I've narrowed down my choices in Camcorders between these two.

I like the SD9 because its smaller and weighs less, plus I already have 1 16GB memory SDHC card.

I like the way the Sony looks and the fact that its hybrid.

My bigger problem right now is the difference in price between the two of them is about $400-500

Any opinions?

I've narrowed down my choices in Camcorders between these two.

I like the SD9 because its smaller and weighs less, plus I already have 1 16GB memory SDHC card.

I like the way the Sony looks and the fact that its hybrid.

My bigger problem right now is the difference in price between the two of them is about $400-500

Any opinions?
One thing you might consider is that the Sony uses 1/3 inch image sensors, while the Panasonic uses 1/6 inch. The larger sensor "should" result in better low light performance. I don't know if that has been tested anywhere yet, but at least theoretically that is the case. The larger chips in the Sony require a larger lens and hence the whole camera is larger and heavier. Additionally the added HDD adds to the size and weight.

wow, tough call........if you don't care too much about the video quality then i would go with the sd9.
what type of video(s) are you going to shoot? IMO the sr11 is going to be better in lowlight(1/3.15 v.s 1/6)

But i would wait for the sr11/sd9 reviews.

you should really consider the Canon hf100....it will probably match and exceed the sr11 in video quality and size wise is close to the sd9 and it uses SDHC.

1. hf100 899$
2.sd9 799$
3. sr11 1200$

Well I'm a Canon guy (Got an XTi and my wife has a SD700IS)

Maybe I will look at the Canon... is it a better camera than the Panasonic? Does it also do full HD?

Well I'm a Canon guy (Got an XTi and my wife has a SD700IS)

Maybe I will look at the Canon... is it a better camera than the Panasonic? Does it also do full HD?

Certainly based on current comparitive offerings from both Canon and Panasonic, I'd say the Canon has the best picture quality without a doubt.

Ken, any idea when the HF100 will be available for purchase?

I too, am deciding between these 3 cameras.

Because I'll be needing a HD camcorder ASAP, it pretty much eliminates the Canon HF-10(0) from contention.

I like the Sony over the Panasonic because:
- Still picture quality will be (much?) better
- Better video picture quality (debatable?)
- Immediately large data storage, instead of having to buy cards

Still considering the Panasonic because:
- Less expensive!
- Lighter weight
- Smaller size
- Non-proprietary memory cards
- Did I mention cheaper!


Edit: Hmm, the HDC-HS9 has an internal hard drive too..

The Canon HF100, Panasonic SD9, and the Sony SR11 are at the top of my list too. I probably can't wait for the Canon (have a trip to Europe the 2nd week of May).

For me, the thing that might push me over the edge to the Sony is the digital stills. I don't want to fall into the megapixel trap, but 10 megapixel stills sounds pretty good.
If the still pixels are good on the Sony, I might be able to justify another $300.

but the small size and price of the Panasonic, not to mention cheaper memory cards, is pushing me towards the Panasonic ......

hmmmm

Dell is going to sell the Sony for $1040?

hmmmm

Ken, any idea when the HF100 will be available for purchase?

Canon says mid-March.

Canon says mid-March.

Canon's website says available in April 2008. Best Buy says ( 4/14-4/21/2008) for both the HF100 and HF10.

Newegg is selling the SD9 for 706$ No shipping date shown.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830180138

March for the HF100 would be nice.....and a 100$ off like the SD9!

Canon's website says available in April 2008. Best Buy says ( 4/14-4/21/2008) for both the HF100 and HF10.

Hmm, seems like Canon moved it back a month. It had stated March.

Well according to the Dell Site, it says it won't ship until 3/14, which won't work. But In a worst case, I will cancel the order by the 10th if it hasn't shipped and buy something locally.. cost was $1015 shipped next day air..can't beat the price.

It seems like the Canon and the Panasonic is in the same catagory; however, Sony SR11 is in a catagory of its own, simply because it's still capability is 10.2 MP Vs Panasonic and Canon's only 2 to 3 MP. Hence the big price difference.

I'm stuck on this decision too, although I have some time to wait and see. Expecting a baby in June, but I would like to have a little time to play with what I get. The Sony's look really good, but I really don't want to get sucked in to buying their memory cards. I'm leaning towards the HF100 because I love Canon and it's cheaper, but when you add in the price of memory cards it catches up to the Sony pretty quickly.

Any guesses on how much video a 16gb card will hold of highest quality from the hf100? Prices on memory always drops, but do you think they will drop quickly with the demand from these new cams?

Any guesses on how much video a 16gb card will hold of highest quality from the hf100?
I don’t have the exact figures but you should get a little over 2 hours.

Well my SR11 is now In Production with an "expected" ship date of 3/12/08. I think I will give it a week, if it doesn't ship, I'll buy from CC, pay about $100-130 more, but get no interest financing for a year and also get a free tripod and bag.

Hmm, seems like Canon moved it back a month. It had stated March.

My chocie is whether to buy a HG10 right now or wait for the HF100. The risk is what if HF100 is not as good as expected, and at that time shops may have already emptied their cheap HG10...

Also how long after its release can I expect the HF100 to fall into the $600~$700 range?

My chocie is whether to buy a HG10 right now or wait for the HF100. The risk is what if HF100 is not as good as expected, and at that time shops may have already emptied their cheap HG10...

Also how long after its release can I expect the HF100 to fall into the $600~$700 range?

I'm in the same boat. I'll buy the HG10 IF the HF100 has the same/similar video quality.

I expect to find the HF100 for 800-829$ when it hits in April, it'll probably drop to 750$ by the summer. by winter probably 650$

Well I cancelled my Dell Order because it won't be here in time for my cruise and I'd rather not chance it. I may just get the Panasonic, its less and probably will do the job fine.

Is the 16gb internal memory the only difference b/n the hf10 and hf100?

Is the 16gb internal memory the only difference b/n the hf10 and hf100?

pretty much. 200$ for a black paint job and 16gb internal memory.

16gb SDHC cards are 50-60$. By summer probably 30$

Well I cancelled my Dell Order because it won't be here in time for my cruise and I'd rather not chance it. I may just get the Panasonic, its less and probably will do the job fine.

Thats too bad. the sr11 would be awesome.but the SD9 sounds like a fantastic little camcorder. 1920x1080 @ 17mbs should be excellent.

Buy the SD9 from a store with a nice return policy, return it after the trip, then get the HF100 or the SR11. ;-)

hah now thats a good idea :D

http://www.hd.club.tw/thread-6580-1-1.html

SD9 sample footage! VERY nice!

I could really go for the SD9........

I bought the Panasonic HDC-SD9 from Circuit City a couple of days ago. Here are my preliminary thoughts.

The Good

- It's tiny. This camera is significantly smaller than the HDC-SD5, which was already the smallest HD camcorder around. The small size would make me more likely to take it along and not miss great video moments with my kids.

- Video quality is excellent in good lighting. The videos I took in daylight came out very sharp, with no artifacts or ghosting. The 24p mode was a little jittery, but I think that is the desired effect for filmmakers.

- The face detection feature is great. You can tell it actually works. As soon as the camera detects a face you see slight adjustments to exposure and white balance to really make the subject look a lot better.

- The optical image stabilization works very well, but I wouldn't say it's significantly better than my old Sony SD camcorder.

Now the Bad

- As expected the image quality in low light is very grainy. I thought the higher recording bitstream would help, but there is no way around the small 1/6 inch sensors. The camera has a "low light" mode, which made the video more watchable, but still very grainy.

- Ergonomics is not good for large hands. I have big hands and handling the camera is not very easy. Because it is so small, my hands wrap almost all the way around the camera and all the buttons are tiny. I can live with this because the small size is what makes the camera sexy.

- The joystick is in a terrible location, which makes navigating menus very difficult. I wish they would have left it on the back of the camera or moved it on the bottom of the LCD screen. The current location on the left panel inside the LDC screen makes no sense, because you are forced to use two hands and one hand covers the LDC screen.

- The HDMI port is under the battery, so you must plug in the adapter to watch videos directly from the camera. This makes absolutely no sense and is a major dealbreaker for me. I like being able to quickly hook up the camera to a tv when I'm visiting friends or family to quickly show my videos. The fact that I need to carry a mini-hdmi cable and the adapter and find an outlet makes everything much more difficult. You also have to plug the adapter in to connect the camera to a computer. All I can say is WHY?

- Transferring the AVCHD files to Sony Vegas Pro 8 didn't work. I have much to learn about this new format, but I thought I read somewhere that the Sony software was supporting Panasonic AVCHD. Maybe not? I tried the Pinnacle software that came with the camera and it was a disaster.

It's definitely a good camera, but I am going to return it and wait for the Canon HF100. In the meantime, I need to brush up on AVCHD editing.

Is there confirmation that the AVCHD from Canon can/will process on Sony Vegas Pro?

Every SR11 is backordered now.. sigh. :(

http://www.hd.club.tw/thread-6580-1-1.html

SD9 sample footage! VERY nice!

I could really go for the SD9........
Where’s it at?

Yeah, since my Japaneese isn't very good, I'd like to know where those clips are too. ;)

I found out that it’s in the first post with the words H264 in black.

- The HDMI port is under the battery, so you must plug in the adapter to watch videos directly from the camera. This makes absolutely no sense and is a major dealbreaker for me. I like being able to quickly hook up the camera to a tv when I'm visiting friends or family to quickly show my videos. The fact that I need to carry a mini-hdmi cable and the adapter and find an outlet makes everything much more difficult. You also have to plug the adapter in to connect the camera to a computer. All I can say is WHY?



What the f**% were they thinking? I know it's small but was there absolutely no other place to put it?

Yeah, since my Japaneese isn't very good, I'd like to know where those clips are too. ;)

Ooops.. sorry about that! Here is the direct link:

http://www.mosesstone.net/users/uploadtest/912/test.mp4

290+ MB

I downloaded that 294MB sample last night and it can’t even play on my PS3. For sure it was recorded in 24p and it was most likely converted to QuickTime. I think Sony will eventually allow the PS3 to be compatible with EX1 files but I’m hoping maybe they can make a deal with Apple if necessary so that they can get QuickTime compatible with the PS3 as well.

Here’s a native AVCHD sample:
http://pana3ccduser.com/showthread.php?p=103956#post103956

Watch impress HS9(SD9) Review

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20080305/zooma348.htm

Downloaded the movies....video quality is just okay....*crosses SD9 off the list*

I have no video experience, but after a day to play with it, the SR11 I just got blows me away. Looks as good or better on HDTV and monitor than cable digital.
I know nothing about the compression technology, editing etc yet, and have seen no other camcorder output, but I am really impressed by the SR11 so far.
This is useless subjective input, I guess, but thought I'd chime in. I'm waiting to hear what the experts say, too.
You can get an SR11 - available now for $966 at www.shopvsc.com/Sony-HDR-SR11-Hi-Definition-Hard-Drive-Camcorder-p/son-hdrsr11.htm. (Sony auth seller to schools, universities, etc - sells to individuals too)

Transferring the AVCHD files to Sony Vegas Pro 8 didn't work.
This is with the SD9 right? Hopefully the SR11 won't have this issue. Also, were you using Vegas Pro 8b (built 217) or a previous version?

Just ordered the SR11 from Abe's this morning. Should have it tomorrow. Can't wait!

This is with the SD9 right? Hopefully the SR11 won't have this issue. Also, were you using Vegas Pro 8b (built 217) or a previous version?

I was having problems with the SD9 using Vegas Pro 8b (build 217). There is a thread at camcorderinfo.com with people having the same problems with editing SD9 footage. Apparently Ulead and Pinnacle do not work either with the SD9 footage, even though they worked with SD5 and SD1 footage.

You should not have any problems with the SR11.

For sure ill go with the Sony HDR-SR11.

I really loved my old DCR-SR200 form Sony. The way tot be ableto take picture and filming. But now i moved with a new computer.. a mac with Final cut... and i want a HD cam...

so it's why i can't wait to buy the SR11.
Yeah the price seems to be higher than the others but i think the features too... the 10MP picture is a great feature... no more 2 cam (one for pic and one for video).

I just cant wait to see more reviews.

Just got an SR11 from local costco. Absolutely stunning footage. Kept it on a tripod and did a 180degree panaromic shot.. wow..

I just got an SD9, PAL version. A little bummed with it at first, took some video on a ****** 256SD card at 1440p around the house, everything was jittering etc. THen find out the US model is 60i and 24p, mine is 25p and 50i, so at highest the temporal resolution is 10interlaced or 5 frames lower.

But after getting an SDHC card and playing around with it today for about 4 hours I quite like it. Can't say it would be better than the Sony, as I would have probably got the Sony if I didn't have gift vouchers to a Panasonic dealer, and the fact it's over 1/3 cheaper than the Sony here.

I would be keen to compare the Sony camcorder to mine just to see the differences first hand. I took heaps of videos today looking out at the ocean, zooming in on different planes, plants, animals, cars, people, insects and I find the outside quality of the camera is awesome. It would be as good as my planet earth videos in the jungles etc when watching on my 50" Kuro so I can't see how much better it can get. Just the lower light stuff I would think the Sony is better from what people have been saying.