Sony Handycam HDR-SR12

In a most welcome step up from last year's SR7, the SR11, and SR12 offer full 1,920x1080 HD capture, thanks to its maximum 16 megabit per second AVCHD recording mode. The other three AVCHD recording modes record at 1,440x1,080 resolution, like last year's models. At the top AVCHD quality level, you can fit up to 7 hours and 10 minutes of video on the SR11's 60GB hard drive.

If you bring the quality level down to the minimum HD setting of 5Mb per second, you can fit up to 22 hours, 50 minutes of video.

Stepping down to standard definition, you can record up to 14 hours, 40 minutes of video at the highest quality setting and up to 41 hours, 50 minutes at the lowest quality setting. Double those numbers for the SR12's 120GB drive.

The NP-FH60 lithium ion battery gives you up to 90 minutes of continuous recording time, according to Sony, though you should expect more in the range of 40 minutes to 50 minutes during regular use when recording to the hard drive. High resolution video capture demands a high quality lens and Sony didn't skimp. Sony included a 12x optical Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T* f/1.8-3.1 zoom lens.

It covers a 35mm equivalent range of 40-480mm in 16:9 mode, or 49-588mm in 4:3 mode. The lens focuses its light onto a 5 megapixel sensor that uses 2.86MP to capture 4:3 video, 3.81MP to capture 16:9 video, 5.08MP for 4:3 stills, and 3.81MP for 16:9 stills. The camera can interpolate the stills up to 10.2MP.