx.
Both DSR-570 and DSR-390 are intrinsically different from most camcorders because of its hybrid capabilities. Both camcorders, along with several other cameras in its family line, contain the 26-pin CCU port. This is unorthodox when compared with its successors and peers. In most cases a studio camera equipped with TRIAX or a CCU would not contain a VTR, but DSR-570 and DSR-390 did. A camcorder, which typically would contain a VTR, would not contain the ports traditionally associated with studio cameras. These camcorders married the two together in one package.

Older high definition models

HDC Series System Cameras

Sony HDC-700 Series

Introduced in 1998 for HDTV video broadcast era. HDC-700A/750A were Sony HDVS compatible and equipped with 2 million pixel frame-interline-transfer CCD imager that could capture 1080 of active lines per frame. For sensitivity, it achieved F8.0 at 2000 lux. HDC-700A Series inherits many of the main features of the field proven SDTV Sony BVP-700/500 Series cameras.

Sony HDC-700A – HD studio/OB camera
Sony HDC-750A – HD portable companion camera
Sony HDC700A/L
Sony HDCU-700A
Sony HDC-900 Series

Introduced in 2000.

HDC-900/910
Sony HDC-1000 Series

Point of view cameras

Sony DXC-H10 is a small HDVS point of view HD camera introduced in 1998 capable of recording 1000 TV lines of resolution and weighs 1.2 kg.
Sony HDR-HC1

The Sony HDR-HC1, introduced in mid-2005, was the first HDV CMOS camcorder to support 1080i. The CMOS sensor has a resolution of 1920×1440 for digital still pictures and captures video at 1440×1080 interlaced. The camera supports digital image stabilization.
The camcorder can convert captured HDV data to DV data for editing using non-linear editing systems which do not support HDV or for creating edits which are viewable on non-HDTV television sets.
The HVR-A1 is the prosumer version of the HDR-HC1, having additional manual controls and XLR ports.

Sony HDR-HC5

The Sony HDR-HC5, introduced in May 2007, was the third DV tape HDV CMOS camcorder to support 1080i. The CMOS sensor has a resolution of 2MP and interlaced 4MP for digital still pictures and captures video at 1440×1080 interlaced. Digital photos can be stored on a Sony Memory Stick. It requires a minimum of 2Lux.

Sony HDR-HC7

The Sony HDR-HC7, introduced in 2008, was another DV tape HDV CMOS camcorder to support 1080i. The 1/2.9 CMOS sensor has a resolution of 3MP and interlaced 6.1MP for digital still pictures and captures video at 1440×1080 interlaced.
The camera includes a manual focus wheel, mic and headphone jacks, and a slightly larger imaging sensor, producing 3200K gross pixels versus the HC5' 2100K. The HC7 also sports Sony's Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization system.
In December 2007, Sony released the HD1000, the shoulder mount version of the HC7. Its advantage include much more stable off-tripod footage; full-size zoom control; custom ring to manually control focusing, exposure, zoom, or shutter speed; support for a large video light on its front coldshoe; and wireless audio.

Sony HDR-FX1

The Sony HDR-FX1, introduced in late 2004, was the first HDV 3 CCD camcorder to support 1080i. The Sony HVR-Z1U and HVR-Z1E are the "professional" versions of this camera with additional features such as balanced XLR audio inputs, DVCAM recording, and extended DSP capabilities.
The HDR-FX1 includes three 16:9 1.12 Megapixel gross CCDs. Each CCD measures 1012 × 1111 pixels total, 972 × 1100 effective. It includes a 12× optical zoom Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens, a 3.5-inch LCD screen, a zoom ring, focus ring, and an iris / aperture adjustment knob.

Cineframe

The FX1 offers Cineframe shooting modes at 30 and 24 frames per second. The camera uses an interlaced image but extracts progressive images from individual fields by doubling them. The 30fps and 24fps do not offer the same resolution as true progressive scanning. The 24fps Cineframe shooting mode does not offer the same resolution, or motion cadence as true 24fps progressive scanning.

Known flaw

When the audio mode of HDR-FX1/HDR-FX1E camcorder is switched to the 16-bit setting and the unit is then turned off, the unit resets to the default 12-bit setting, though the LCD indicator of the unit continues to display the 16-bit audio setting.

Sony HDR-FX7

The Sony HDR-FX7, was introduced in September 2006. The new camcorder was the first camcorder below $3,000 to offer full 1080 HD resolution with a three-chip sensor.

Resolution: Sony claims "full" 1080 HD
Sensor: changed to 3 × 1/4" ClearVid CMOS
Light sensitivity: worse by 33%
Zoom: increased to 20× optical zoom
Lens/filter: decreased to 62mm/bayonet mount
Optical Image Stabilizator
Video out: included HDMI
Weight: reduced to 1.6 kg

The company claims that HDR-FX7 has much improved resolution under good lighting. In low-light situations, Sony FX1 will still produce better results.

Sony HDR-SR1/HDR-SR5/HDR-SR7

The Sony HDR-SR1, introduced in late 2006, was Sony's first high definition hard disk drive based camcorder. It launched with a 30 gigabyte internal drive and – along with the Sony HDR-UX1 – is the first camcorder that records high definition video in AVCHD format. In June 2007, Sony released two new AVCHD format HD Hard Disk camcorders, a 40 GB and 60 GB model. All three have the ability to record Dolby Digital 5.1.

Newer high definition models

Sony HDR-CX7

In June 2007, Sony released the HDR-CX7, the first Sony AVCHD camcorder to record video to a memory card. The product comes bundled with a 4 GB Memory Stick Duo that holds 30 mins of HD video.
Sony HDR-CX7 weighs 15 ounces with the supplied battery and can record nearly one hour of full HD 1080 video on an 8-GB memory. It can record longer videos at lower resolution or quality.
This handycam features a crash-proof recording system. It is equipped with a 6.1-megapixel CMOS image sensor and a 5.4-54mm/F1.8-2.9 zoom lens.
It saves files with a resolution of 1440 × 1080i. The video format specifies a rectangular pixel shape. Most players render this as 1920 × 1080 format after adjusting for the rectangular pixels.
For this camera, the maximum recording rate is 15 Mbit/s.

Sony HDR-CX12

In August 2008, Sony released the successor to the HDR-CX7, the HDR-CX12, with a retail price of $899.99.
Major features include:

1920×1080i Recording
ClearVid CMOS sensor
Dolby Digital 5.1 audio
10.2MP still image capture
Face Detection and Smile Shutter technology