I'm trying to decide between the new Sony CX150, which I have but can return, or the CX300, which is due out next week.
One of the key decision points is that CX300 has a wider angle lens, 29mm vs. 37 mm (at 16:9), while the CX150 has a longer optical zoom, 25x vs. 12x.
I like all the other spec differences of the CX300 better -- especially the optical stabilization and greater pixel resolution -- but have grown very fond of the CX150's 25x optical zoom I have been playing with.
This will be my first camcorder. Hence, I have no practical experience or feel for which side of the lens trade-off is more important to me.
One part of my brain argues that an 8mm improvement at the wide end of the lens isn't that important for a video camera that can be panned to take in the scene.
Another part of my brain argues that a compensating digital zoom from 13x to 25x won't be degraded very much especially with the CX300's higher pixel count, but I don't know how empirically true that is.
Any thoughts or practical experience would be appreciated.
One of the key decision points is that CX300 has a wider angle lens, 29mm vs. 37 mm (at 16:9), while the CX150 has a longer optical zoom, 25x vs. 12x.
I like all the other spec differences of the CX300 better -- especially the optical stabilization and greater pixel resolution -- but have grown very fond of the CX150's 25x optical zoom I have been playing with.
This will be my first camcorder. Hence, I have no practical experience or feel for which side of the lens trade-off is more important to me.
One part of my brain argues that an 8mm improvement at the wide end of the lens isn't that important for a video camera that can be panned to take in the scene.
Another part of my brain argues that a compensating digital zoom from 13x to 25x won't be degraded very much especially with the CX300's higher pixel count, but I don't know how empirically true that is.
Any thoughts or practical experience would be appreciated.
